Step Five -- "Related" Scripture

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16) 

James wrote this verse to non-believing Jews, but pertinently to individuals who are not yet believers. Consider the first verse of the Book of James:

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." (James 1: 1)

Unless every member of every tribe of Israel is saved, which is not yet the case, then it is apparent that James is writing to believers and unbelievers in the same epistle!

Now, referring back to James 5:16, the previous verse will shed further light on the status of those whom James is appealing to:

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (v. 15)

If they are believers, then their sins do not need to be forgiven again! Clearly, James is indicating people who are not yet believers!

All our sins are punished once and for all at the Cross. The writer to the Hebrews cannot hammer this point enough:

"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

"Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." (Hebrews 1: 3-4)

Jesus our High Priest sat down, the work being Finished! It's all done!

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Hebrews 9: 12)

and

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10: 10)

If a man has sins to confess, it is because he is not yet saved. The Old Covenant called on the people of Israel to confess their sins:

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7: 14)

Under the New Covenant, we have an everlasting righteousness:

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 21)

and

"That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3: 7)


Once again, the believer does not confess sins in order to be reconciled to God, but rather because he has been reconciled to God already!