CONFESSION OF SINS - 1 JOHN 1:9

 

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

 

John presents one of the most critical doctrines of the Christian faith with his 4th conditional statement of verses 6-10. This doctrine has the greatest impact upon the believer’s most intimate fellowship with God. The correct understanding and implementation of this truth will determine the quality and effectiveness of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore it should be understood that the following verse establishes the definitive basis of true spirituality in the Christian’s life.

John’s Fourth Premise

“If” expresses the probability of our decision in dealing with personal sins—if we decide to confess our sins, then what proceeds will transpire. Sin breaks our fellowship with God, disrupting our moment-by-moment walking in the Light. The Apostle Paul discussed the believers’ sinfulness in Ephesians 4:17-32 and commands, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30a). By grieving the Spirit we also quench the Spirit’s empowering presence in our lives (1 Thessalonians 5:19). It then becomes our responsibility to resolve the problem of our relationship with the Lord. By applying the solution that John provides will indicate just how much we recognize and value the importance of fellowship with our Savior. This should be our automatic response to sin, validating how serious we are in desiring to “please God” as Paul explains:

Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. (1 Thessalonians 4:1) [emphasis added]

To confess means to simply name the sin, it does not imply, require or demand that we feel sorry as the basis for forgiveness. We confess our known sins privately to the Father in prayer, not to anyone else, for our fellowship is broken with the Father and needs to be restored. By doing so, the believer agrees that they have committed a transgression of God’s holy directives. The intent of “confess our sins” is to do so both continually and intermittently—whenever we sin. My first pastor-teacher, Robert F. Armstrong (1925-2001)1 rightly stressed that this means we should “keep short accounts with God.” To remain out of fellowship with God the believer reverts back to their “former manner of life” (Ephesians 4:22). There is a downside regarding this status as Paul explained to the Corinthians: “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men” (1 Corinthians 3:1a) denoting the loss of the filling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

 The Outcome of Confession

With the confession of sin we experience the marvelous grace of God. He is continually faithful, being “true to His own nature and promises,”2 (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:9) and He is continually righteous, “because He has found a righteous basis for forgiveness in the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.”3 And James concurs that He never varies from His character of being continually faithful and righteous (James 1:17).

Based upon His character, John maintains that He customarily (routinely) does two things: forgive and to cleanse,4 expressing His Divine purpose for being faithful and righteous. He forgives our sins every time we confess and at the same time He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. It’s not difficult to understand His forgiveness of our sins since they had already been judged on the cross by Jesus Christ. But the cleansing of all unrighteousness needs additional clarification.

Since sin breaks our fellowship with God, confessing our known sins demonstrates our obedience and conveys our desire to “walk in the Light” and recover our fellowship with Him. However, there are many sins we commit that we may not be aware of (especially mental attitude sins) they are regarded by Him as unrighteousness—unknown sins. And because the Father has made provision for us to have fellowship with Him, He provides cleansing of all our unknown sins. This does not mean we are to be careless and unconcerned about learning all which God deems sinful, for our ambition should be to obey and please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).

True Spirituality

As mentioned at the outset, this doctrine of confession of sin defines the Christians’ status of spirituality. Dr. Chafer explains that “spirituality represents that manner of life which is wrought in (not, by) the believer by the unhindered, indwelling Spirit of God.”5 This presupposes that the believer is not grieving or quenching the Spirit because of unconfessed sin. When the Apostle Paul stated that “he who is spiritual appraises all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15) he was emphasizing the believers’ position of being in fellowship with God. The believer unhindered by sins is now in a ‘spiritual’ position and has the ability to appraise (evaluate, assimilate and understand) spiritual phenomena—Divine truths of Scripture.

A ‘natural’ man, the one who has not believed in Jesus Christ, is unable to understand spiritual phenomena, as Paul observed:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Paul declared that the Corinthians in their sinful condition were not “spiritual men” but “men of flesh” (3:1; carnal in the King James Bible) and that they walk “like mere men” (3:3). In other words, to walk “like mere men” is synonymous to “walk in darkness” (1 John 1:6)—believers emulating the unbeliever (natural man) whose life is driven by fleshly (carnal) desires.

The Apostle Paul catalogs the “deeds of the flesh”: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these (Galatians 5:19–21a). Whenever a believer involves themselves in any of these sinful deeds he emulates the unbeliever and walks in darkness and not in the Light.

In conclusion, it is not what the believer does or doesn’t do that classifies him as being ‘spiritual.’ Therefore, true spirituality characterizes the believers’ manner of life—led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:18)—accomplished by the unhindered, indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the status of being unimpeded by sin that grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit.

The Challenge

Are we believers who desire to please God? To live a Spirit empowered life to walk in His Light? Then this passage provides the mechanics necessary to maintain our moment-by-moment fellowship with God. To become aware of our sins, we need an in-depth knowledge of His Word. And above all else, we need to keep short accounts with God.

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[1] Pastor for 49 years of Warrendale Community Church of Dearborn, MI.

[2] Vincent, Marvin R. (n/d). Word Studies in the New Testament. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2.321.

[3] MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, p. 2310.

[4] Wallace, D. B. (1996) Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, p. 472 & 562.

[5] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 7.292.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi