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Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b)
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As we continue to look at the spiritual armor God has given us for our spiritual battle, we look at the breastplate. Specifically in Ephesians 6:14, Paul calls it the breastplate of righteousness.

And just as with the belt of truth, we will look at this second piece of the armor in three ways. First, how it was used on the soldier, second, how it is to be used for us as Christians in spiritual battle, and then finally, how we can put it on for battle.

Let us begin with what the breastplate did for the soldier.

The Breastplate for the Soldier

As the name implies, the breastplate of the Roman soldier was worn on the chest or torso of the soldier. Although at times, they were made out of leather, the breastplates worn by soldiers in Paul’s day were typically made from iron.

But the breastplates were not made from one solid piece of metal the way we might imaging seeing on a knight in medieval England. It was not plate armor.

The Roman soldier’s armor was scale armor. The Roman military breastplate was made of overlapping bands of metal that were then tied together with leather cords. This made the Roman breastplate more flexible and maneuverable than the kind of breastplates the knights wore.

The scale armor of the Roman soldier was much lighter and more flexible than the suits of armor worn by medieval knights. Remember, the Roman soldier had to run 24 miles in five hours while wearing his armor. I doubt that a medieval knight, wearing a full suit of armor, could run five miles in five hours.

This type of breastplate construction helped the Roman soldier on the field of battle. They were light on their feet, and the flexible breastplate enabled them to make quick maneuvers and changes during the battle.

And what was the purpose of the breastplate? It helped protect the soldier’s vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, and the entire digestive tract. If any of these organs were damaged in battle, the soldier was almost certain to die.

So the breastplate was obviously important. It was made of strips of metal so that it could be light and flexible, and it’s main purpose was to protect the vital organs of the soldier.

With this in mind, let us move on to see how the spiritual breastplate is to be used for the Christian in spiritual warfare.

The Breastplate for the Christian

As we seek to discover the role and function the spiritual breastplate serves for the Christian, it is important to remember that the breastplate is connected to and held in place by the belt of truth (cf. how the two are connected in Ephesians 5:9).

And the belt of truth is Scripture, the Word of God. We put on the belt of truth by reading, studying, and learning what Scripture says. The breastplate of righteousness then, is the right way of living that comes from learning and obeying the truth of Scripture.

There is a major difference between understanding the truth and living the truth.

There is a difference between being able to recite verses and list Bible facts, and actually living or applying those verses and Bible facts to your life.

Religious Leaders missed ChristmasDo you remember the Pharisees? They were Bible scholars. They were experts of the law. Most of them had the entire Torah—the first five books of the Bible—memorized. They knew the history of Israel forward and backward. They prayed and sang the Psalms. They could recite passages from the Prophets.

But this group of religious leaders disagreed with most of what Jesus said and taught, and it is for them that Jesus reserved His most scalding rebukes. For example, in Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus says,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These men were outwardly righteous. They appeared righteous to others. They had all the right words, and all the right actions, and all the right behaviors. But Jesus says to them, “It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. All that matters is how you look on the inside. What does your heart look like?”

This is what the breastplate of righteousness is for. Just as the breastplate was made of many interlocking strips of metal tied together to protect the vital organs of a soldier, so also, all the numerous passages of Scripture, when they are rightly understood and applied, work together as interlocking truths, to protect the vital functions of our life as a Christian.

Scripture keeps the desires of our heart on the right track, so that we desire the things of God, rather than the things of this world. In other words, to wear the breastplate of righteousness, we have to protect our heart, the center of who we are, by keeping our conscience pure.

Scripture also keeps our spiritual lungs breathing deeply from the indwelling life of the Holy Spirit so that we can be guided and shaped into the image of Jesus Christ. Scripture allows us to properly digest and comprehend the things we experience in life so that these experiences can be used to guide and direct ourselves and others on the path toward peace and unity.

When properly protected and informed by Scripture, our godly desires, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our life experiences lead us into the life of righteousness that God wants for us.

But what is righteousness?

Before we can learn how to put it on, we must know what it is. There is a whole set of English words that are all related to one another and attempt to explain a single biblical concept. The words include terms like justification, justice, justify, righteous, and righteousness. They all come from the Greek words dikē, dikaiosunē, dikaioō, and dikaios. If you want to learn more, my Gospel Dictionary Course will eventually have a lesson on “Righteousness”

The words are all related in concept and themes, and refer to the judgments, decisions, or announcements of an authority figure about the condition or “rightness” of someone or something else. All of these words carry the idea of something being “in the right.”

