This verse marks the only time in the New Testament that we are told to confess our sins in order to receive forgiveness. Paul wrote 14 books of the New Testament, and was given the Covenant of God’s grace in face-to-face meetings with the Lord Jesus, and he never once mentions confession by the saint. Paul’s lone usage of “confess” as it regards salvation is found in Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”. This confession is obviously for salvation and not the repeated confessing of sins that we commit.
John’s usage is not as a foundational principle for how believers deal with sin. If it were, then we would be judged responsible for all of our sins, every moment of every day. This would take the judgment for sins off of Jesus, and place it onto the believer. The load of this is more than any of us can bear.
Do you suppose that you can remember all of your faults? If you can, then you must literally remember ALL of them. Not one can be left out. Not only would you have to confess the sins that you committed, you would also have to seek forgiveness for the ones that you committed but do not know about. You would also be responsible for the sins of omission; the things you should have done but did not do. This is overwhelming!
Within context of chapter one, 1 John 1:9 is actually written to the sinner. In verse 3, John said that he was relating these things so “that ye also may have fellowship with us”. Then in verse 8, he tells the same unbelievers that if they deny that they have sin then they are operating under a self-deception and that they need to confess their sins and find forgiveness in Christ. When he wants to address how the believer deals with sin he introduces the phrase “my little children” (1 John 2:1), a term he never uses with the lost in chapter one.
Notice what John says to the believer: “My little children, these things write I unto to you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2). Here, John does not mention confessing the sins; only remember than Jesus is your attorney in the high court of heaven. He is the “propitiation” or “satisfaction” for all of our sins. God cannot be angry with sin, for He has been satisfied by the sin offering.
By informing us that all of our sins are forgiven, John is equipping us to “sin not”. Only he who knows that he is forgiven can have the peace and joy to live free from this world of sin. Sin comes natural to us, because we did it our whole lives. Even though we are free from the old nature that we had, we still know how to sin by habit, like tying our shoes without thinking about it. The knowledge that we are completely washed and forgiven is the very thing that Satan wishes to deny us. Grasp hold of that knowledge and watch sin vanish from your life.
If Paul intended for the believer to confess their sins in order to have them forgiven, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to remind us of this at least once in 14 books? He deals with Christians getting drunk on communion wine, committing incest, suing one another and sleeping with harlots (all in 1 Corinthians alone!) and yet he tells none of these to “confess your sins”. He simply reminds them of who they are in Christ and tells them to wake up to this fact.
John is telling us of a passionate relationship that ensues when we confess our failures to Jesus. I forgive my son for whatever wrong that he might commit, even if he never asks me to. I do this because he is mine, and I love him unconditionally. However, I love for him to say I am sorry because it gives me an opportunity to shower him with love. My forgiveness is not dependent on his confession, but the hug that comes to him is so much sweeter because of it.
When you fail and you know it, confess it to the Father. Don’t do it because you think He will send you to hell without it, but rather because you know that on the other side of that confession He sheds His love on you, and that is a wonderful feeling.
John’s usage is not as a foundational principle for how believers deal with sin. If it were, then we would be judged responsible for all of our sins, every moment of every day. This would take the judgment for sins off of Jesus, and place it onto the believer. The load of this is more than any of us can bear.
Do you suppose that you can remember all of your faults? If you can, then you must literally remember ALL of them. Not one can be left out. Not only would you have to confess the sins that you committed, you would also have to seek forgiveness for the ones that you committed but do not know about. You would also be responsible for the sins of omission; the things you should have done but did not do. This is overwhelming!
Within context of chapter one, 1 John 1:9 is actually written to the sinner. In verse 3, John said that he was relating these things so “that ye also may have fellowship with us”. Then in verse 8, he tells the same unbelievers that if they deny that they have sin then they are operating under a self-deception and that they need to confess their sins and find forgiveness in Christ. When he wants to address how the believer deals with sin he introduces the phrase “my little children” (1 John 2:1), a term he never uses with the lost in chapter one.
Notice what John says to the believer: “My little children, these things write I unto to you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2). Here, John does not mention confessing the sins; only remember than Jesus is your attorney in the high court of heaven. He is the “propitiation” or “satisfaction” for all of our sins. God cannot be angry with sin, for He has been satisfied by the sin offering.
By informing us that all of our sins are forgiven, John is equipping us to “sin not”. Only he who knows that he is forgiven can have the peace and joy to live free from this world of sin. Sin comes natural to us, because we did it our whole lives. Even though we are free from the old nature that we had, we still know how to sin by habit, like tying our shoes without thinking about it. The knowledge that we are completely washed and forgiven is the very thing that Satan wishes to deny us. Grasp hold of that knowledge and watch sin vanish from your life.
If Paul intended for the believer to confess their sins in order to have them forgiven, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to remind us of this at least once in 14 books? He deals with Christians getting drunk on communion wine, committing incest, suing one another and sleeping with harlots (all in 1 Corinthians alone!) and yet he tells none of these to “confess your sins”. He simply reminds them of who they are in Christ and tells them to wake up to this fact.
John is telling us of a passionate relationship that ensues when we confess our failures to Jesus. I forgive my son for whatever wrong that he might commit, even if he never asks me to. I do this because he is mine, and I love him unconditionally. However, I love for him to say I am sorry because it gives me an opportunity to shower him with love. My forgiveness is not dependent on his confession, but the hug that comes to him is so much sweeter because of it.
When you fail and you know it, confess it to the Father. Don’t do it because you think He will send you to hell without it, but rather because you know that on the other side of that confession He sheds His love on you, and that is a wonderful feeling.
