Hitchhiker’s Guide (30)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9  NASB

Confess – What is confession?  The Greek (homologéō) gives us an answer.  It is “to speak the same thing.”  To confess is to agree with God’s assessment of our actions and attitudes.  But just saying so isn’t enough.  “The noun homología is important in Socratic dialogue as indicating consent to what is found to be valid followed by the appropriate resolve and action; theoretical assent is not enough.”^[1]  It’s not agreement.  It’s agreement and adjustment.

With a bit more examination, we discover an added element.  “The LXX prefers the compounds exomologeísthai and exomológēsis, which in secular Greek denote public admission or acknowledgment. On the basis of Heb. yāḏâ, however, the idea of praising God is added to that of confessing sin^[2]  So, we need acknowledgement, agreement, admission, adjustment, and praise.  It all makes sense, but making sense isn’t the problem.

So, here’s my confession.  Luzzatto is too much for me.  I understand what he’s asking.  I agree (theoretically) that his path leads to greater spiritual sensitivity and righteousness.  But I just can’t take the all practical steps yet.  They’re overwhelming.  And frightening.  I don’t think I can bear the weight of being a saint.  Mesillat Yesharim is not for everyone.

“But the majority of the people cannot be saints.  It is enough that they are pious.  The few, however, who desire to earn the privilege of being near to God, and by their own merit impute merit to the mass of the people spiritually dependent upon them, must live by that saintly code to which the average person cannot be expected to conform.”[3]

At least Luzzatto recognizes that the “Way of the Righteous” is more difficult than most can manage.  And I’m feeling like I’m among “the most.”  I look back over these twenty-nine steps, evaluating each one in terms of my present emotional and spiritual commitment—and I fall short.  Way short.  I’m just not sure I can ever really get there.  I confess that I’m far removed from sainthood.  Like Mother Teresa, I question.  It’s not that I don’t believe.  I do.  But the absence, the emptiness, the despair of purposelessness, that feeling that long ago my faith was more vibrant, more visceral, and now it’s plodding, stretching, hoping.  A certain kind of darkness lurks in the corners.  Maybe I need to move to a round house.  Anyway, I’m here to tell you that Luzzatto’s process is amazing.  Tantalizing.  And probably more than I can handle.

Step 30:  Maybe it’s not for you.  Evaluate.

Topical Index: confess, homologéō, yāḏâ, saint, 1 John 1:9

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 687). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

^[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 687). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.

[3] Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright, p. 169.