1 John 1:9 and true confession of sins
When Christians sin today, their normal response is to confess their sin to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Then, they hope that God will forgive them (perhaps after perfroming some sort of penance), not punish them and fellowship with them again.
The common belief is that when you are born again, only your past sins and are forgiven. From then on, whenever you sin, you must ask for forgiveness in order to be forgiven and to be right with God again.
Because of this, new Christians are quickly taught to remember and use this verse:
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.
But is that how this verse is to be understood?
Rightly dividing the Word
2 Timothy 2:15 -- Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
While every letter and punctuation in the Bible is God-breathed, not every verse is written to the church. For example, God's instructions to Moses regarding animal sacrifices in Leviticus do not apply to the church. While we can still read them and learn plenty about types and shadows of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and the final sacrifice, the rules are not given to us but to the Jews who were under Law then.
Jesus himself rightly divided the Word:
Matthew 5:38,39 -- Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
The teaching of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is found in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20 and Deuteronomy 19:21. But since Jesus came to establish a better covenant of grace, He taught His people to "turn the other cheek". Today, the church practises "turning the other cheek", not "an eye for an eye", although the latter is instructed in the Bible.
The simplest way to rightly divide the Word is to "filter" whatever we read -- before the cross -- through the cross. In other words, interpret a verse in light of what Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross. We should not read and interpret scriptures as though Jesus did not die and rise again!
So, for a start, we should ask ourselves if 1 John 1:9 is addressing Christians.
A simple test
If you have a PC or Mac Bible, do a word search for "forgive", "forgiving", "forgiven", "forgave" and "forgiveness" in the New Testament. Go through the list of verses that your computer generates.
You will find that after the cross, it is always "forgiven", "forgave" and "have forgiveness"! Before the cross, it is "forgive or you will not be forgiven" or "forgive to be forgiven". There is a world of difference, and Jesus' death and resurrection made that difference!
Here is one example:
Before the cross...
Mark 11:25 -- And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
After the cross...
Colossians 3:13 -- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Have you ever wondered why Abraham's mistakes are not mentioned in Hebrews (after the cross)? It is as though the Holy Spirit, when portraying Abraham as a hero of faith, "forgot" about his failures. But the Holy Spirit did so rightly, being faithful to the risen Christ, who wiped out our sins and bought us forgiveness with His blood! In fact, the Bible says that because of Jesus' sacrifice, God does not remember our sins (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 4:8, Hebrews 8:12 and Hebrews 10:17). It is no wonder Abraham's mistakes are not recorded.
All or nothing
Many Christians think of sin as murder, adultery, homosexualism, cheating -- the "big" sins. But God says that anything that is not of faith is sin!
Romans 14:23 -- And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
So, doing something out of worry or fear is a sin. Undressing a woman in your mind is also a sin. Coveting your neighbour's new car is also a sin. There is no end to it!
Since this is the truth of the matter, we must also ask ourselves if it is possible to confess every sin we commit. The answer is obvious. Many a times, we don't even know it when we sin!
Some might argue that we only confess the sins that we are aware of, but that is simply "picking and choosing", and insulting the perfect holiness of God -- assuming that God will "close one eye" on the other sins.
Let's face it, if we want to go down the road of confessing sins to be forgiven and to be right with God, we won't make it. It will take all day and we will still not be totally "clean"!
Once for all
One reason why I believe 1 John 1:9 is not directed at Christians but non-believers is because it says "cleanse us from all unrighteousness". That can only happen once in the life of the believer -- when he was born again. So, it does not make sense for Christians, who are already righteous by the blood of Christ, to again be "cleansed from all unrighteousness", and over and over again, every time they sin.
The moment we were saved, Jesus wiped out our past, present and future sins. All our sins were forgiven, from the time we were born to the time we pass on.
Colossians 2:13 -- And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Jesus' sacrifice was "once for all". In Hebrews 10, Paul was saying that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away the offerer's sins once for all, which is why the sinner had to offer animal sacrifices year after year. Then he goes on to say how it is different with the blood of Jesus -- that His blood cleanses once for all, so that we don't have to continuously offer sacrifices (or confessions!) to be cleansed, over and over again.