So, for example, a judge or justice might declare a person to be “in the right,” that is, not guilty (cf. Rom 3:23-25). An accountant might declare a set of ledgers or financial records “in the right,” equaled, or properly balanced. Government officials might ratify (or “rightify”) a treaty with another government or organization, thereby stating that both parties of the treaty agree that the terms of the treaty are correct, or “in the right.”

So this word family is one of those biblical terms where various English words have been used to translate the one set of Greek words, which then leads to some confusion about the meaning of the words. Some of this conclusion could be cleared up if Bible translators picked a word and stuck with it.

The two best options are the English words “right” and “just.” If they went with “right” then we would talk about righteousness, rightness, being in the right, and ratify. If we went with the word “just” we could speak of justice, justification, and justify.

Regardless of which term is used, however, there is something that must be noticed about this particular word family. When something is ratified, justified, or declared right, it is only a statement about the present and current condition of the person, ledgers, or treaty. It says nothing about their future condition.

If an accountant looks at a set of financial books and discovers that they are balanced, he will declare them to be justified. They are balanced. But this does not mean that an error or mistake will not be made tomorrow or next month which will put them out of balance.

Similarly, if two governments ratify a treaty, there is the expectation that they will abide by the terms of this treaty in the future, but history has shown that countries and governments break the terms of treaties all the time. So the current agreement on the terms of a treaty do not guarantee that the treaty will always be in effect.

Furthermore, even if a judge declares a person to be “not guilty” of a particular crime, this does not mean that the person will not commit that particular crime in the future. So the declaration of “rightness” is only about the present condition of something; it says nothing about the future.

This brings us back around to the breastplate of righteousness that we are to wear. It’s is God’s breastplate, and He gives it to us. Why? Because we could never achieve it or earn it on our own. God’s standard of “rightness” is perfection. God, as the divine judge, the heavenly accountant, will not and cannot declare any person to be “right” unless they are perfectly holy and without sin.

But that is impossible for any human being. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). In and of ourselves, not a single human being (other than Jesus) is “in the right.” But this was not acceptable to God, and so He decided to make His own perfect righteousness available to us. This is what Paul has in mind when he writes here about the breastplate of righteousness.

When God gives His breastplate of righteousness to us, He is saying, “No matter what you have done and no matter what you will do, your ledgers are balanced, your accounts are correct, you are justified because I have given My holiness to you.”

But of course, God doesn’t give His righteousness to everyone. As Paul states repeatedly in Romans and Galatians, God gives His righteousness only to those who believe in Jesus for it. God cannot force His righteousness on people; it can only be received by faith.

This righteousness we receive from God by faith then guides us into how God wants us to live the rest of our life by faith. This brings us to the discussion of how to take up and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Putting on the Breastplate

To put on the breastplate of righteousness, we must first recognize that, just as with all the pieces of Spiritual armor, the breastplate of righteousness belongs to God. In Isaiah 59:17, we read that God wears righteousness as a breastplate. Isaiah 59 further reveals that this righteousness is not the positional, imputed righteousness that God gives to all believers the moment they believe in Jesus for everlasting life. Instead, it is the practical, day-to-day righteousness that God expects and desires all Christians to live by. It is living the holy life.

But before we can wear the breastplate, we must have it. And as just indicated, we receive the righteousness of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. We cannot earn or buy the breastplate of righteousness for ourselves. It is the free gift of God to anyone and everyone who simply and only believes in Jesus for it.

However, receiving the righteousness of God by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is not the same thing as living the righteous life that God wants and desires for us. Just as a declaration by an accountant that the books are balanced is no guarantee that the books will not make mistakes in the future, so also, though we have been declared right by God, we still often make mistakes in our lives.

Just as a judgment by a judge that a person is not guilty is no guarantee that the person will not break the law in the future, so also, the declaration of rightness by God is no guarantee that we will not break God’s law in the future.

Once we have received the righteousness of God, we must make sure we put it on and wear it. The breastplate of righteousness is only helpful in spiritual warfare if it is strapped around our chest.

So how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? How do we make sure that the free gift of God’s positional and imputed righteousness becomes the practical and applied righteousness of God in our lives?

How do we make sure that God’s declaration that we are “in the right” with Him becomes the true reality of our life as we walk with Him? Since there is a difference between being declared right and actually living right, how can the spiritual reality of our righteousness from God become the practical reality of a righteous life?

