Pastor, Confess Your Sin—No Matter the Consequences

Pastors are flawed, sinful people, just like the rest of us. But those called to vocational ministry are and should be held to a high standard of personal holiness. Paul told Timothy that elders must be “above reproach” (1 Tim. 3:2). James warns, “Not many of you should become teachers . . . because you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1).

This standard presents a difficult situation for pastors in dealing with their own temptations and sin. If they try to conceal their sin, they imperil their souls. If they confess their sin, they risk losing their jobs—even if what they confess doesn’t disqualify them from ministry according to Scripture. Healthy spirituality is only possible when sin can be openly confessed, but this is a tricky thing for pastors to do well.

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To talk about these difficult questions, I’m joined on this podcast by Ray Ortlund.

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Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast and has written and contributed to many books, most recently Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential. He has published with the New York Times and the Washington Post and offered commentary for CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC, ABC News, and PBS NewsHour. He edited Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor and The New City Catechism Devotional, among other books. He is an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, where he also co-chairs the advisory board.

Ray Ortlund (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; MA, University of California, Berkeley; PhD, University of Aberdeen, Scotland) is president of Renewal Ministries and an Emeritus Council member of The Gospel Coalition. He founded Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and now serves from Immanuel as pastor to pastors. Ray has authored a number of books, including The Gospel: How The Church Portrays The Beauty of Christ, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel, and with Sam Allberry, You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches. He and his wife, Jani, have four children.