1 João 1

1 João 1:9

Murray has an excellent discussion of the confession of sins writing… The one thing that God hates, that grieves Him, that He is provoked by, and that He will destroy, is sin. The one thing that makes man unhappy, is sin. (Ge 6:5, 6; Ezek. 33:6; Rev. 6:16, 17) The one thing for which Jesus had to give His blood was sin. In all the relationship betwixt the sinner and God, this is thus the first thing that the sinner must bring to his God, sin. (Jdg. 10:10, 15, 16; Ezra 9:6; 9:2, 33; Jer 3:21, 25; Da 9:4, 5, 20) When you came to Jesus at first, you perceived this in some measure. But you should learn to understand this lesson more deeply. The one counsel concerning sin is, to bring it daily to the only One who can take it away, God Himself. You should learn that one of the greatest privileges of a child of God is, the confession of sin. It is only the holiness of God that can consume sin; through confession I must hand over my sin to God, lay it down in God, get quit of it to God, cast it into the fiery oven of God’s holy love which burns against sin like a fire. God, yes, God Himself, and He alone, takes away sin. (Lev. 4:21; Nu 5:7; 2Sa 12:13: Ps. 32:5, 38:19; 51:5, 19) This the Christian does not always understand. (Ed: Most believers know that they should confess sins, but far fewer know this is to be as their very lifestyle. Even as they under grace practice let's say the spiritual discipline of meditation or fasting, so too they should make confession of sins one of their daily disciplines! Our confession in no way is meritorious but is the way of unhindered, unbroken fellowship with the Almighty. Unconfessed sins impede that holy communion with Him.) (Even those who have been born again have) an inborn tendency to desire to cover sin, or to make it less, or to root it out only when he purposes drawing near to God (Ed: This tendency is a clear indication of the persistence of the old flesh nature still active in all believers until we reach our glorified state). He thinks to cover sin with his repentance and self-blame, with scorn of the temptation that came to him, or otherwise with what he has done or still hopes to do. (Ge 3:12; Ex. 32:22, 24; Isa. 1:11, 15; Luke 13:26) Young Christian (Ed: And I would add "old Christian" do not be deceived!) if you would enjoy the gladness of a complete forgiveness and a divine cleansing of sin, see to it that you use aright the confession of sin. (Ed: While some accuse Andrew Murray of at times being a bit too mystical, I think he is spot on regarding the following statement which is highlighted because of it's importance to a vital, dynamic, Spirit filled Christian life) In the true confession of sin you have one of the most blessed privileges of a child of God, one of the deepest roots of a powerful spiritual life. For this end, let your confession be a definite one. (Num 12:11, 21:7; 2 Sam. 24:10, 17; Isa. 59:12, 13; Luke 23:41; Acts 1:18, 19; 22:19, 20; 1 Tim. 1:13, 15) The continued indeterminate confession of sin does more harm than good. It is much better to say to God that you have nothing to confess, than to confess you know not what. Begin with one sin. Let it come to a complete harmony betwixt God and you concerning this one sin. Let it be fixed with you that this sin is through confession placed in God’s hands. you shall experience that in such confession there are both power and blessing. Let the confession be an upright one. (Prov. 28:13; Lev. 26:40, 41; Jer. 31:18, 19) By it deliver up the sinful deed to be laid aside. By it deliver up the sinful feeling with a view to trusting in God. Confession implies renunciation, the putting off of sin. Give up sin to God, to forgive it to you, and to cleanse you from it. Do not confess, if you are not prepared, if you do not heartily desire to be freed from it. Confession has value only as it is a giving up of sin to God. Let the confession be trustful (2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 32:5; Isa. 4:7) Reckon firmly upon God actually to forgive you, and also to cleanse you from sin. Continue in confession, in casting the sin of which you desire to be rid into the fire of God’s holiness until your soul has the firm confidence that God takes it on His own account to forgive and to cleanse away. It is this faith that really overcomes the world and sin: the faith that God in Jesus really emancipates from sin. (1 John 5:5; 2:12) Brother, do you understand it now? What must you do with sin, with every sin? To bring it in confession to God, to give it to God; God alone takes away sin. Lord God, what thanks shall I express for this unspeakable blessing, that I may come to Thee with sin. It is known to Thee, Lord, how sin before Thy holiness causes terror and flight. It is known to Thee how it is our deepest thought, first to have sin covered, and then to come to Thee with our desire and endeavour for good. Lord, teach me to come to Thee with sin, every sin, and in confession to lay it down before Thee and give it up to Thee. Amen. - Andrew Murray. The New Life Octavius Winslow similarly emphasizes the supernatural and grace filled aspects of confession of sins… Deal much and closely with the fullness of grace that is in Jesus. All this grace in Christ is for the sanctification of the believer. