I acknowledged my sin unto thee
The sin of Adam, in which he was concerned; original sin, the
corruption of his nature, the sin that dwelt in him, his private
and secret sins, which none knew but God and himself; even all
his sins, which were many, with all their aggravated
circumstances; wherefore he uses various words to express them
by, in this and the following clauses; as "sin", "iniquity", and
"transgressions"; the same that are used in the doctrine of
pardon in the preceding verses; his confession being of the same
extent with pardon, and all these he calls his own; as nothing is
more a man's own than his sins are; and these the psalmist
acknowledged to the Lord; or "made", or "will make known"
F16 to him: not that any sin is unknown
to God, even the most secret ones; but they may be said to be
made known to God, when a sinner makes a sincere and hearty
acknowledgment of them before him, and expresses his own sense of
them; how that they are with him, and ever before him, what
knowledge rather he has of them, how much he is affected with
them, and concerned for the commission of them; and such an
acknowledgment the Lord expects and requires of his people, (
Jeremiah
3:12 Jeremiah
3:13 ) ;
and mine iniquity have I not hid;
by retaining it as a sweet morsel under his tongue; for he not
only acknowledged it, but forsook it; or by not confessing it, as
Achan; for not confessing sin is the of hiding it; or by denying
it, as Gehazi, Ananias and Sapphira; or by palliating and
extenuating it; or by casting the blame on others, as did Adam
and his wife; see ( Job 31:33 ) ; or by
covering it with a guise of sanctify and religion;
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the
Lord;
not unto men, though in some cases confession of sin is to be
made to men; a confession of it in general is to be made to the
churches, and administrators of ordinances, in order to admission
into a church state, and to the ordinances of Christ, ( Matthew 3:6 ) (
Acts 2:37
Acts 2:41 ) ;
and in case of private offences, faults are to be confessed one
to another, and forgiveness granted; and in case of public
offences, a confession should be made to a church publicly;
partly for the satisfaction of the church, and partly for the
glory of divine grace; but confession is not to be made to a
priest, or to a person in a ministerial character, in order for
absolution; but to the Lord only, against whom sin is committed,
and who only can pardon it: and this the psalmist saith in his
heart he would do, and did do it; he not only confessed facts,
but the fault of them, with their evil circumstances, and that he
justly deserved punishment for them; and this he did from his
heart, with abhorrence of the sins committed by him, and in
faith, with a view to the pardoning mercy of God in Christ;
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.
That is, either the guilt of his sin, which he took away from
him; or the punishment of it, which he delivered him from:
moreover, this phrase may denote the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
and so may both express the sense which the psalmist had of it,
and exalt the grace of God in the forgiveness of it; by which
must be meant a fresh manifestation and application of pardon to
his soul: now, when confession of sin, and remission of it, are
thus put together, the sense is not that confession of sin is the
cause of pardon; it is not the moving cause of it, that is the
grace and mercy of God; nor the procuring and meritorious cause
of it, that is the blood of Christ: it is not for the sake of a
sinner's confession of sin, but for Christ's sake, that sin is
forgiven; but this is the way in which it is enjoyed; and such as
truly repent of sin, and sincerely confess it, are the persons to
whom the Lord manifests his forgiving love; such may expect it, (
Proverbs
28:13 ) ( 1 John 1:9 ) .
Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).