Confession of sins - 1 John 1:9

 

'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' 1 John 1:9

It had always puzzled me that I was told to keep short accounts with God. The preacher would point to this passage. He would preempt my question, "But surely my sins are already forgiven?" He would say, "Your sins are forgiven but what about your relationship? Your sins put you out of fellowship with God."

He would then proceed to tell the story. There was a righteous judge whose son was to come before him in his court. The press were looking on to see whether the Judge would be lenient with his own son. The judge found his son guilty and fined him as he would anyone else. The judge then took out his chequebook and wrote out a cheque for the fine and handed it to the clerk of the court. The judge had treated his son no differently as far as the law was concerned but still treated him as his son.

The preacher then raises a question, "What happens when they get home?"

This is very much bringing it down to a human level. All that the preacher has said sounds very reasonable, but has strayed from what the Bible actually says. The preacher is effectively saying 1 John 1:9, is not about sins but fellowship. But it is clearly talking about having our sins forgiven. The Bible tells us that when we receive Jesus our sins are forgiven, removed and remembered no more. All of them - once and for all time.

You may have heard a preacher say that when we say to God, "Forgive me Father,  I've committed that sin again." God will reply, "What do you mean again?" But that's not right. If God has forgiven, removed and forgotten our sins when we believed, then He will say, "What sin?" 

Let's examine this and reason this through. To become a Christian we must accept that Jesus died for our sins. Would you agree? So, in order to accept that He died for our sins then we have to accept that we have sins that need to be dealt with. So, a believer is someone who has accepted that they sin. Now if we look at 1 John 1:9, in context we see that on either side of it there is a verse that is talking about not being in denial of our sins:

'8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.' 1 John 1:8-10

So, if John is talking to people who are denying that they have sins, and a believer by definition must be someone who accepts they have sins, then 1 John 1:9, is not written to the believer.

The thing that always puzzled me was, I was being told to keep short accounts in order to stay in fellowship with God. So, many times a day I was confessing my sins in line with 1 John 1:9. Yet I couldn't calculate how I was being cleansed of "all" unrighteousness many times a day.

Most of what I had been told about salvation made sense to me until I tried to write it out for myself. Sure, I could just copy word for word what I had been told, but it didn't make sense.

If this is so central to the Christian faith why doesn't Paul, Peter or James mention it? However, if we see it for what it is, it is a call to people who have come into the church because they like certain aspects of the Christian life but have not personally received Christ. We can see this is the Gospel spelt out to the unbeliever in the midst.

We are often told that the word "confess" in this verse means "to say the same thing" or "agree with." That is true. So, it is not a case of "name every sin you have committed." It is to agree with God that you have sin and your sin needs to be dealt with. Do not be in denial of your sin.

We can tell from the whole of 1 John 1, who John was speaking to. They were a particular group of people called Gnostics. They latched onto certain Christian beliefs but rejected others. Like many religions, they saw Jesus as part of their own belief system and did not allow Him to be who He claimed to be. Even today certain Jews and Muslims see Jesus as a prophet. In some Hindu Temples, Jesus is seen as a god among many gods.

The Gnostics rejected the idea of sin. They saw that the spirit was pure and sinless and the body was of the world and therefore did worldly things. They believed that after death the spirit went on still pure and undefiled while the body remained.

They believed Jesus was a disembodied spirit. This is why John starts the passage by talking about having seen and touched Jesus.

I know how hard it is to break religious practices. Just because something makes sense doesn't mean it is true. I am going to assume that you are a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit. I am going to say to you what was said to me. Take a one-week challenge. Stop confessing your sins for one week. Ask the Spirit to lead you. If after one week you feel you are now out of fellowship with God, then by all means start confessing again. But if you can accept the gift that Jesus has already given you then you will be set free from trying to make yourself right with God when Jesus has already made you right.

When I took that step it felt like I was stepping into the unknown. It was like I was taking a leap of faith into a giant chasm! However, I have not looked back.

There are many reasons why we might want to apologise to God for our sins and even cry on His shoulder in the times we feel so bound by them. But being more forgiven isn't one of them. Getting into fellowship with God isn't one either. You cannot be out of fellowship with God. He is in you and you are in Him. His face is always towards you. He's not in a swivel chair, "Oh no, you did that, I'm turning away. Oh good, you confessed it now I'm turning towards you!"

If I think of infants on the playground, they say things like, "I'm not talking to you until you say sorry.", "You're not my friend anymore." or they stick their fingers in their ears shouting, "La, la, la." while you're talking. Have we really reduced God to that level?

That kind of thinking had me very messed up. I never knew whether my confessions were up to date or whether I'd forgotten one. How many times do we hear preachers say that the issues we face are due to unconfessed sin? Strangely, that is exactly how tribal witch doctors speak!

No, the problems we face are because we live in a fallen world. Everybody faces problems. There are those who want to believe the good Christian life is victorious on every level: one where every light is green, every door is open and everything we do comes up roses. But that isn't the life we see the apostles living in the New Testament. Psalm 1, is written to Jews under the Old covenant. How can we expect a better life than Jesus and the apostles? They are given to us as an example.

They didn't avoid trials, instead, they were able to face them because they knew they were accepted by God. They knew that God loved them. They knew their sins were forgiven. They knew they were right with God.