Pastors are sinners. This sentence is not overly pleasant to read or think about. But it is true that, like other people, pastors in Christ’s church are far from perfect. They stumble in many ways. Even the godliest pastor struggles with various sins. Although some pastors might think they are better than ordinary people, the truth is that they are not—not at all! Paul’s statement “All have sinned” includes all pastors (Rom 3:23).
Of course, true and good Christian pastors already know this and would never deny it. They fully believe that their hearts, along with everyone else’s, are “deceitful above all things” (Jer 17:9). And they firmly believe that Christ is the only Savior of sinners and his blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The gospel they believe is the gospel these pastors preach.
But how does a pastor deal with his sin? A short answer is, “Just like every other Christian.” A pastor is called to confess his sin, repent, and trust in Christ for forgiveness. Speaking of confession, if you are a pastor and you need help confessing your sin, you might be interested in Jamin Goggin’s 2025 publication Pastoral Confessions (PC). This book is aimed at pastors, and it teaches them how to confess their sins to God and to other Christians. PC also gives a list of common pastoral sins and how to confess them. Goggin wrote PC after many years of pastoral ministry. He has served at Saddleback Church, Mission Hills Church, and is now an associate professor at Talbot School of Theology.
Goggin opens the book by discussing the importance of confessing sins to a “confession partner” (16). At the end of the book, he writes that all pastors should have a trustworthy Christian friend or a small group of Christian friends for such a purpose (182). Ideally, this confession partner would be a fellow pastor or a small group of pastors. Goggin gives a short step-by-step blueprint of how a time of pastoral confession would look: prayer, Scripture reading (Jas 5:16), spiritual questions, Scripture reading (Ps 139:23–24), actual confession of sin, a time of encouragement/exhortation, and a closing Scripture reading (1 John 1:9) (182–83).
The bulk of PC (chapters 2–8) is a discussion about the seven deadly sins: pride, wrath, lust, gluttony, acedia, envy, and avarice. Each chapter covers one of the seven deadly sins. I should mention that I am not comfortable with this categorization. I realize it has a history in Christian theology, and Goggin does use ancient and medieval theologians in his discussions. The categorization of seven deadly sins is misleading and unhelpful, however. It often goes along with the mortal/venial distinction, which I strongly reject. Aren’t all sins deadly and mortal? And why didn’t lying, blasphemy, dishonoring authority, or idolatry make the list? As a Protestant Christian, I am much more comfortable avoiding the taxonomy of the seven deadly sins and sticking with the Ten Commandments and their Reformed confessional explanations. For me, that is much more helpful, clear, and convicting.
In PC, the chapters on each of the seven deadly sins follow the same structure. First, Goggin shares a story of his own struggle with the deadly sin. Second, he explains the meaning of the deadly sin. Third, he talks about the pastoral example of that sin. Finally, Goggin describes how to confess the deadly sin. For example, when writing on the sin of wrath, Goggin shares an experience he had hearing a pastor speak with red-faced anger toward his congregation. Then Goggin gives a short story about his own hidden anger. In the description of wrath, Goggin makes the distinction between righteous and unrighteous anger. He then discusses how pastors can become angry at those who criticize them or others who may get in their way. In confessing wrath, a few Bible verses are reflected on and applied to talking to God about one’s anger and to others about it.
One important point about PC is that Goggin discusses the seven deadly sins as they might appear in a pastor’s life and ministry. And in doing so, he stretches the spiritual meaning of the seven deadly sins to fit the pastoral ministry. For example, when talking about lust, one of the seven deadly sins covered in the book, there is a discussion about sexual lust. But Goggin also uses the term “lust” in a way that is analogous to coveting. He calls it “lust in all forms” (80). One form of lust, Goggin argues, is the pastor relating to Christ’s bride “as an object of pleasure. . . . The lustful pastor covets the Bride of Christ” (80). A pastor lusts after many things.
For another example of one of the seven pastoral sins, Goggin discusses acedia in chapter 6. He says that it is something like discontentment and despondence that can lead to burnout (116). Acedia is not simply laziness; it also includes a sense of resignation and melancholy in pastoral ministry. A pastor committing the deadly sin of acedia is ultimately like the “scribes and Pharisees, diligent in many things but neglectful of the ‘weightier matters’ of their calling” (Matt 23:23).
Goggin’s discussion of pastoral envy in chapter 7 overlaps with his discussion of lust. Pastors envy those who make more money, but specifically, pastoral envy is “the desire to possess that which God has given to another pastor” (131). One more example is that of gluttony (chapter 5). This sin is not explained in terms of eating or drunkenness but in terms of coveting, envy, and desire for more. But gluttony is also described as pride, the desire to be served rather than to serve (97). It seemed to me that many of the deadly pastoral sins explained in PC sounded similar, in that most of them involved coveting.
As mentioned above, the taxonomy of the seven deadly sins does not resonate with me. I understand what Goggin is trying to do with the seven deadly sins in relation to the pastoral ministry. For me, however, the book would have been much better if the author had listed pastoral sins more straightforwardly. It seemed as if Goggin was trying to fit various pastoral sins into one of the seven deadly sins, but the fit was not always obvious. Therefore, I was not overly convicted or edified by the book. The descriptions of the seven deadly sins, broadly relating to the pastoral ministry, detracted from the book’s clarity. Why not just list common pastoral sins using terms in Scripture such as idolatry, greed, anger, coveting, envy, drunkenness, impatience, lying, and so on?
While I was reading PC, I kept thinking that its main premise is one that all good Christian pastors should already know, believe, and preach: Confess your sins to God and discuss them with a mature Christian friend. I was taught this in seminary. Various pastors have reminded me of this throughout the years. Thankfully, I have followed this wisdom, and I know many other pastors who have as well. I have also read quite a few helpful books about sin by various Puritans, as well as the sin sections of different Reformed systematic theologies. I found those extremely helpful for my own conviction, mortification, vivification, and spiritual growth as a Christian and a pastor.
Pastoral Confessions will be a good book for pastors who need guidance on confessing their sins to God and to a fellow pastor or a group of pastors. This book will also be helpful for pastors who have not read much about the details of sin and how sin shows up in their own pastoral ministry. If you are a pastor who has not wrestled with your own sin and confessed it to God and others, you will likely benefit from PC despite some of its shortcomings. But if you are a pastor who has read and digested good Christian books about sin, repentance, and forgiveness and has an accountability partner, you probably do not need PC. At the end of the day, however, this book is exactly right: Pastors are sinners too. They must confess their sins to God and find forgiveness, hope, and relief in Christ and him alone.
©Shane Lems. All Rights Reserved.
Jamin Goggin, Pastoral Confessions: The Healing Path to Faithful Ministry (Baker Books, 2025).
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Shane Lems
Shane Lems is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California and has a DMin from RTS Orlando. He has been a church planter and pastor in the URCNA. Since 2013 he’s been serving as pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, WI. He is married and has four children. Shane has written numerous articles for Modern Reformation, New Horizons, and other publications. He is also the author of Doctrines of Grace: Student Edition and manages a book blog, The Reformed Reader.
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