1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This verse is overused by many to justify, "You must confess your sins to be forgiven by God." Apparently, they are still living by the Old Covenant.
If we need to confess sins to be forgiven by God, then we need to confess every single sin. We can't just be picky and choose which sin to confess and which sin not to confess because we have forgotten. If confession of sin = forgiveness, then we have to ensure that every single one is confessed. Else we may not end up in heaven.
Some say that the context of John's writing is very important, because we need to know who the message was written to. But if a layman doesn't know the context, he can still easily interpret 1 John 1:9. To interpret 1 John 1:9 as the necessity to confess our sins in order to be forgiven has to be wrongly taught in order to be learnt that way by a lay person.
If we look at the verses without other verses in this book, we can rightly assume confession of sins is necessary for forgiveness.
1 John 1:8-10 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
But if we look at the beginning of the next chapter, we will discover the true meaning of 1 John 1:9.
1 John 2:1 - My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
John wrote, "I write to you, so that you may NOT sin. And IF anyone sins..."
Apparently, it is possible to walk free from sin. And that's the heart of John in his writing.
Comparing 1 John 1:8-9 and 1 John 2:1, and you will get the answer. John could not be saying, "My little children, I write this so that you may not sin. Because you can be free from sin. But you always will be sinning, so you can't say that you won't be sinning..." This sounds absolutely weird and inconsistent with the New Covenant. Jesus died to free us from sin. We have a brand new divine nature that is not sinful to begin with. To say that we are always going to sin is to deny the goodness and the power of the Gospel.
1 John 2:12 shows us further that the believers have already been forgiven of their sins because of what Jesus had done on the Cross. It would be absurd for John to ask them to confess their sins in order to be forgiven when he said that they were already forgiven.
1 John 2:12 shows us further that the believers have already been forgiven of their sins because of what Jesus had done on the Cross. It would be absurd for John to ask them to confess their sins in order to be forgiven when he said that they were already forgiven.
1 John 1:7 - But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
To have fellowship with one another is to be in fellowship with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3). When we are in Christ, the blood of Christ cleanses us continually and permanently from all sin. So how can 1 John 1:9 still applies to believers who have been and are continually cleansed from all sin?
1 John 1:3 shows us who John was writing to in this part of the message. "...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us..."
In other words, John was saying, "I'm declaring the Gospel (Jesus is God who became flesh and lived among us - we have seen and heard and even touched) to you, so that you may have fellowship with us, so that you may believe and be in Christ!
Therefore, 1 John 1:8-10 is clear.
1 John 1:8-10 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 1:8 - "If we say that we have no sin..." In other words, "If we say that we have no need for a Saviour..." This is consistent with 1 John 1:10 - "If we say that we have not sinned". If you believe that you have not sinned before, then you don't need a Saviour. But that will make God a liar, because all have sinned and fallen short of His glory (Rom 3:23).
Thus, 1 John 1:9 is John preaching the truth (Gospel) as there were non-believers who tried to deceive the believers (1 John 2:26) in church. Just because people attend church do not mean they are saved (1 John 2:19). They can believe in wrong doctrine instead of Jesus, which happened for this case. "If you confess your need for the Saviour, God is faithful and just. He cleanses you from all unrighteousness."
For the believers, we are and will always be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:21).
Does this mean we cannot confess our sins? Yes we can. But we don't confess to be forgiven. We confess because we are forgiven. #killsacredcows
No comments:
Post a Comment