The Sin-Accountability Factor

There are several Bible verses - especially ones like...

Confess your sins to one another...James 5:16

...that seem to support the premise of the contemporary sin-accountability factor. Then again, it all depends upon the premise by which one reads such statements. Of course, if writers like James were actually promoting a sin-conscious structure along the lines of the many we have created (such as the Accountability Group) then how is it that our results are in direct contradiction to theirs? In other words, our systems continually squash the very freedom and honesty the NT writer proposed as having been established in Christ.

The premise behind the accountability group is that believers need to relate to one another, as well as to God, through sin-awareness. The expectation assumes that in keeping sin under control we might achieve deeper relationships with both God and also those born of Him. But it is doomed from the start because a program of sin-accountability lies within the realm of law, which only brings death to living relationships. The accountability factor of the Accountability Group ignores the completeness of Christ, for he was already held accountable for sin's demand upon us. His death removed us from it, his life brought us into a realm where sin has neither place, nor meaning.

Can we effectively relate to one another without the premise of sin-accountability? It is in fact the only way we CAN relate. Under the premise of sin-accountability we only learned how to relate to one another on the basis of sin, and therefore, to the old existence that was attached to sin. In our attempts to deal with one another we have only managed to push each other away from any real dealings by constantly re-establishing those done-away-with identities.

Sin-accountability puts us into a nether-world where relationship is not a matter of life, but of death. It forces us to identify our true beings as still connected to sin so that it seems fitting to relate as one corpse to another. Though we are even now standing in the full light of the kingdom of Christ our practices of sin-accountability (whether in group form or simply through personal habit) defy the reality of his life in every conceivable expression. Nevertheless, that reality remains. May the Father of all true understanding cause us to see that life in which we have been truly made alive!