Do I have to tell sinners their sins?

It's so common to hear that we HAVE to denounce people's sins, and the main reason they say is because Jesus did so. Well, let's see what Jesus did.

Jesus and adulteress woman (John 8:1-11)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus tell her? "Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more".
- Who told her "sinner" or "adulteress"? The pharisees.

Jesus and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
Zacchaeus was a thief (he charged more taxes to people than he should).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to Zacchaeus? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus say? "Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide in your house." In other words, Jesus self-invited to sleep over Zacchaeus's.
- Who used to tell him "sinner" or "thief"? The Jews. In fact, they were surprised that Jesus wanted to sleep over Zacchaeus's house.

Jesus and Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-31)
Matthew (also known as Levi), was a thief (charged more taxes than he should).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to Matthew? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus do? He invited Matthew to follow Him, and he ended up being one of the 12 apostles (Matthew 10:1-4).

Jesus and the publicans and sinners (Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-31)
Matthew had prepared a banquet for Jesus, in which many publican and sinners assisted as well (a publican was a tax collators, that's to say, a thief).
- Did Jesus tell "sinner" or "thief" to any of them? No, He didn't. Not even to one of them.
- The surprised pharisees asked Jesus's disciples why their Master eat with sinners.

Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? No, He did not.
- Who told the woman "sinner" or "adulteress"? Most likely, most of the people did, because there was a reason for her to go to the well for water at midday (the hottest moment of the day), when normally everybody went to the well early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the weather already cooled down. That's to say, the woman wanted to go to the well when she knew there was nobody there, so nobody bothers her.
- What Jesus did was bringing up the issue of her disordered life by asking for her husband, and if we have a look to the context, we can understand that Jesus did it, not to condemn her, but to show her the need in her that He wanted to meet when He was talking about the living water, but since she wasn't understanding Jesus, He was a little clearer asking her directly about her husband. If she had understood that the living water was just an illustration, He most surely hadn't asked her about her husband.

Jesus and the woman of the expensive perfume (Luke 7:36-50)

We don't know in what sin she was involved, but it's supposed that she was a prostitute.
- Did Jesus tell the woman "sinner"? No, He didn't.
- What did Jesus do? He accepted her offering and then forgave her sins.
- Who told her "sinner"? Simon the Pharisee.

Jesus and the paralyzed man (Mark 2:1-12)
- Did Jesus tell the paralyzed man "sinner"? No, He did not.
- What did Jesus do? He forgave his sins and then healed him.

Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:24-34)
- Did Jesus tell the woman "unclean"? No, He didn't.
- What did He do? He healed her.

Jesus and Peter, James and John (Luke 5:1-12)
- Did Jesus tell them "sinners"? No, He didn't, but it seems that they expected Him to tell them so, surely because other others told them so.
- It's interesting to see how in this case and Matthew's, Jesus didn't make them to go first through a "purification" or "preparation" time in order to serve with Him. To the ones that supposedly were more qualified, Jesus didn't call.

And I still don't mention Bartimaeus the blind man, the leper man, Jairus the principal of the synagogue, the prodigal son and, in fact, EVERYBODY that went to Jesus, because we know that EVERYBODY were sinners. There is NO EVEN ONE RECORD that Jesus told someone "sinner". NOT EVEN ONE.

On the contrary, there was one occasion that Jesus did use strong words: with the hypocrite pharisees (Matthew 23). In other words, Jesus only condemns hypocrisy. All of us were sinners saved by grace. Don't think about you more than that.

So, do I have to tell sinners their sins?
- If you are going to do it just because it is bad and it must be said, then don't do it. As we saw, not even Jesus did it. Besides, if you're going to do it with that attitude, the only thing you'll get is to raise walls of separation.
- But if you are going to do it because you have a sincere desire of helping them because you know that if they continue in that way, they will suffer, besides, you know that person, go ahead and tell it to him/her.
- If you don't know that person, I don't recommend you to do it, unless you feel that God is guiding you to do it (in this case, I recommend you to ask for confirmation to other leaders of your church, specially if the issue is something very grave).

"For God did not send His Son to world to condemn the world,

but that the world through Him might be saved"

John 3:17

I really hope this helped you!