Matthew van Maastricht

I grew up as a Dutch Reformed protestant, and as such, never participated in an ecclesiastical rite of confession. My parents were also raised Dutch Reformed protestants, and so they didn’t either. And so on back generations upon generations. However, I wonder if we are missing something central in dropping the tradition of confession, not because God cannot forgive us without it, but because the rite, itself, is intended to be therapeutic, helping to heal our souls.

The rite of confession is intended to be therapeutic for our souls.

“Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”

James 5:16a

The Talking Cure

The development of the what we know today as psychotherapy really began with Bertha Pappenheim, known in case studies as Anna O, and her work with physician Josef Breuer. Pappenheim had a number of sympotms with no detectable physical cause. In the spaghetti method of treatment (that is, throwing all sorts of things against the wall and seeing what will stick), Breuer began to encourage her, sometimes with the aid of hypnosis, to narrate stories of her life. While this doesn’t seem particularly revolutionary to us, Breuer found that by allowing Pappenheim to talk openly and freely that her symptoms began to improve. Breuer had a protégé named Sigmund Freud who took Breuer’s work and develop it, and generations have taken Freud and his students’ work and developed on it. And the central insight that Freud discovered is that simply the act of talking about things can lead to improvement in many cases. This continues to be the foundation for psychotherapy today.

This is something which is so simple and yet so often neglected: that simply talking about one’s struggles can help lessen their impact. Of course, there is far, far more to mental health than just this, but this is the core reality.

Talking to someone who will truly listen, not only with the mind but with the heart can lead to healing.

If we think about it, many of us can see this truth in our own lives. When we have a bad day, when we are worried about something, when we are unsure or confused about something, when we are sad, or when we are mad, and so many others, that simply talking about it with someone else can help. It is almost as if freeing it from our minds can help it to lose its grip on our minds, hearts, and souls.

If talking can help bring healing to the mind, then why would we think anything differently for the spirit?

Where Does the Bible Say to Confess to Someone?

Well, for one, in James 5:16, which is quoted above. We see here the connection between confessing to one another, prayer, and healing. This is, I think, an ancient understanding of primitive psychotherapy (and in many ways, a more literal understanding of the term–psyche, after all, means soul), that by openness with one another and praying for one another, that our souls can experience healing that cannot happen in other ways.

This is important: the point of this is never to shame someone, it is always to contribute to healing, and shame is never a part of healing.

So there is a biblical basis for the importance of confessing to one another. The history of the church also supports this. One of the earliest testaments to the life of the early church is the Didache, which I’ve mentioned before. The Didache indicates that confession is something that happened in church, quite possibly something that someone did in front of the assembly itself.

Confess your sins in church, and do not go to prayer with a guilty conscience. … Gather together every Sunday, break bread and give thanks, first confessing your sins, that your sacrifice may be pure.

Didache (c. first century AD), Sec. 4, 14

By the middle of the third century, we see writings in the church fathers of confessing sins to the priest as a representative of the church. Or, more accurately, confessing sins in front of the priest, since confession is to God, but the priest bore witness.

The Essential Importance of the Rite of Confession

We all have the experience of something weighing heavily on us. Perhaps it is something that we did, or something that we didn’t do. But regardless of what it was, it weighs on us. It sticks in our mind. It can even show up in our dreams. And just like a wound that will fester and get infected, sometimes these things can lead us to feelings of shame and worthlessness. When we have really done something that we ought not have, or not done something that we ought to have, it’s not as easy as simply letting it go. So, then, we often just put it away, imagining that if it is out of our conscious memory then it’s fine. But just like ignoring a wound won’t make it better, ignoring these things won’t free us from them. They will continue to weigh on us, whether we realize it or not. As a pastor, I see it all the time.

I have felt it in my own life. I have felt it when I have been filled with guilt, unexpressed, turns to shame, and the only way it was released was by talking to someone, someone who was non-judgemental, who was open in heart, and who was able to receive whatever I offered. It takes a special kind of person to be able to listen with an open and loving and generous heart. We are, after all, social creatures, and this social aspect to letting things go seems as if it is hard-wired into our collective DNA as a species.

At the core, this is what the rite of confession is. It is not predicating God’s action on human action, that is, God offers forgiveness to a contrite heart. At its core, the rite of confession allows us to unburden our hearts in a safe, loving context where one can be assured it will not be brought up again and used as a weapon. It is the original talking cure. And when we are done unburdening our hearts, we are able to hear the assurance of God of God’s immense love and mercy which is broader and deeper and wider than we can ever imagine.

If we approach a rite of confession in a way that is therapeutic rather than legalistic or forensic, this could be a meaningful and valuable practice in healing our souls, making us full and integrated people, and helping us on our walk with God in the world.