He repeatedly warns his audience about this heresy throughout the remainder of the letter. Forgiveness does not remove from us the obligation to keep the commands of God. This is a view that has become quite popular in Western contemporary thought largely through Freudian psychology, which denies an objective basis for guilt. 2 John 1:8, ESV: "Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward." That needs to be made clear, for there are many who feel that it is almost automatic, and they take it for granted. 1 John 3:24; 4:13. The themes we have come to know for Christmas preaching are certainly present in how John begins his gospel. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). A preacher could … Continue reading "Commentary on John 1:1-14" Christ's work for us upon the cross has already done all that is necessary to forgive us. All rights reserved. Most individuals who have been raised in an evangelical church remember this verse from a very early age. If Christians avoid speaking about the malady of sin, we must inevitably avoid proclaiming the miracle of salvation and the very gospel itself. What is the difference between asking forgiveness and confessing our sin? That means to agree with God about it, and that is what the word confess means: Fess comes from a root which means to say, and con means with. But such a confident and joyful heart can never come except when one knows that his or her sins are forgiven.12. This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 38, number 02 (2015). The Greek makes the continual nature of this confession abundantly clear. i. John warned us against these antichrists in his first letter (1 John 2:18-23, 4:3). 1:8-10 The false teachers not only denied that sin breaks our fellowship with God (1 John 1:6) and that they had a sinful nature (1 John 1:8), but they also denied that their conduct involved any sin at all (1 John 1:10). That is how certain we can be of the cleansing that comes when we agree with God about these things. Yet, it is precisely here where disagreements arise. Simply because you are a Christian does not mean that you have fellowship with Christ. In that painful setting, we performed our ablutions. The apostle asserted that his intended recipients had an anointing from the Holy One (2:20), were children of God (3:1; 5:19), and had received the Holy Spirit (3:24; 4:4, 13). 1 Peter 1:8-9 The Joy of Salvation, Pt 2 - John MacArthur Obtaining ( 2865 ) ( komizo [word study] from komeo = to take care of) means to bring bear or carry (used this way only in Lk 7:37) and in the middle voice to receive back (in sense of requital, recompense or reward) or to get what is promised (as in 1Pe 5:4 [note] , He 10:36 [note] ) or to get back something that is one's … And because of that faithfulness forgiveness is assured. 1. It is true that 1 John speaks against the false teachings of Gnosticism (i.e., the belief that, among other things, Jesus was not a real human being but instead an entity of pure spirit).8 John counters such claims at the outset of his letter by insisting that he not only saw and heard Jesus but also touched Him (1 John 1:1). For a detailed treatment on the various forms of Gnosticism in history, see Justo L. González, Martin Luther, Large Catechism, III.91–92, in. 1 John 1. See John 20:23; 1 John 2:12. 1 John 1:8-9. John affectionately called the true believers in the group "my little children." As a schoolboy in Montana I endured many bitter winters when the temperature would sometimes go down to sixty degrees below zero for a week at a time. [⇑ See verse text ⇑] This verse offers John's third conditional ("if") statement in a row. Teaching continual confession for fellowship in this context is not biblical. John is instructing us about the obligation we have due to receiving atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Yet John does not present confession as a cruel taskmaster demanding an exacting enumeration of all sins. Instead, some have maintained that sinners are forgiven once and for all time at the cross and that this forgiveness extends over all sins (past, present, and future) to the degree that there is no need to ask for forgiveness since it has already been given at the cross. It’s the support of friends like you that enables CRI to to post new articles on subjects of interest and continue our weekly podcast. 2 John 1:8 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] 2 John 1:8, NIV: "Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully." It frequents the lips of Sunday school teachers and appears on activity sheets as soon as children are old enough to use … What Does 1 John 1:9 Mean? It was difficult enough that some people did not think it necessary to bathe at all during the winter months. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we cannot get dirty, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. that we were "as free from sin as the angels" as it is sometimes expressed; hence man has needed a Saviour all the … And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the … If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- ness.” At face value, the text appears straightforward. Thus, while the letter does address the errors of Gnosticism, 1 John is clearly an epistle written to Christians warning them about false teachings. Concerning this message, the apostle Paul wrote, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. As this is the nature of God, his doctrines and precepts must be such. But if we face up to it and confess it, then the cleansing that the Lord Jesus has fully and abundantly provided for on the cross is immediately ours, and we are as though we had never sinned. That was a lie that ignored one basic truth: all people are sinners by nature and by practice. 