1 John 1:9 NASB
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Other translation
King James Bible
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Study
If we confess our sins
The opposite hypothesis is now taken and expanded, as in 1 John 1:7; but here is no conjunction, no ‘but’, as in 1 John 1:7; and the asyndeton is telling. Greek has such a wealth of connecting particles, that in that language asyndeton is specially remarkable.
Here there is expansion and progress, not only in the second half of the verse where ‘He is faithful and righteous’ takes the place of ‘we are true’; but in the first half also; where ‘confess our sins’ takes the place of ‘say we have sin’.
The latter admission costs us little: the confession of the particular sins which we have committed costs a good deal, and is a guarantee of sincerity.
He who refuses to confess, may perhaps desire, but certainly does not seek forgiveness.
‘He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy’ (Proverbs 28:13).
Obviously confession to Him who is ‘faithful and righteous’, and to those ‘selves’ whom we should otherwise ‘lead astray’, is all that is meant.
The passage has nothing to do with the question of confession to our fellow-men.
Faithful and just
Better, faithful and righteous, to bring out the contrast with ‘unrighteousness’ and the connexion with ‘Jesus Christ the righteous’ (1 John 2:1), where the same word (δίκαιος) is used.
The Greek ‘and’ (καί) sometimes means ‘and yet’, and frequently does so in John; see John 1:10. It is possible that it has this meaning here.
‘God is faithful (to His promises to us) and yet righteous (in hating and punishing sin)’. He keeps His promise of mercy to the penitent without losing His character for righteousness and justice.
In any case beware of making ‘righteous’ a vague equivalent for ‘kind, gentle, or merciful’. It means ‘just’ (which is to some extent the opposite of ‘merciful’), and affirms that God in keeping His word gives to each his due.
The distinction which refers ‘faithful’ to mortal sins and ‘righteous’ to venial ones is frivolous.
For ‘faithful’ in the sense of keeping promises comp.
▪︎ ‘He is faithful that promised’ (Hebrews 10:23);
▪︎ ‘She counted Him faithful who had promised’ (Hebrews 11:11);
▪︎ and for ‘righteous’ in the sense of giving just awards comp. ‘Righteous art Thou … because Thou didst thus judge … True and righteous are Thy judgments’ (Revelation 16:5-7).
To forgive us our sins
In spite of what some eminent scholars have said to the contrary, it is perhaps true that the Greek for these words includes to some extent the idea of intention and aim.
Thus the Vulgate, fidelis est et justus, ut remittat nobis peccata nostra;
and Wyclif, ‘He is feithful and just that He forgeve to us oure synnes’;
and the Rhemish, ‘He is faithful and just, for to forgive us our sinnes’.
In John we find the conviction deeply rooted that all things happen in accordance with the decrees of God: events are the results of His purposes.
And this conviction influences his language: so that constructions (ἵνα) which originally indicated a purpose, and which even in late Greek do not lose this meaning entirely, are specially frequent in his writings: see John 5:36.
It is God’s decree and aim that His faithfulness and righteousness should appear in His forgiving us and cleansing us. Comp. ‘Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned … that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest’ (Psalm 51:4).
Our sins
Those particular acts of sin which we have confessed, and from the punishment due for which we are thus set free.
‘I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin’ (Psalm 32:5).
‘He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy’ (Proverbs 28:13).
And to cleanse us
This is not a repetition in different words; it is a second and distinct result of our confession:
- We are absolved from sin’s punishment;
- We are freed from sin’s pollution.
▪︎ The forgiveness is the averting of God’s wrath;
▪︎ the cleansing is the beginning of holiness.
Devotional
Confessing our sins has meaning when we view our sin the same way as God does, when we have the same revulsion and disdain for them.
This kind of confession opens our hearts to the flood of heaven’s grace (see Psalms 51).
God shares with us the sweet liberation from sin that became possible by the sacrifice that His Son Jesus brought on the cross on Golgotha.
By this sacrifice our sins are not only forgiven, but we are purified.
Colossians 1:21-22 NASB
²¹And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, ²²yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach
Prayer suggestion
▪︎ Confess your sins to your heavenly Father
▪︎ Ask God to forgive me for… (verbalize to God specifically your sins)
▪︎ Thank God that you can always come to Him and honestly share problems, sorrows, and frustrations
▪︎ Ask God to set you free me from their power in your life.
▪︎ Ask God to and give you the confidence that He has not only forgiven them, but that is working on you to make you pure and holy.
Twitter: @SchoemakerHarry
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