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell," for the necessities of His people; and what necessities so great and urgent as those which spring from indwelling sin? Take the corruption, whatever be its nature, directly and simply to Jesus: the very act of taking it to Him weakens its power; yes, it is half the victory. The blessed state of mind, the holy impulse that leads you to your closet, there to fall prostrate before the Lord in lowliness of spirit and brokenness of heart—the humble confession of sin, with the hand of faith on the head of Jesus, the atoning sacrifice—is a mighty achievement of the indwelling Spirit over the power of indwelling sin. Learn to take the guilt as it comes, and the corruption as it rises, directly and simply to Jesus. Suffer not the guilt of sin to remain long upon the conscience. The moment there is the slightest consciousness of a wound received, take it to the blood of Christ. The moment a mist dims the eye of faith, so that you can not see clearly the smile of your Father's countenance, take it that instant to the blood of atonement. Let there be no distance between God and your soul. Sin separates. But sin immediately confessed, mourned over, and forsaken, brings God and the soul together in sweet, close, and holy fellowship. Oh the oneness of God and the believer, in a sin-pardoning Christ! Who can know it?—He only who has experienced it. To cherish, then, the abiding sense of this holy, loving oneness, the believer must live near the fountain. He must wash daily in the brazen laver that is without; then, entering within the veil, he may "draw near" the mercy-seat, and ask what he will of Him that dwells between the cherubim. Thank God for the smallest victory gained. Praise Him for any evidence that sin has not entire dominion. Every fresh triumph achieved over some strong and easy-besetting infirmity is a glorious battle won. No victory that ever flushed the cheek of an Alexander or a Caesar may once be compared with his, who, in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, overcomes a single corruption. If "he that rules his spirit is better than he that takes a city," then, he who masters one corruption of his nature has more real glory than the greatest earthly conqueror that ever lived. Oh, how God is glorified—how Jesus is honored—how the Spirit is magnified, in the slaying of one spiritual enemy at the foot of the cross! Cheer up, precious soul! You have every encouragement to persevere in the great business of sanctification. True, it is a hard fight—true, it is a severe and painful contest—but the victory is yours! The "Captain of your salvation" has fought and conquered for you, and now sits upon His throne of glory, cheering you on, and supplying you with all needed strength for the warfare in which you are engaged. Then, "Fight the good fight of faith, be men of courage,"—"be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,"—for you shall at length "overcome through the blood of the Lamb," and be "more than conquerors [triumphant] through Him that has loved us." Here, beneath the cross, would I breathe for you the desire and the prayer once offered by the apostle of the Gentiles, in behalf of the church of the Thessalonians: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus. Christ." Amen and amen. - Daily Walking with God. Stephen Olford - The glorious language of this ninth verse undergirds the promise of divine recovery and fellowship with God. There Is a Sure Foundation for Forgiveness - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1:9). There are two truths in this foundation: first of all, the faithfulness of God's Word—"He is faithful" (1:9). If God says He can forgive you, He will forgive you. He cannot lie. But more than that, there is the work of God's righteousness—"He is… just" (1:9). Paul tells us that He is "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). When the Savior hung on Calvary's cross, He cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Why was He forsaken? Because He faced the greatest paradox of the ages: "He who knew no sin was made sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2Cor. 5:21). So we can rest on the promise of divine forgiveness. But more than that: There Is a Sure Provision for Forgiveness - "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1Jn 1:9). In that statement John tells us that God remits the guilt of sin. "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1:9). Taken from an Old Testament ritual, that word forgive means to send away. You will remember that on the Day of Atonement, after the high priest had confessed the sins of the people over the head of a live goat, he sent that animal away by the hand of a suitable man into the wilderness (Lev. 16:21). This is a vivid picture of the way God puts away our sins. 1. He Sends Our Sins to the Place of No Remembrance. Isaiah 38:17 tells us that He has cast all our sins behind His back. And Jeremiah 31:34 reminds us that He will forgive our iniquity, and our sin He will remember no more. 2. He Sends Our Sins to the Place of No Recovery. The prophet Micah tells us that He "will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). (ILLUSTRATION) Two or three miles off the south coast of England there is a place so deep that all the dissolved sewage of London is released there. Each day of the week, except Sunday, a ship loaded with garbage goes to that spot, and at the press of a button all the filth of the city is pumped into the depths of the sea. The remarkable thing is that minutes later you can fill a glass with that seawater and drink from it without contamination or harm. The sea is so deep that the poison cannot surface. Similarly, God puts our sins into the place of no recovery. 