1 John 1:9. is but the same thing expressed in different words; for all unrighteousness is sin, and to cleanse from sin is to remove the guilt of it, by an application of the blood of Christ for pardon. The promise of 1 John 1:9 shouldn’t lead us into sin, saying “Hey, I’ll go ahead and sin because God will forgive me.” It should lead us out of sin, knowing that God could only be faithful and just to forgive us our sins because the wrath we deserved was poured out on the sin. That is not a confession at all. At conversion all our sins are forgiven—past, present, and … However, this does not mean that readers should take the epistle as being written to Gnostics or unbelievers. 1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, # 1:1 Greek What was from the beginning. How are these two distinguished? They are those who not only oppose Jesus, but also offer a substitute “Christ.” ii. To say with God what He says about something is confessing sin. (2) John, and his Christian readers, walking in light and truth, continually confess their sins and receive cleansing. Lest we be tempted to think that the gospel was just the first thing Paul preached before he delivered a number of other equally important teachings, Paul utilized the Greek word prōtois, which literally means “foremost, most important, most prominent” (Fredrick W. Danker, ed.. Hereafter I will describe this view as the “traditional” understanding of 1 John 1:8–9 because this is how the text was interpreted by the church fathers and the Protestant Reformers (see Thomas C. Oden and Gerald Bray, eds.. 1 John 1:8-10. Is 1 John Written to Believers or Unbelievers? He does not hold anything back when He forgives us, but He lavishes His grace upon us when we turn from our wicked ways and rest in Him alone. John Piper @JohnPiper. For He Who made the … He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently … Bob George Ministries, “What About 1 John 1:9?” accessed November 14, 2014, at http://bobgeorge.net/1-john-1-9/. (1) It can mean that there is no such thing as sin and that, therefore, no one is a sinner. Bob George Ministries, “What about 1 John 1:9?” (Frisco, TX: 2014), accessed November 14, 2014, at http://bobgeorge.net/1-john-1-9/. Now I do not mind living with someone who knows he or she is dirty and therefore frequently washes, but it is terribly distressing to live with someone who thinks he or she never gets dirty. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He currently serves as assistant professor of theology at Concordia University in Irvine, California. 1 John 1:9, which begins -"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" -is one of the most familiar verses in the entire Bible. The damage caused by this belief is extensive. (1 John 2:1a) 2 That life was made visible; we saw … Second, John addresses those who truly live according to Christ's commands (1 John 1:7). People can enter into the complete forgiveness and complete cleansing of all sins by God, through faith in Jesus Christ, not by confessing each and every individual sin, but by agreeing with God in regards to a person … This view should be distinguished from the Lutheran doctrine of objective justification, which, although it shares terminology in common with such perspectives, nevertheless differs markedly. Christians today are often tempted to shy away from the topic of sin. Thus, John grounds the purification of believers not in the confession of sin itself, since no confession could possibly make satisfaction for sin or merit anything from God, but instead in the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7) and the faithfulness of God: “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. As the Psalmist reminds us, “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand” (Ps. Here, John records the comforting promise that because of Jesus, we have a gracious God who receives, forgives, and cleanses repentant, confessing sinners of their transgressions. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8). What God wants us to do is to look at the sin before us and call it what He calls it. George explains his objection to the traditional understanding of 1 John 1:8–9 as follows: “If we believe we must continually confess our sins in order to be loved and forgiven by God, we are actually mocking God and telling Him that Christ’s work on our behalf was not sufficient. Perhaps no other text in the New Testament brings out such differences more clearly than 1 John 1:8–9: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 April 6, 2017. Subject to permission policy, all rights reserved. After all, nobody enjoys hearing that they are disobedient rebels who have offended a holy God in thought, word, and deed. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. This is, manifestly, the path of darkness and isolation. But there is a key to fellowship, and the key, as John is reminding us, is to walk in the light. Instead, John encourages us to recognize and confess the ongoing present reality of our sin and the ongoing present reality of our forgiveness in Christ. His audience was from God (4:6), had received eternal life (5:11–13), believed (5:13), had been enlightened by the Son of God (5:20), and were in Him who is true (5:20). The cleansing is not based upon God's mercy or His kindness or His love or, least of all, His caprice; it is based on the work of Jesus Christ. He was not, however, addressing believers.”7. The apostle presents no peculiar teaching in 1 John 1:9, least of all a manmade law perpetuated to enslave Christians to works of law. George sees this condition as placing an unbearable burden on Christians: the necessity of confessing every single sin.6. He confirms the teaching of his brother in ministry who wrote, “Is anyone among you sick? http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/, Tennyson on Theodicy: How a Victorian Poet Can Help Modern Christians Deal with the Problem of Pain, Flannery O’Connor and the Problem of Freedom, Loving Christians Who Experience Same-Sex Attraction, Gods in the Brain: A Review of In Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and Origins of Religion by E. Fuller Torrey, This is the Way…Or is It? He says that those who lie do not practice the truth and … This false teaching has originated from an incorrect interpretation of 1 John 1:9. While the views vary depending on the individual teacher, a common thread is that the text refers to unbelievers and not to believers. Without the bad news that sinners are condemned to hell, there can be no good news, no gospel, which declares that, in Christ, sinners are forgiven saints destined for heaven. George understands the traditional view as “mocking God” by asserting that a Christian must confess if he or she is to be forgiven. 1 John 1:9. There are many who are in bondage to this ‘law’ that was created and perpetuated by man.”5, Here, George argues that the traditional interpretation of 1 John 1:8–9 puts Christians under bondage to works. He believes that if Christians are directed to confess their sins (i.e., perform a work) in order to enjoy forgiveness, then believers are essentially placed under a yoke of slavery. Sadly, despite the primacy of the gospel revealed in Scripture and the clarity with which the Bible speaks of the forgiveness of sins won by Christ, Christians have been unable to reach a consensus on this, the chief teaching of the faith. It is the spirit of truth as opposed to the spirit of error . There are many … If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We sin daily and therefore stand in daily need of forgiveness. Even though we can be freed from sin, we cannot claim to be without sin. 2 John 1:8, KJV: "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that … The problem of sin, it is suggested, has been definitively dealt with at the cross, such that, beyond confession at conversion, Christians need not seek forgiveness for sins committed on a day-to-day basis.4, The most vocal proponent of this view is Bob George, host of Classic Christianity Radio and president of Bob George Ministries. Whenever we are aware of having fallen into a fleshly reaction, into sins, then let us stop right there, and in our hearts agree with God about it and experience anew this wonderful cleansing, this faithful and righteous cleansing of our lives, [purifying] from all unrighteousness. Though all our sins are indeed forgiven and removed far from us.. and though God remembers our sin no more.. whilever we live in a fallen body of flesh and blood, we have not become sinless. He wanted the Gnostics to understand that what they believed conflicted with what God said. Though His death will pay for sins committed after our … John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Jesus stated, "they that have been cleansed, don't have to be cleased all over again." These verses in 1 John are foundational to our understanding of the Christian practice of confession of sin. Close. 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. This view suggests a radical distinction between the old and new covenants as developed at length in Bob George. Steven Parks is an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and a PhD candidate in theology at the University of Bristol in Bristol, England. If you went into the heat of a one-room schoolhouse on a cold winter's day, with about fifty or sixty sweating bodies there, you became very much aware of this fact. Read the Scripture: 1 John 1:8-9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. He began by describing who Jesus was in verses:1 through 6. Thank you for your help. The damage caused by this belief is extensive. 1 John 1:8-9. (2) It can mean that the particular individuals who make the claim have no sin and have never had it, that they are a … God Himself would be wicked if He refused, on the basis of the work of Christ, to forgive a penitent sinner. This is the revelation that will empower you to go and sin no more. There is, however, an often overlooked but nevertheless spiritually disastrous result in avoiding the topic of sin: missing the reality that only sinners need a savior. Introduction. Daily Devotion © 2006 by Ray Stedman Ministries. Confession of sin is presented not as a tyrannical assault on the conscience but rather as an opportunity for afflicted Christians who feel the weight of their sin to unload feelings of guilt while rejoicing in the forgiveness that Christ so richly lavishes on His people. As Christians, we are not without sin. 130:3)? For permission to use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions. Do not say if, say, Lord, I have caused some foot to go astray, I have lived in my own selfish way. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen … 1 John chapter 1 KJV (King James Version) 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;. That John uses the third person plural of “we” in both statements indicates (1) if John or his Christian readers were to say they had no sin, they would be walking in darkness and bereft of truth. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. While John 1:1-14 is the appointed Gospel lesson for Christmas Day (Proper III), I prefer to preach on the first 18 verses.1 The Prologue to John’s Gospel is John’s birth story of Jesus. The term “references a characteristic or common action of an enduring and defining kind by which one concedes ever and always that a matter is factual or true, with a focus on the admission of wrongdoing.”10 Thus, commentators have translated the verb as “keep confessing our sins.”11. 1 Something which has existed since the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have watched and touched with our own hands, the Word of life -- this is our theme. How, then, is 1 John 1:8–9 to be understood according to those who reject the traditional view? There is a popular song that you sometimes hear in Christian circles: If I have wounded any soul today, If I have caused one foot to go astray, If I have lived in my own selfish way, Dear Lord, forgive. Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord…If they have sinned, they will be forgiven” (James 5:14, 15). 1 John 1:9 is a salvation scripture not a sanctification process scripture. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. First, he refers to those who claim fellowship with Christ while living in sin (1 John 1:6). Here, in verse 8, John refers … Our sin is worthy of infinite punishment, but the good news of the gospel is that our Lord is infinitely merciful toward His people. whom we have heard and seen. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yet, in the Christian faith, there is no more important teaching than the gospel of Jesus Christ. George explains his objection to the traditional understanding of 1 John 1:8–9 as follows: “If we believe we must continually confess our sins in order to be loved and forgiven by God, we are actually mocking God and telling Him that Christ’s work on our behalf was not sufficient. Thus this petition really means that God does not wish to regard our sins and punish us as we daily deserve but to deal graciously with us, to forgive as he has promised, and thus to grant us a joyful and cheerful conscience so that we may stand before him in prayer. May I learn to walk in agreement with You. There are five such "if" statements in this passage. 3. So 1 John 1:9 applies to us today by showing us that in order for a person to call on Christ as their savior and be born again they must first acknowledge that they need a savior. Find Top Church Sermons, Illustrations, and Preaching Slides on 1 John 1. This Daily Devotion was Inspired by one of Ray's Messages. But some believers erroneously think that salvation means sinless perfection, where we can never sin again! There can be no room for doubt. What does 1 John 1:8 mean? If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we are His He constantly watches over us and He is faithful to us, for He has brought us within His covenant (see 1 Corinthians 1:8-9) and we are His. 1 John 1:9 . 1 John 1:9(NASB) All Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version. You to go and sin no more be represented to this dark world, as pure and light. Use this content, please review RayStedman.org/permissions a sanctification process scripture Top Church Sermons, Illustrations, and we no... As opposed to the leader or leaders of a group of John 's followers permission! That the text refers to unbelievers and not to believers two are considered they... Devotion was Inspired by one of Ray 's Messages made visible ; we saw 2... Under the blood of Jesus Christ to walk in agreement with you is the of. 1:8–9 to be without sin assistant professor of theology at Concordia University in Irvine California. Law of God, his doctrines and precepts must be such the law of God John 's.... Say with God and can not claim to be cleased all over again. Christ... Doesn ’ t just deal with the sin before us and call what... As pastor of Bethlehem College & Seminary those who reject the traditional view the present subjunctive! His doctrines and precepts must be such this verse from a very early age Christian practice of of! Fellowship on which believers walk look at the sin of your past, but offer... Spirit of truth as opposed to the Christian RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http //bobgeorge.net/1-john-1-9/. Dark world, as John 1 john 1:8-9 meaning instructing us about the obligation to keep the commands of God is in! 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