“Note the order men, the order is first to confess that we have sinned, and how we have sinned, and in what way we have sinned, and then to confess, I am a sinner. So often I have heard men stand before a congregation and seek to confess their sins and all they really say is “well you know me, I’m weak, I’m fleshly, I’m a mortal, I’m a man like you, and I have my faults and I am a sinner by nature so you just have to realize that that’s why I acted as I did.” And then they sit down. That is not confession. That is not confession. True confession begins with “I have sinned”, and acknowledging that sin specifically before God and before His people when it is necessary.” - Dr. William Barrick: Sermon on Psalm 51.
A.H. Strong, Systematic Theology, 2:552-8 might disagree.
He begins with this introduction: “As it is readily admitted that the outward act of transgression is properly denominated sin, we here attempt to show only that lack of conformity to the law of God in disposition or state is also and equally to be so denominated.” (552)
After quoting 1Jo 5:17, Rom 14:23, James 4:17, he comments: “Where the sin is that of not doing, sin cannot be said to consist in act. It must then at least be a state.” (553)
We would both likely agree with this truth. Here is one of his conclusions:
“It may be doubted whether any repentance is genuine which is not repentance for sin rather than for sins” (556)
Interesting things to think about. Both indeed may go awry.
I these are reconcilable.
When there is a specific offense committed and the guy only says, “C’mon, I’m a sinner by nature!” That is weak sauce indeed, and it is an attempt to escape the reality of facing the sin he committed.
However, I think that Barrick’s comment hides the truth behind what Strong says. He goes on to quote the experience of Edwards and Luther in their confession of sin. Here is part of what Edwards wrote:
“My wickedness, as I am in myself, has long appeared to me perfectly ineffable and swallowing up all thought and imagination—like an infinite deluge, or mountains over my bead. I know not how to express better what my sins appear to me to be, than by heaping infinite on infinite and multiplying infinite by infinite. Very often for these many years, these expressions are in my mind and in my mouth: ‘Infinite upon infinite—infinite upon infinite!’ When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell.”
I think such conviction does not come from conviction over a bunch of individual sins. I think it comes from an overwhelming sense of the reality that all that we are to the core of our being is turned against God.