3. He Sends Our Sins to the Place of No Return. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). The point of this great promise is that East and West can never meet! The farther east you go, the more distant you are from the west, and vice versa. But God not only remits the guilt of sin, He removes the grip of sin. "He is faithful… to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1:9). If sin has anything to do with our lives as believers, we become not only defiled, but also defeated. Sin has its stains, and it also has its chains. Thank God, He replaces unrighteousness with the righteousness of our risen Savior. "He breaks the power of cancelled sin." (The Way Of Holiness) A W Tozer - If a Man Falls —1 John 1:9 Are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures? He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith. The devil will whisper, “You didn’t get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?” He will say, “You made a big ‘to-do’ about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn’t you?” He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith—and perhaps more than once! The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse. Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing—but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up! CLEANSING OF REGENERATION AND CLEANSING OF SANCTIFICATION - Lehman Strauss - God meets His children’s honest confession with a twofold blessing. First, He forgives the confessed sin or sins. Then, He restores His forgiven child to his former position of uprightness and the joy of renewed fellowship. There is no contradiction between 1 John 1:9 and 1 John 2:12. The latter verse teaches that initial act of judicial forgiveness which is necessary before the sinner can be justified and declared a child of God. This is the cleansing of regeneration. The former verse teaches the repeated acts of forgiveness necessary for the maintaining of harmony and happiness in the family. This is the cleansing of sanctification. The word rendered forgive (Greek, aphiemi) means “to send away.” The idea is taught clearly in Leviticus 16:7–22 where the live scapegoat is sent to an uninhabited wilderness bearing away the confessed sins of the children of Israel. The people were forgiven because the sacrifice was made and God was faithful. In 1 John 1:9 God is said to be “faithful.” His faithfulness is essential to His being, and because of Christ’s sacrifice, God’s faithfulness is exercised toward His children when they confess their sins. If our confession be personal and particular, offered sincerely from the heart to God, He will completely and graciously pardon and purify us. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). A W Tozer - Faithful to Forgive—1 John 1:9 Frances Havergal said that she came to a spot where she believed that the Lord meant exactly what He said. When He said, “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), she found out that the Lord meant exactly what He said. Why don’t you start reading your Bible with the thought that God meant exactly what He said there?… When you read your Bible, instead of wondering about it, say to yourself, “God wrote this and God is faithful; God cannot lie.” For example, read First 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. That’s a heartening and wonderful truth, if you are a Christian who may have sinned. FAITHFUL AND JUST - John Bennett (Day by Day: Bible Promises) Verses 6 through to 10 of 1 John chapter 1 give five ‘if statements. Each describes possible situations in which a believer may find himself. Scenarios 1, 3, and 5 are negative; 2 and 4 are positive. This interplay of light and darkness is unfortunately all too familiar in daily life. The first, middle, and last scenes portray believers whose talk and walk do not match. These verses (6, 8, and 10) each begin with the phrase, ‘If we say’. ‘If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth’, v. 6. Here, we give others the impression that we are in fellowship with God but speak, think, feel and behave in ways unevaluated by the light of God’s presence. John does not write that we ‘say not the truth’ but that we ‘do not the truth’. We are living a lie, giving the grievous impression to the world that our God doesn’t take sin seriously. ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us’, v. 8. In this case we are not only fooling the world into thinking God is careless about sin, we are fooling ourselves into redefining sin out of existence. Sin becomes what others do wrong; and in so doing, John says, we banish the truth from our own hearts. Could anything be worse? ‘If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us’, v. 10. How bad can it get? Arguing with the God who knows our every thought, motive, and intent? Here the charge concerns refusing to confess it. The word ‘confess’ in verse 9 means to call it what God calls it. A tactic of the world is using mild-sounding euphemisms for deadly sins. By doing this, we reject the diagnosis of the Great Physician. With great relief we turn to the gracious work of One whose ministrations are ‘faithful and just’, v. 9. In order to be just in relation to God’s demands, He need not withhold His faithfulness from us. In order to forgive and cleanse us, He in no way lowers the divine standard to do it. We can pray with David, ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness’, Ps. 