We go to Christ to ask for forgiveness for our own sin. I do not have to know and confess all the sins of my predecessors to be free of their guilt. But do these words eliminate any consideration of the corporate aspects of evil?

Corporate prayer and inclusive confession:

Christians often will do individual confession of sin, or will pray for the sins of others, asking God to judge their evil. But a third scenario is when a godly person asks God to forgive a sinful people or nation, but he also includes himself in the mix.

I just read another example of this today with the prayer of Daniel for his people as found in Daniel 9:3-19. The first three verses go like this:

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Of interest is how often we find Daniel using the words “us” and “we” and “our” in these 17 verses. He is not pointing the finger at ‘them’ but at everyone, himself included. That is real humility. That is real identification with the people. That is having a godly heart and a willingness to fully relate to the people.

There are other prayers like this found in Scripture. If you simply type in the phrase “we have sinned” into an online Bible site such as BibleGateway, you will find 26 results (using the ESV). Here are just some of them:

Aaron – “And Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned’.” Numbers 12:11

Nehemiah – “And I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses’.” Nehemiah 1:5-7

David (?) – “Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.” Psalm 106:6

Jeremiah – “We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.” Jeremiah 14:20

And other examples – using different wording – can also be mentioned.  Just one is this:

Ezra – “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.” Ezra 9:6-7

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