The key to practical righteousness is to recognize that while all of us will continue to sin during this life, there are steps we can take to purify our lives and refrain from sin as we follow Jesus on the path of discipleship.

The breastplate of righteousness, remember, covers the vital organs of the body, such as the heart, lungs, and digestive tract. So when we seek to take up and put on the breastplate of righteousness, we seek to protect the vital and essential elements of our life as a Christian.

We seek to protect our heart and its desires. We maintain contact with the indwelling and purifying work of the Holy Spirit as we maintain a pure conscience before God. We make sure that the spiritual food we eat is healthy for the growth and development of our spiritual bodies.

The biblical practices of confession, purification, and repentance help us maintain righteousness and holiness in our lives. The first letter of these three terms form the acronym CPR, which is interesting because CPR is the practice of reviving a person when their heart or lungs stop working.

The breastplate protects these vital organs, but we can also restore them to proper functionality through spiritual CPR. Heart attacks often occur as a result of poor diet, but we can get a heart beating again and return breath to the lungs through spiritual CPR. If there is an area in your life where you are having a spiritual heart attack, or where you are about to be drowned by sin, God wants to get your heart beating and your lungs breathing again through spiritual CPR: Confession, Purification, and Repentance.

These three practices will help us achieve and maintain the practical righteousness of God in our lives. Let us briefly consider each.

Confession (1 John 1:9-10)

There is much confusion about confession. People wonder what they should confess, how they should confess, and who they should confess to. And then there is the question of how confession differs from repentance.

The basic definition of confession is that it occurs when we admit or agree that something we said, did, or thought was wrong. When we agree, admit, or confess that a behavior were wrong, this stops sin dead in its tracks. See “Confess” in my Gospel Dictionary course for more.

Quite often, we Christians do things we know are wrong. We know we are not supposed to lie, lust, steal, covet, or commit any number of other sins, but sometimes, in a moment of weakness, we engage in such sins anyway.

Afterwards, the Holy Spirit works with our conscience to convict us of our sin. The Spirit points out to us what we already know, that what we did was wrong. And if we agree with the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, then we confess our sin, and the sin does not take further root in our life.

John is teaching that when we sin, God often points out to us that what we did was wrong. When this happens, we are faced with a choice. We can either agree with God that our actions were wrong and then turn from them, or we can disagree with God and continue in our sinful behavior.

If we agree, then we are released from the potential addiction and destruction that this sinful behavior might bring upon us and are cleansed so we can follow Jesus in righteousness again.

If, however, we do not confess, if we do not agree with God that our behaviors were wrong, then we will continue in these destructive behaviors, and will likely become enslaved to a damaging and destructive pattern of sin in our lives. Sin will sink a hook into us, and will drag us down deeper into its destructive tendencies.

confess our sins

All patterns of sin begin by committing the particular sin the very first time. When this happens, God confronts us on it. He might do this through Scripture, or by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, or maybe even through the gentle words of a trusted friend. If we ignore the corrective prodding from God, we will likely continue in this sin, committing it more and more frequently, until we become enslaved to it.

Sin will sink its claws into it. It will hook into us and not let us go. We will become addicted to this sin, until it becomes a destructive habit or pattern in our life.

John gives the solution to this problem in 1 John 1:9. He says that when we sin and God confronts us about it, we should own up to what we did. We should confess our sin, agree with God that what we did was wrong.

If we do this, then sin will not gain a foothold in our life. Instead, we will be released from the addicting power and destructive consequences of that sin. We will be cleansed from the unrighteous behavior, and will maintain the practical righteous life that God wants and desires for us. See “Confess” in my Gospel Dictionary course for more.

Now, there is a way to break free from the addicting and enslaving patterns of sin in our life as well, but confession will not be enough. We will need repentance for that. However, before we talk about repentance, let us consider purification.

Purification (James 4:8)

While purification and confession are similar, there is one main difference. Confession is necessary when we do something we knew was wrong. We knew it was wrong to lie, but we lied anyway, and then our conscience kicked in, so confessed to God and to the person we lied to.

Purification is different. Purification is necessary when we do something wrong that we didn’t initially know was wrong. Purification is required when we discover that some action or behavior we performed—maybe many years—is actually sinful and wrong, but we didn’t know it.

While confession is necessary when we do something we knew was wrong, purification is necessary when God reveals the truth to us about a sinful behavior we didn’t know was wrong.

God doesn’t really hold these sins against us, for He constantly cleanses and purifies us from all sin anyway, but once He takes our sanctification to the next level and start pointing out new areas in our life He wants us to work on, it is our responsibility to purify our lives from these sinful activities, beliefs, or behaviors.

