What Does the Bible Say About Unconfessed Sin?

1 John 1:9 ESV / 23 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 28:13 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Isaiah 59:1-21 ESV / 18 helpful votes

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. ...

Romans 8:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 John 5:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

James 5:14-16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Psalm 139:23-24 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 8 helpful votes

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

John 1:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Acts 8:1-40 ESV / 6 helpful votes

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. ...

Psalm 66:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Romans 5:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 5:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

1 John 2:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 Peter 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 4 helpful votes

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Acts 16:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

John 3:36 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Genesis 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

1 John 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 Peter 4:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 5:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Acts 4:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 12:1-50 ESV / 3 helpful votes

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? ...

Matthew 8:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes

That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

Matthew 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“You shall not murder.

1 John 5:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

1 John 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

1 John 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

James 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

2 Thessalonians 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

Philippians 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 8:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 1:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Acts 9:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

John 8:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Luke 9:62 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

47 Bible Verses about Unconfessed Sin

1 John 1:9 ESV / 23 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 28:13 ESV / 22 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 59:1-21 ESV / 18 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 5:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 5:14-16 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 139:23-24 ESV / 10 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:12 ESV / 7 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 8:1-40 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 66:18 ESV / 6 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:20 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:12 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 2:24 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:38-39 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 16:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:36 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:16 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 4:17 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 5:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 4:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 14:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 12:1-50 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 8:16 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:13 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 5:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 1:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 1:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Thessalonians 2:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Philippians 1:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 1:26-27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 9:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Luke 9:62 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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