Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
Week 8: Chapter 7 — The Prayer of Confession
Read Chapter 7 of Prayer by Timothy Keller. Primary Scripture: Psalm 51; 1 John 1:9.
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Keller argues that confession is not a gloomy obligation at the beginning of prayer but one of its most liberating elements—a specific practice by which the gospel actually reshapes our affections and cleanses not just our record but our character. Read this chapter ready to be more honest than comfortable.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller draws heavily on Psalm 51—David's great prayer of confession after his sin with Bathsheba—as a model for how deep, honest confession works. What makes David's confession in that Psalm different from a mere apology or a legal petition? What is David actually asking God to do?
2.Keller distinguishes between 'legal confession' (confessing sin to restore standing before God) and 'relational confession' (confessing sin because it has damaged closeness with God as Father). For a Christian who is already justified, why does confession still matter? What does it restore?
3.Keller warns against two failure modes in confession: the person who confesses glibly without real conviction, and the person who confesses with such excessive guilt that they can never accept forgiveness. Do you recognize either pattern in yourself? What produces each one, and what is the gospel's answer to both?
a.What does glib confession reveal about one's view of God and of sin?
b.What does inability to accept forgiveness reveal about one's view of the gospel?
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