Believe it or not, there are many sorts of activities in life that most people—including Christians—do not recognize as sinful. We all come to Christianity with a host of bad habits.

And that’s okay.

God doesn’t expect us to get rid of them all before we become a Christian, or even in the first few weeks, months, or years of being a Christian. He takes us just as we are, and works with us slowly over time. The process of sanctification is a life-long process.

After we become a Christian, God begins to deal with us and some of our sinful ways of living, many of which most people don’t even think of as being sinful. As we seek to follow Jesus on the path of discipleship, He begins to show us that some of the things we are doing are not really what we should be doing.

Some of the behaviors God wants to purify from our lives might seem a little surprising, because we didn’t even realize that what we were doing was wrong.  Almost everyone knows that murder and adultery are wrong, but there are many sinful condemned by Scripture which few people realize are wrong.

Take money as an example. Many people, Christians included, think that the money they make is theirs to spend. Even though many Christians give a tithe, they assume the rest is theirs to keep, to do with as they please. But all money belongs to God, and He wants us to use money to love, serve, feed, and clothe others.

Gossip and slander also are a normal way of life for most people. We like to hear the newest juicy tidbit of news about other people. We Christians even like to spread gossip under the guise of sharing a “prayer request.” We say things like, “Did you hear about how Mr. and Mrs. Jones are going to marriage counseling? Yes, I heard they had a fight, and he went down to the local bar and had a few too many drinks. He ended up kissing a woman down there in front of everyone, and who knows what else they did… I wonder if they are going to get divorced. We should pray for them.” This is not a prayer request. This is Christian gossip.

Some of us have been engaging in these sorts of practices for years. Maybe even decades. And we never really knew they were wrong, because this is just how the world works. But eventually, through Bible study, prayer, a sermon, or the kind counsel of a Christian friend, we hear that a behavior we have always practiced is actually wrong and displeasing to God.

When this happens, we must make the choice to purify our lives from such behaviors. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

When we draw near to God, He draws near to us, and His closeness to us ends up shining light into the dark corners of our life, pointing out dust and cobwebs we never knew were there.

When God reveals to us that these behaviors are sinful, we are to cleanse our hands from such actions, and purify our hearts. In so doing, we will draw closer to God, and He will draw closer still to us. And of course, the process of purification will begin again.

The process of purification is a never-ending cycle of becoming more and more like Jesus, and more like the person God wants us to be.

So purification is different than confession. We purify our lives of sinful behaviors that we didn’t know were sinful until God pointed them out to us. But we are to confess the sins we commit which we knew were sinful when we committed them.

But what about when we engage in sinful practices that we know are sinful, and which we practice for a long time?

In other words, if we refuse to confess the actions we knew were sinful, or refuse to purify our lives from the sinful behaviors God revealed to us, what happens then? In this case, we continue to practice the sin. We will chase after it. It will become a pattern, a habit, or addiction, in our life. When this happens, there is only one way out: repentance.

repentance

Repentance (Luke 15:11-32)

One of the classic biblical stories about repentance is the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. It is story about a father who has two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance early, and then goes off to a far country to squander his inheritance on feasting and parties. He eventually finds himself living among the pigs, without food, shelter, or clothing, and decides to return home. When he returns home, his father throws a big “Welcome Home” party for his son.

Most Christians think this is a story about how God welcomes non-Christians in His family. They think the prodigal son represents non-believer, and the party occurs when this person becomes a Christian.

But that is not true to the story. The son was a son before he ever left home. He did not become a son by going home.

In the two previous parables of Luke 15, the lost sheep belonged to the shepherd before he went looking for it, and the lost coin belonged to the woman before she swept her house clean. It is the same with the lost son. The father doesn’t adopt a son he never had before. The son rebels and leaves and then returns. In this way, the son represents a Christian who went off into sin, and lived in sin for a very long time.

And at the end of the stories, Jesus says that there is great rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents. Who is the sinner Jesus has in mind? It is the sinful Christian.

The sinner who has turned away from the path of discipleship and decided instead to live in sin and rebellion against God. This sinner still remains a Christian, a son, but they are in a far off land, away from the light, love, joy, and fellowship that is found in the father’s household. But when the wayward Christian returns, God throws a party.

How is this return accomplished? Through repentance. The son journeyed to a far country, then when he realized that his sinful rebellion wasn’t good, enjoyable, or satisfying, he turned away, repented, and started the journey back. He was headed one way, and then he repented and started heading the other way. This is repentance.

