Confession and Self-Examination: Ambrose on David's Confession as Model

Ambrose of Milan (d. 397) pointed to King David as the supreme biblical example of confession. When Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba, David's response was immediate and unqualified: "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13). Ambrose wrote: "David did not cover his sin but confessed it. Kings are not accustomed to confess their faults, yet David confessed his sin because he knew that the remedy for a wound is not concealment but exposure."

Ambrose taught that David's greatness lay not in being sinless but in being honest: "The prophet David sinned, as kings are wont to sin; but he repented, he wept, he groaned, as kings are not wont to do." Confession, Ambrose insisted, requires the courage to be vulnerable before God and others.

Practical application: Read Psalm 51 as your own prayer. Let David's words become yours: "Have mercy on me, O God... Create in me a clean heart." Ambrose teaches that the quality of our confession is measured not by the severity of our sin but by the honesty and completeness of our acknowledgment.