Hebrews 10:2 [NIV] -- If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
Hebrews 10:10 [NIV] -- And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
So, if we have to "offer" confessions day after day to stay clean, we are actually regressing into the system of animal sacrifices and insulting the blood of Christ. Worse, we would be implying that the Jews, who were under an inferior covenant, had it better than us, who are under a superior covenant, since the blood of bulls and goats they offered was good for an entire year, whereas the blood of Jesus we have is good only until the next time we sin!
Past, present and future sins
Many Christians think that only their past sins were forgiven when they were saved. But this illogical. Jesus was crucified some 2,000 years ago, so all their sins had to be future then!
Think about it: Suppose John was born again in 1980, Mary in 1990 and Peter in 2000. If only their past sins were forgiven, then it would mean that Christ left out John's sins after 1980 but somehow remembered to bear Mary's sins after 1980, yet forgot to bear her sins after 1990, but bore Peter's sins after 1990, yet only up to 2000. Can you see how ridiculous it sounds, and we are only talking about three people!
When Jesus hung on the cross, He bore every sin of every man who would ever live. His was a perfect sacrifice for sins in every sense of the word, not a partial, limited one. And because He bore every single one of our sins, we always have forgiveness. We are not trying to get it, we have it!
Romans 5:18 -- Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Ephesians 4:32 -- And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Colossians 2:13 -- And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Colossians 3:13 -- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
1 John 1:7 -- But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 2:12 -- I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
No mention by Paul
Paul wrote about two-thirds of the New Testament. Now if confession of sin in order to be forgiven and to be right with God is so important to the believer, then Paul has done us a great injustice by not mentioning it in his letters to us, the church! But you will never find Paul teaching that to the church.
Confession of sin to be made righteousness appears only once in 1 John 1:9, and it is addressed to non-believers.
Who is it for?
The preceding verse itself gives the answer. Let the Bible interpret the Bible!
1 John 1:8 -- If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Will a Christian say that he has "no sin"? In the first place, he became a Christian by acknowledging before God that he is a sinner in need of the Saviour! Furthermore, Christians today are so sin-conscious, rather than righteous-conscious.
Obviously, the verse is not for Christians, but for non-believers who say that they have no sin. John tells such people that they are deceiving themselves. But he also assures them that if they acknowledge that they are sinners, then there is a way out for them -- if they confess their sinfulness to God, God is faithful and just to Christ and His finished work, and will forgive them and wash away all their sins, and make them righteous forever by the blood of His Son.
Another clue as to why this verse is not for the Christian is the phrase, " the truth is not in us". Christians have the Spirit of truth, which is the Holy Spirit, in them. Non-believers don't.
John 14:17 -- Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you [after Pentecost].
What do we do then, when we sin?
The Greek word for "confess" in 1 John 1:9 is "homologeo". According to Strong's Greek Lexicon, it means "to say the same thing as another, that is, to agree with, assent".
What are we to say, and in agreement with who?
I believe that we are to agree with God and say the same thing God says about our sins. That is true confession of sin.
So, what does God say about our sins?
* He has removed all of them -- past, present and future sins (Colossians 2:13, 1 John 1:7).
* He does not keep an account of them nor does He remember them (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 4:8, Hebrews 8:12 and Hebrews 10:17).
* We already have forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 2:13, Colossians 3:13, 1 John 2:12).
Here is a sample of what I confess when I sin:
"Father I messed up again. I did xxxxx and I'm sorry. Jesus I'm sorry, Holy Spirit I'm sorry. Lord, change me in this area and help me overcome this sin. I thank you that Jesus is still my righteousness. I thank you that by His blood I am still clean. I believe that Jesus' work on the cross and His blood is 1,000 times more powerful than Adam's work and my sinning. I thank you that you will not record this sin and that, in truth, I already have forgiveness for all the sins I will ever commit because Jesus already bore my lifetime of sins 2,000 years ago. I also thank you that Jesus was punished for my sins so that I will not be punished today. Thank you Father! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!"
And move on! That is, continue going to church, reading the Bible, singing praises to God and fellowshipping with Jesus. We don't have to go on a guilt-trip, do penance, back-slide and stay away from church! That would be self-righteousness and dishonouring the finished work of Christ.