It is for those Christians who have refused to confess their sin when God points it out to them, and have ignored God’s revelation about purifying their lives from sinful behaviors. Instead of follow God’s guidance, they continue to follow sin. But eventually, the find themselves wallowing in the mud with pigs. Once they realize how wrong they were, and how right God was, they can then begin the journey of repentance back toward God.

But this journey doesn’t happen overnight. If we spent a decade walking into the woods, we won’t get out in an hour. The journey back toward God will often take less time than the journey away, for after all, when the son was still a long way off, the father ran to meet him.

When God sees us coming back, He will run to meet us as well, so that He might walk with us, and even carry us, on the return journey. But the return journey of repentance must be made. Only through learning from our mistakes and journeying back toward obedience to God will we learn to avoid more mistakes in the future.

And the return doesn’t happen in an hour. If it took us 20 years to journey into the woods, we won’t get out in 20 minutes. Thankfully, it won’t take 20 years to get out of the woods, for the Father, when He saw his son returning from a long way off, ran out to meet him.

prodigal sonGod is watching for our return, and when we turn, and begin to journey back toward fellowship with Him, He casts aside all dignity, and runs with haste to meet us on the road, carrying and helping us when we are tired and weary from the journey. But we must journey back, if we are to return to fellowship in the family.

And the return journey requires repentance. It requires us to take the time, energy, resources, and locations that we used to use to aid us in our sin, and transforming or redeeming such items to be used in the pursuit of godliness and holiness. We turn away from our habits of sin and turn toward developing habits of righteousness.

Repentance is turning away from patterns and habits of sinful rebellion, and beginning to take the journey back toward God.

Conclusion

So the three elements of spiritual CPR can be summarized in this way: Confession is for those one-time sins we knew were sinful, but which we committed anyway. It keeps sin from setting its hooks and claws into our lives.

Purification is for those one-time or long-term sins we commit, which we didn’t know were sinful until it is pointed out to us through Scripture, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, or a good friend.

Repentance is for breaking free from the sinful habits or behaviors we have practiced for a very long time which we knew were sinful, but which we practiced anyway. Repentance is needed when sin has hooked into us deeply, and we need the careful hands of the Great Physician to cut the sin out of our bodies, and the healing touch of the Holy Spirit to restore our life and health. Repentance is often a long process, but it is the only way to recover from sinful habits and patterns.

Together, confession, purification, and repentance allow us to practice spiritual CPR in our lives as Christians. Such practices keep our lives free from sin and on the path of righteousness that God wants for us.

Righteousness keeps us healthy and strong as soldiers of Jesus Christ so that we can fight against wicked forces in spiritual warfare. Righteousness keeps our lungs breathing in the pure air the indwelling Holy Spirit, our heart focused on the desires of God, and our belly fill with the meat of the truth of God’s Word.

We take up and put on God’s breastplate of righteousness by removing our filthy clothes stained with sin and replacing them with His practical righteousness. When we get the breastplate of righteousness on, when we get it firmly in place, it becomes much easier to protect our heart.

Only in this way will you protect your life from the deadly and suffocating consequences of sin. Only then will we be able to stop the fiery darts that the devil shoots our way.

Do you want to learn about spiritual warfare and how to put on the full armor of God? If you want to defeat sin and gain victory in your life over temptation so you can better follow Jesus, take my course on the Armor of God as it is explained in Ephesians 6:10-20. 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, z Bible & Theology Topics: armor of God, breastplate of righteousness, confess, confession, Ephesians 6:10-20, Ephesians 6:14, Luke 15:11-32, prodigal son, purification, repentance, righteousness, spiritual warfare

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How does the blood of Jesus cleanse us from our sin? (1 John 1:7-10)

By Jeremy Myers
19 Comments

How does the blood of Jesus cleanse us from our sin? (1 John 1:7-10)
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One of the members of my online discipleship group recently asked me about 1 John 1:7-10 and how the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. Here is what he wrote:

I really appreciate your ministry and have been blessed by your books. I have a question for you regarding 1 John 1:7, where it says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. I just listened to your podcast about the two different words for forgiveness, but I’m wondering how this verse plays into it all, since it uses the word “cleanses” – what do I need to know to understand this well? -Eli

Thanks for the question, Eli!

