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Do you need to confess your sins before God forgives you? (1 John 1:9)

By Jeremy Myers
13 Comments

Do you need to confess your sins before God forgives you? (1 John 1:9)
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In 1 John 1:9, we are invited to confess our sins so that God will forgive us. The verse says this:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But does this mean that if we do not confess our sins to God, He will not forgive us? No, the truth is that God has already forgiven you for all your sins, past, present, and future.

1 John 1:9So what did the Apostle John mean when he wrote 1 John 1:9? To understand this verse, we need to understand three things. We need to understand the meaning of the word “confess,” the meaning of the word “forgive” and the overall message and theme of 1 John.

Let us look at these three key ideas.

The Meaning of the Word “Confess”

The word confess comes from the Greek word homologeō, and it literally means “to say the same thing.” The word means more than just to admit, proclaim, or declare something. Instead, it has in view a conversation with God or others about what is true, and we agree with them about what they are saying.

The opposite of confession is denial (arneomai). When God makes a statement about some truth, we can either agree with God or disagree (John 1:20; 1 John 2:23). Therefore, the word “agree” might be the best translation of homologeō.

To confess is to align with what God is saying, or to agree with Him about something.

confess our sins

Obviously, there are lots of truths we can agree with God about. Almost every statement in Scripture requires us to either agree or disagree. Yet when we study the word confess in Scrip-ture, we discover that confession, or agreement with God, has nothing whatsoever to do with gaining or keeping our eternal life, but rather with aligning ourselves with God’s perspective on things.

Never forget that we gain the free gift of eternal life simply by believing in Jesus for it. No confession or agreement is necessary. No turning from sin. No submission to Jesus as Lord and Master. No public declaration about being part of the family of God.

All such things are good works that are important for the life of the Christian, but which are not requirements for receiving eternal life.

Yet after we believe in Jesus for eternal life, God begins to work with us as His children to mold us and conform us into who He created us to be. When we are born again into the family of God, we begin our life as one of His children.

But God does not stop with just giving us new life in Jesus. No, once we have life, He wants us to grow and mature and become productive members of His family. So through Scripture, the church, and the Holy Spirit, God begins to teach us things about Himself, about ourselves, and about how to follow Jesus. And when we see these truths, we can either agree with God or disagree.

If we agree with what God teaches us, then we align ourselves with what God has said, and we begin to make the necessary changes in our lives that come from this agreement.

But if we disagree, if we deny the truth of what God has said, then we continue to live in ignorance and self-deception, and we will not make progress in our lives as Christians. We will remain part of the family of God, but we will remain immature and fruitless.

So the word confess means to agree with about the things He teaches, especially regarding those things that help us live up to our identity as children of God.

This definition of “confess” will help us understand 1 John 1:9, but before we consider the verse, let us look at the word “forgive.”

The Meaning of the Word “Forgive”

I have gone over the meaning of the word “forgive” multiple times on this website, so I won’t go through it in depth again.

The main point to remember is that there are two kinds of forgiveness in the Bible. There is charizomai forgiveness, which is free and unconditional. God freely extends charizomai forgiveness to all people throughout all time for all sins, no matter what. Believers and unbelievers alike have charizomai forgiveness. It does not require confession or repentance. All sins–past, present, and future-are freely forgiven by God with this type of forgiveness.

The second type of forgiveness is aphesis forgiveness. It is always conditional, and is for our benefit; not God’s. Though God has freely forgiven us for all our sins, if we want to experience the release from the bondage of sin, then there are things we need to do … such as confess, repent, and purify our lives.

You can probably already guess which type of forgiveness is mentioned in 1 John 1:9. Yes, since confession is mentioned, then it makes sense that the second type of forgiveness, aphesis forgiveness, is in view.

See this article on forgiveness for more or you can also take the lesson on “Forgiveness” in my Gospel Dictionary Online Course.

forgiveness

And while this key helps our understanding of 1 John 1:9 the most, let us turn to the third key, which is the overall theme of 1 John.

The Overall Theme of 1 John

Some people think that the letter of 1 John is about how to know whether or not you have eternal life. Some people teach that 1 John contains “Tests of Life” and if you pass these tests, then you can know that you have life.

But this is not at all why John wrote this letter. Instead, as if evident from the opening verses, John wrote this letter because He had fellowship with Jesus, and wanted to share this fellowship with others.

“Fellowship” is just a biblical word for “friendship.” (This word also will be covered in the Gospel Dictionary Online Course).

fellowship 1 JohnYou can have a relationship with somebody, but not fellowship. For example, if you had a fight with one of your parents several years back, you are still related to them and are still part of the family, but you might not call them on the phone or get together for holidays. You are related, but do not have fellowship. You are not abiding or remaining with them in an ongoing friendship.

So John is writing his letter to Christians, to people who are in a relationship with God and with each other, as members of the family of God, and is telling them how to have fellowship with God and with each other. John wants His readers to be friends with God and friends with one another.

This also helps us understand 1 John 1:9.

Confession in 1 John 1:9

So let us take the three keys we have learned and put them all together as we seek to understand 1 John 1:9. Once again, the verse says this:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you are in a relationship with someone, such as a spouse, a parent, or a child, and you want to maintain a friendship with them, then one of the things you will need to do is regularly own up to the things you have done wrong in that relationship.

Similarly, if someone wrongs or hurts you, this pain and betrayal causes a rift between the two of you, so that you probably don’t want to talk to them or hang out with them again. Oh yes, you are still related to them by the bonds of blood or marriage, but you might not want to spend much time in their presence.

