阅读经文 

在今天的经文中，保罗这样说：“各人与邻舍说实话。”

这是否表示我们只说实话？丝毫也不隐瞒？这里有没有包括耶稣的兄弟雅各对我们的教导：“你们要彼此认罪，互相代求，使你们得医治”（参雅 5:16）呢？

一位年轻朋友和我一起思考他听过的一篇讲道。他说：“牧师讲道的重点，就是我们需要愿意表露自己的弱点，因为这样做时，我们便往往得医治和成长。”他又表示：“我向来都不喜欢挂着假面孔，我通常都愿意在别人面前承认自己的过失。”

他跟着说：“但当我向我的基督徒朋友们承认我的过失时，他们都似乎不喜欢听，我不明白是什么原因，但愿他们明白我这样做的动机。身为信徒，我认为我们不单需要愿意表露自己的弱点，我们也需要接受别人向我们坦白承认他们的过失。我认为很多人都不明白这样做的益处。”

保罗和雅各必然会同意我这位年轻朋友所说的。我们若能弃绝谎言和只说实话，我们岂不会脱下假面孔，愿意彼此认罪呢？假如我们都有基督的样式——慈爱、关怀、亲切、饶恕，我们便能做到真正的“圣徒相通”了。

我们相信：“认罪对灵魂有益处。”不但如此，认罪对身体——基督的身体也有益处呢。

"Speak truthfully to your neighbor," says Paul in our text for today.

Does that mean we say nothing but the truth? The whole truth? Does that include what Jesus' brother James tells us to do: "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed"? (see James 5:16)

A young friend reflected with me about a sermon he had heard. He said, "A lot of what the pastor talked about is the need to be vulnerable because in doing so we can often find healing and growth." Then he added, "I have never been one to put on pretenses, and I tend to be open about my faults with others."

Then he said, "But my Christian friends don't seem to like it when I admit faults to them. I'm not sure why this is, and I wish they understood my motive in doing so. I think that we need not only to be vulnerable as believers but also to allow others to be open with us about their faults. I think there are a lot of people who don't understand the value in this."

I think Paul and James agree with my young friend. If we put off falsehood and spoke truthfully, we would shed pretenses and confess to each-other, wouldn't we? Real "communion of saints" is possible if we are Christlike - loving, caring, gracious, forgiving.

We say, "Confession is good for the soul." It is, and it is good for the body too—Christ's body, the church.