Guy Duininck: 1st John 1:9 from "Must We Confess Our Sins?"
I John 1:9
from "Must We Confess Our Sins?"
In I John 1:9, John continued the flow of his writing, still dealing with the subject of sin and sinning, and penned the words we are focusing on in this study. His words in I John 1:9 comprised the middle statement of seven consecutive statements he penned on the subject of sin and sinning. He wrote,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I John 1:9
It is important to understand that John’s statement in I John 1:9 was not an isolated statement, but was part and parcel of his systematic and extended argument against early gnostic error on the subject of sin and sinning. He had just used his conditional “If we” statements in I John 1:6 and I John 1:7 to create a clear contrast between those who said they had fellowship with God, but walked in darkness and were lying and those who truly walked in the light whose sin was continually being cleansed by Jesus’ blood.
Now he used his conditional “If we” statements in I John 1:8 and I John 1:10 and his conditional “If we” statement in I John 1:9 to create a clear contrast between those who disagreed with God, saying, “we have no sin,” and, “we have not sinned,” and were deceived, were void of truth, and made God a liar and those who, “homologeō our sins,” and were forgiven and cleansed of their sins by their faithful and just God.
John situated his conditional statement in I John 1:9 between his two conditional statements in I John 1:8 and I John 1:10 to highlight the extreme contrast between those who denied sin and denied that they had sinned and those who agreed (homologeō) with God about sin and about their own sin. It was this significant contrast between early gnostic sinners and true believers in belief and speaking and in what was, therefore, true of them that John was expressing with his
three conditional statements in I John 1:8-10. The errant early gnostics, characterized in I John 1:8 and I John 1:10, did not believe that they were sinners, did not believe that they sinned, and openly spoke their disagreement with God. They were contrary to God, His word was not in them, they were void of truth, and they remained unclean, yet in their sins. True believers, on the other hand, characterized in I John 1:9, agreed with God that sin was a reality and that men were sinners, agreed with God when they sinned, and openly spoke their agreement; they, “homologeō our sins.”
The ”confessors” John characterized in I John 1:9 had already been cleansed from all their past sins by faith in Jesus Christ and they continued to be forgiven and cleansed of any sins they committed after they were saved. It was this stark contrast between “disagreers” and “agreers,” between “deniers” and “confessors,” between the errant early gnostics and true believers that John was expressing with his important statements in I John 1:8, I John 1:9, and I John 1:10.
John never intended his words in I John 1:9 to be understood as a teaching to believers that, “only if you admit to God every one of the sins you have committed will He forgive you of those sins.” His words, rather, were intended to enlighten his spiritual children to the profound difference between being a person who disagreed with God, saying, “I have no sin,” and, “I have not sinned,” and being a person who agreed with God and acknowledged that agreement concerning sin and concerning their own sins. Those who disagreed with God about sin and sinning were not true believers. Those who agreed with God about sin and sinning were true believers.