143:1. J. C. Philpot. Daily Portions "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 Has the Lord made sin your burden? Has he ever made you feel guilty before him? Has he ever pressed down your conscience with a sight and sense of your iniquities, your sins, your backslidings? And does the Lord draw, from time to time, honest, sincere, unreserved confession of those sins out of your lips? What does the Holy Spirit say to you? What has the blessed Spirit recorded for your instruction, and for your consolation? "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Not merely on a footing of mercy; still less because you confess them. It is not your confessing them, but it is thus--your confessing them is a mark of divine light; your confessing them springs from the work of grace upon your heart. If, then, you possess divine life, if you have grace in your soul, you are a child of God, Jesus obeyed for you--Jesus suffered for you--Jesus died for you--Jesus has put away your sin. And, therefore, you being a child of God, and Jesus having done all these things for you, God is now "faithful" to his promise that he will receive a confessing sinner; and "just" to his own immutable and truthful character. And thus, from justice as well as mercy, from faithfulness as well as compassion, he can, he will, and he does--pardon, forgive, and sweetly blot out every iniquity and every transgression of a confessing penitent. ><>><>><> "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 "He is faithful and JUST." Oh, what a word is that! There is scarcely to my mind such a word in the Bible as that; so great, so glorious, so comforting--"He is faithful and just." "Just?" say you, "why I know that God's mercy and God's grace can pardon sinners; but how can God be just, and pardon transgressors? Does not God's justice demand the punishment of sin? Does not God's justice blaze forth in eternal lightnings against the soul that transgresses his holy law? How, then, can it be true, that God can be just, and yet forgive a confessing sinner?" But it is true, divinely True, blessedly, eternally true. And in it is locked up that grand mystery of redemption by the blood and obedience of God's co-equal Son. It is locked up in this one word--"just." "But how?" it may be asked. In this way. The Lord of life and glory became a security and substitute for those whom his Father gave to him. He entered into their place and stead. He endured the punishment that was due to them. For them he fulfilled the whole law by his doings and by his sufferings. For them he bled, and for them he died. For them he rose again, and for them ascended up to the right hand of the Father. And now justice demands the sinner's pardon, and puts in its righteous plea. And see the difference. Mercy begs, justice demands--mercy says, "I ask it as a boon;" mercy, as a part of God's character, looks down with pity and compassion on the mourning criminal; but justice says, "It is his due; it is his right; it belongs to him; it is his because the Redeemer has discharged his debt, because the Surety has stood in his place, because the Savior has obeyed that law for him which he could not obey in his own person." So that when we can receive this blessed and glorious truth, that to those who confess their sins, "God is faithful," and not merely "faithful," but also "just to forgive them their sins," how it draws out of the bosom of Jehovah a full, free, and irrevocable pardon of all transgressions, and especially of those transgressions that the sinner confesses at his footstool! (Philpot 1 John1:9 HE IS FAITHFUL AND RIGHTEOUS: pistos estin (3SPAI) kai dikaios: Faithful: Dt 7:9 La 3:23 1Co 1:9 1Ti 1:15 Heb 10:23 11:11 righteous: Isa 45:21 Zec 9:9 Ro 3:26 Heb 6:10 Rev 15:3 1 John 1 Resources Related Passages: Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Revelation 15:3+ And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ​“Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD JUST IN HIS JUSTICE He is faithful (pistos) and righteous (dikaios) - Faithful to forgive. Righteous or just in His punishment of sin. For believers, those who are forever in Christ, their sins have been eternally forgiven by virtue of Christ's death on the cross and their identification with Him. Therefore John can state that God is righteous in His forgiveness of sins of believers, because those sins have been fully punished in His Son. In other words, when we confess our sins, God does not "wink" at our sins but looks to the Cross where Christ paid in full the debt we owed (cf Jn 19:30+). As Augustine said "The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works… When man uncovers his sin, God covers it. When man cloaks, God strips bare. When man confesses, God pardons. God is trustworthy because He is true to His Word and His Promises. God is just because Jesus paid the full price for our sins. Hiebert speaks to the practical implications of "faithful and righteous" writing that "The assertion “He is faithful and righteous” assures God’s response whenever a believer’s sins have been confessed. God is “faithful” (pistos) to fulfill His promises of mercy to the penitent sinner; He is also “righteous” (diakaios) in the way He deals with the confessing sinner. The two terms indicate that in dealing with a Christian’s sins God is true to His word and acts consistently with His holy nature. His attributes of mercy and justice find their perfect reconciliation in the cross of Christ (cf. 1Jn 2:1–2).