If your hand causes you to sin, cut if off!

Recently I read the NIV study bible's comment on this verse and it had a very helpful comment in that Jesus did not mean those verses literally because because even a blind person can lust!

What he did mean is that we must deal drastically with sin.

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16 New International Version

What exactly is the point of James words?

I mean, let's face it, confessing sins is not easy, especially if they are particularly personal sins and viewed in a negative light by society. Confessing the sin of pride or of envy is not particularly difficult, we all do it, pornography and masturbation however are not easy to confess. I'd put them in the "particularly difficult to confess" box.

However, if we are not willing to confess our sins to each other, then who are we really putting first. In other words, if my image before my fellow man is more important than obeying God then who am I truly putting first, where does my allegiance really lie?

That is what drives to confession, and one of the reasons why James tells us to confess our sins. It is a test of my allegiance.

There is however, a second reason and it is linked to the reason why there is not complete anarchy in the world.

People want to be liked, they want to fit in and by and large, they want to be respected and want to live up to the expectations of the ones they love.

I confess my sins to a fellow Christian in order to make me accountable to them. By expressing my struggles I can overcome them easier because now if I continue in that sin, it is not only God I am letting down but also the person I have let into my confidence. I have enlisted the help of my fellow struggler, in the struggle against sin. This facility in the fight against sin is particularly powerful.

Now to turn it around for a minute, what would stop me from confessing my sins... Arguably the most pervasive sin of them all, Pride. It is the "I can do this by myself" attitude which hinders a believer from confessing their sin, and thereby taking the first steps to overcoming them. But that is exactly what we did when we first came to Christ. We swallowed our pride, realised we cannot save ourselves and cast ourselves upon the mercy of God. It should come as no surprise that we still battle our ego.

As a final remark, if your response to James' instruction is no way, "not a chance, I'm not going to go around confessing my sins to everybody, I'll be laughed at and ridiculed, some things are just not for public consumption". Let me encourage you by pointing out that he does not specify to whom you should confess your sins. You have license to use your wisdom and discernment for this. Furthermore, James uses that oft used phrase in the Epistles "One Another". You would do well to lookup the usage of that phrase in the NT Epistles. BibleGateway.com is a good place to start in this endeavour.

Some examples of the usage of "one another" (also vi biblegatewat.com)...

• Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
• Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2
• Greet one another with a holy kiss. 2 Corinthians 13:12
  
• You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13
• But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13
  
• And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

When the Epistle writers use the words "one another" they do not mean the public at large. You might be able to dispute whether they meant "everyone in the fellowship either". What you cannot dispute however is that they meant that this is something that should be going on among the fellowship of believers.

So, the next time your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!


All bible references are from New International Version (NIV)

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