But that rift, that pain, that sense of betrayal can be healed, right? And how can it be healed. By the other person owning up to what they did wrong, and by agreeing with you that what they said or did was hurtful to you. In other words, they need to confess their sin.

It is the same when you have wronged someone else. If you wronged somebody, you can’t just move on in the relationship acting as if nothing happened. The other person was hurt, and they need to know that you are sorry for what you did, and will work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

All of this is also true in our relationship with God. When we sin, God is saddened by our behavior. As a result, our fellowship with God is broken. Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when we sin, we often go hide in the bushes because we do not feel like God wants to see us.

1 John 1:7The first step in healing this brokenness is by confessing our sin and agreeing with God that what we did was wrong.

So while God unconditionally extends forgiveness (charizomai) to all people, and so we are all forgiven for all our sins, if we want to actually experience a release (aphesis) from our bondage to sin, the first step is to agree (confess) with God that we have sinned.

If we do this, we will gain release from our slavery to sin, and He will work to cleanse us and purify us from all our unrighteous practices, and in this way, our fellowship with God will develop and grow.

So do you want to be friends with God? One of things that will help is letting Him point out your sin to you, so that you can agree (confess) with Him where you have indeed done wrong. Then, once you agree, let Him further guide you into breaking free from this sin so that you can no longer be addicted and enslaved to it.

This is the message of 1 John 1:9. If you agree with God when He points out your sin to you, He is faithful and just and will help release you from this sin, and will help guide you into all the ways of righteousness. This way of living will help you grow in friendship with God and others.

Does this help you understand 1 John 1:9 and the role of confession? If you still have questions or comments, leave them in the comment are below!

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: 1 John 1:9, aphesis, charizomai, confess, confess your sins, forgiveness, forgiveness of sins, One Verse Podcast

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Two Kinds of Forgiveness – One is free, one is conditional

By Jeremy Myers
36 Comments

Two Kinds of Forgiveness – One is free, one is conditional

forgiven forgivenessWhen seeking to understand the biblical definition of forgiveness, it must first be understood that there are two main Greek words for forgiveness, both of which refer to a different kind of forgiveness.

Charizomai Forgiveness

The first type of forgiveness is charizomai forgiveness, by which God has graciously forgiven us of all our sins—past, present, and future — whether we confess and repent of these sins or not.

All people have this gracious forgiveness (charizomai) from God, whether they are a Christian or not.

As far as God is concerned, your guilt has been removed from you. Your sin is no longer an issue with God.

Aphēsis Forgiveness

However, we all still struggle with the consequences of sin in our lives and in our relationships. The biblical answer to this problem is to first of all recognize that we have the gracious and loving forgiveness of God, but then to admit to God that we have actually messed up our lives by failing to live according to His instructions, and then seeking to take steps and make changes which allow us to live according to God’s will.

The biblical words for what I have just described are confession (admit, agree) and repent (turn from sin and turn toward obedience). When we do this, we receive release (aphēsis) from the captivating power of sin in our lives.

When understood this way, we see that aphēsis forgiveness has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a person goes to heaven when they die. Aphēsis forgiveness is about whether or not we live in bondage and enslavement to sin here and now in this life.

forgiveness aphesis release

This sort of forgiveness is not about whether or not God “forgives” us. He does and He has! No, seeking to gain release (aphesis) from our sins through confession and repentance is about whether or not we gain freedom from the destructive power of sin in our lives which seeks to wreak havoc in our lives, our health, our marriages, our family, our finances, our jobs, and pretty much everything else.

God has forgiven so that we might gain forgiveness

So when we read the Bible and encounter the words “forgive” or “forgiveness,” how should we understand these words? One thing to do would be to get an interlinear Bible so that you can see when the text is talking about aphēsis forgiveness and when it has charizomai in view.

But if you don’t have an interlinear Bible, you can simply look in the context of the verse which talks about forgiveness, and if there are conditions involved to receive this forgiveness (such as repenting, confessing, or forgiving others), you can be almost certain that the forgiveness in question is aphēsis. If, however, the forgiveness is being offered freely by God to all without condition, then you can be confident that the forgiveness in question is charizomai.

Faith Alone in Christ Alone and Forgiveness

Faith alone in Jesus Christ grants us eternal life. But all Christians still struggle with sin. Many still sin just as much as they did before they were Christians. Though they have believed in Jesus for eternal life, there is still a pattern of sin in their lives from which they just cannot break free.

As a result of this ongoing power of sin in their lives, some of them begin to wonder if they are truly Christians. Sadly, many books, pastors, and Christian leaders only reinforce this idea. They teach that if you have patterns of habitual sin in your life, you have good reason to question whether or not you actually have eternal life.

But instead of this damaging line of thought, it is much better to realize that the way to gain release from the power of sin in our lives is not by wondering whether or not God has truly forgiven us and accepted us into His family (He has!), but by accepting by faith that God loves us completely, and wants us to break free from sin even more than we do.

This process of release (aphēsis forgiveness) begins by agreeing with Him that we have sinned (confession), and then making the changes necessary in our lives (repentance) to get back onto the path of righteousness.

So do not let anyone ever tell you that you have committed a sin which God cannot forgive. No matter what sin you have committed, God has already forgiven you for it in Jesus Christ. This forgiveness is free and unconditional, and has already been extended to you whether you know it or not.

But God does want you to confess and repent of your sin, not in order to gain forgiveness, but because you have been forgiven. This confession and repentance is for your own good, so that you can gain freedom and deliverance from the enslaving power of sin in your life.

If this idea is helpful or challenging to you, share it with others using the buttons below to get their input as well!

God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: aphesis, Books by Jeremy Myers, Calvinism, confession, eternal life, forgiveness, repentance, Theology of Salvation

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