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Confession of Whose Sins? (1 John 1:9) |
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Written by David Wise |
Thursday, 08 February 2018 10:14 |
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
This verse is commonly presented by those of the “free-will” persuasion as an invitation by God to the dead alien sinner to confess his sins and be eternally cleansed from his sins and be saved to heaven. In their mind, this verse is an invitation to the world for anyone to confess their sins, and God is still faithful and just to save even the vilest of sinners once they have met this one condition of confession of sins. While it’s certainly true that God does save the vilest of sinners (even a Mary or Manasseh’s stains or sins more vile than they), that salvation is not based upon our confession of sins, but based solely upon the sovereign grace and blood of Jesus Christ, not by any condition we meet to supposedly ratify our eternal life.
Scripture has to be read in its full context, not verses isolated by themselves, and this verse is a great example of that necessity. We have to determine who the audience that the Apostle John is writing to that he implores them to confess their sins to the faithful and just God with a confidence that they will be forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ. When we consider the many characteristics of John’s audience to whom he gave this admonition, it’s readily apparent this were not unregenerate men in need of eternal life, but rather born-again children of God who needed reassurance of God’s forgiveness when they inevitably failed their Lord, just as we do every day.
Notice the characteristics of John’s readers whom he calls upon to confess their sins:
Their sins were already forgiven
They are not being implored to “know God” to be saved eternally because they already “knew God”
They already had “an unction from the Holy One”
They already knew the truth
They had believed in the promise of eternal life by Jesus Christ
They had already believed the love that God had towards them
They already believed on the name of the Son of God; then they are exhorted to continue in their steadfast commitment of belief in Jesus Christ
(Then, since they already believed, 1 John 5:1 affirms that they were already born again)
They had the love of the Father already bestowed upon them, and had been called and manifested to be the sons of God (notice the usage of “us” and “we”, John including his readers in these statements)
They knew that Jesus was manifested to take away their sins, and already believed it
John believed they had already passed from death unto life (notice the “we” again)
They had a perception of the love of God
They prayed to God, obeyed God’s commandments, and were already doing things pleasing unto God
They already had assurance that the Spirit dwelt in them and were given the Spirit (notice the use of “we” and “us” again)
John had assurance that they were “of God”, that they had overcome the false prophets, and that Jesus was residing within them
John affirms that the love of God was already manifested towards them, that God loved them, and that Jesu was propitiation for their sins
It’s very evident from John’s descriptions of his audience that he was confident that they were already born-again, already forgiven of their sins, already knew God, already believed, and were already “of God”. Therefore, John’s intent in reminding them of the necessity of confession of sins was not to try to save these men and women to heaven, but to give them confidence and reassurance of our loving and faithful heavenly Father that is ready to forgive us here in time when we acknowledge and confess our sins unto God.
We all sin and fail the Lord every day. “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccl. 7:20). Therefore, for the children of God, for the believer in Christ, that are already forgiven of our sins eternally, we can have confidence to ask our Father to forgive our sins against heaven and against thee. John, then, reminds these disciples that God is faithful and just to forgive us when we fail; he will not sever our relationship or salvation; and he will cleanse us (experientially upon our own soul) from all unrighteousness that we have wrought.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 01 March 2018 16:06 |