I John 1:9 (NLT)
But if we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
There are several key words in this famous
passage.
If
God’s forgiveness comes with a
condition. In fact, most of the promises
in Scripture come with a condition using the qualifying word, ‘if”. He will forgive if you confess. You have to take the initiative to ask for
His forgiveness. This means that you
have to admit that you have committed sins.
Pride often prevents humans from admitting that they commit sins.
Confess
The word for confess here means “to agree
with”. Confessing sins mean that you
agree with God that you have sinned. How
do you know that you have sinned? By
learning God’s Word and having the Holy Spirit in you who will convict you when
you sin. In the previous verse John
refers to the truth. John 17:17 says
“Thy word is truth”.
Sins
John is writing to believers. So he is not talking about confessing your
sin nature, but talking about individual sins committed as a Christian. Your sin nature was who you were before
believing in and accepting Christ as your Savior and Lord. That is past.
What is present are the sins you commit as a Christian. Again the previous verse says that if you say
you do not sin, you are deceiving yourself and the truth is not in you, i.e.
you refuse to accept the truth found in the word of God and in Christ Himself.
Faithful and
just
The Bible contains many affirmations of the
faithfulness of God (e.g. Lamentation 3:22-23, Psalm 36:5, 119:90, I Corinthians
10:13, II Timothy 2:13, many others).
You are always safe to believe that what God promises, He will remain
true to that promise. Indeed, He will
forgive you when you confess your sins.
God is also just, meaning that He cannot let any sin go unpunished. Yet, because He is also merciful, He sent
Jesus to accept punishment and die for your sins.
Forgive
I cannot find a better description for
forgiveness than what is written in the Life Application Study Bible. At conversion all our sins are forgiven—past,
present, and future. Yet even after you
become a Christian you still sin and need to confess. This kind of confession is not offered to
gain God’s acceptance, but to remove the barrier to fellowship that your sin
has put between you and Him. God is
willing to forgive when you confess your sins.
Cleanse
To cleanse means to remove. When you confess your sins, God not only
forgives you, He also removes the sins you’ve committed from His
remembrance. It took the blood of Christ
to cleanse God’s people from their sins.
Before Christ, it took animal sacrifices to cleanse people of their
sins. The shedding of blood, like it or
not, is God’s way for Him to forgive sins.
Remember these two truths: “All
things are cleansed by blood; without the shedding of blood, there is no
forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). “For I will
forgive their sins and remember them no more” (Jeremiah 31:34, Isaiah
34:25).
What wonderful, indeed almost unbelievable
promises in this verse. All Christians
can claim it. Confess your sins every
day and you will be viewed as righteous before almighty God. That is what Jesus Christ did for you through
His life and sacrificial death.
And don’t forget, as you feel so good about
being forgiven, you need to forgive others too.
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