“The Theology of Confession and Repentance”

Psalm 32:5  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

            Verse 5 is the key to the Psalm, Adam and Eve had nothing to worry about as long as they were naked.  As soon as they ran for the bushes when God approached, they knew they were purposely committing the first cover-up of sin.    Covering our sin does not work.  So what works?  Nakedness: confession and repentance.  Confession will not work unless you practice it.  The Pyongyang Revival of 1906-1907 began at a prayer meeting where a Korean pastor confessed his hatred of an American missionary.  It caused others to confess, the Holy Spirit’s power and blessing fell, and the effects continue until this present day.

            In verse 1 we read “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”  Then in verse 5 remember the words:  Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.”  There is a difference between our covering and God’s covering.  Our covering is a cover-up, but note in verse one that God’s covering is literally a removal.  That is the key found in verse five.  David uncovered his sin, and God covered it—removed it.  David is alluding to Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve covered their sin, it was uncovered, and God through the shedding of blood covered them both with an animal’s skin.  God then promised that He would personally and finally one day pay for that sin.

            When Adam and Eve were created, God created them with a covering of original righteousness.  Originally, Adam and Eve did not mind what God saw.  Then they lost that covering of righteousness, and were truly naked before God. Nakedness is when you do not control what people see.  Nakedness is when you cannot manage perception.  Nakedness is when people see all the way in.  That is not a problem, unless there is something to hide.

            But we have something to hide, and that is why we are never satisfied.  Ask yourself, “Why are some of us perfectionists?  Why are some of us workaholics?  Why are some of us so worried about our bodies and how we look?  Why are some of us working ourselves to death in order to achieve?  Some of us are starving ourselves to death in order to be beautiful.  Why is that?  You are covering your nakedness.  You are trying to patch up your own righteousness and beauty to make up for that lost sense of righteousness and beauty.  We are all hiding, every one of us.

            God says to Adam and Eve, and to us: “If you cover yourself, I will never be able to cover you.  But if you are willing to uncover yourself, if you are willing to be naked in front of me again, if you are willing to show me your sin and stop making excuses, then I can truly cover you once again in beauty and in righteousness.”  That is what we carry from this Psalm regarding the Theology of Confession and Repentance.