1 John 1:7-101 John 1:7-10 does get discussed in various ways through my online course “The Gospel Dictionary,” but let me try to summarize here some of what I teach in that course. For a fuller understanding, you would need to take the lessons on Blood, Confess, Fellowship, Forgiveness, and Sin. Of course, not all of those lessons are available yet, but they will be soon… But while you wait, you can also read about forgiveness and sin in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus, which discusses these terms.

So here is my basic answer for how to understand 1 John 1:7-10.

Cleansing from Sin (1 John 1:7, 9)

Let us begin by quoting the pertinent verses:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. … If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7, 9).

There are five key terms which help us understand 1 John 1:7-10. We must understand what is meant by the words “sin, blood of Jesus, confess, forgive, and cleanse.” Let us briefly consider all five.

Sin in 1 John 1:7-10

The term “sin” in 1 John does not simply refer to breaking God’s law or doing bad things. Most Christians understand the word “sin” this way, but this is not primarily the way the Bible defines sin.

In Scripture, as in 1 John, sin is primarily the activity and actions that lead to and involve accusing and scapegoating other people. Yes, John says that “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4) but the laws were only given to keep us from accusing, condemning, scapegoating, and killing others in God’s name.

So lying and stealing are sinful, but only because they are part of the actions and behaviors that lead us to accuse, condemn, and scapegoat others. One premier place we see this in 1 John is when John gives the example of Cain murdering his brother Abel (Gen 4). This murder is the first sin in the Bible, and sets the stage for all sinful behavior that follows. (For a longer explanation, listen to my podcast episodes on Genesis 4.)

So sin is the ancient and universal human practice of wrongly accusing, condemning, scapegoating, and killing others in God’s name. This helps us understand what is meant by the term “the blood of Jesus.”

Blood of Jesus in 1 John 1:7-10

Few people actually believe that they engage in the practice of wrongly accusing, condemning, or scapegoating others. We believe that our judgments of others are righteous, valid, and correct. We believe that the people we accuse and condemn truly are guilty of the things we accuse them of.

Jesus died to reveal the source of violenceAnd while it is true that they might be guilty of some of the things we accuse them of, the human tendency is to amplify the sinful behavior of others so that we can turn them into monsters, and dehumanize them, so that we can condemn them, or send them into exile, or even kill them in the name of God.

But few humans recognize that we do such a thing. We don’t admit that our judgments are unjust. We think we rightly accuse and condemn others.

So Jesus came along to reveal the truth to us. And though He was innocent of all wrongdoing, we accused, condemned, and killed Him … and we did this all the name of God. But since He was completely innocent, His unjust crucifixion revealed that we humans have a problem with unjustly accusing and condemning people.

The blood of Jesus reveals this truth to us. And nothing but the blood of Jesus could reveal this truth to us. Only someone who was completely innocent could show us that we humans have a problem with unjustly condemning and accusing other people.

But the sad reality is that even though Jesus revealed this truth to us, few of us recognize our involvement in such behaviors. But we must recognize it, and we must agree that we are indeed guilty of these sorts of accusatory, condemning, scapegoating practices.

Confession in 1 John 1:7-10

The word “confess” means to agree. When Jesus revealed the truth to us by His blood, we are faced with a choice.

We can either agree with what Jesus has revealed, or we can disagree. We can either confess or we can deny that we do indeed engage in falsely accusing and condemning others.

Of course, if we deny that we are involved in such practices, then we’re simply deceiving ourselves and have not yet recognized the truth.

Forgiveness in 1 John 1:7-10

But if we do agree and confess that we have been involved in falsely condemning, accusing, and scapegoating other people, it is then and only then that we can begin to break free from such practices and start loving other people as God wants and desires.

Forgiven and forgivenessThere are two words for forgiveness in the Bible. One is freely extended by God to all people throughout time for all their sins, past, present, and future. The second is only experienced when we humans take certain actions to change our thought patterns or behavior.

It is this second type of forgiveness that is mentioned in 1 John 1:9. So while God has always and freely forgiven us for all our sins, we will not experience this forgiveness in our own lives unless we take some actions to see the truth about ourselves, and take steps to change our behavior.

But this change begins with agreeing or confessing that we practice sin.

Cleansing in 1 John 1:7-10

Only when we agree and confess that we do indeed engage in falsely accusing, condemning, and scapegoating other people will we begin to be cleansed from our practice of this sin in our lives.

The cleansing of our sin is not a spiritual cleansing, but is a cleansing and changing of our actual behaviors going forward. As we are cleansed in this way, we will grow in fellowship with God and with one another.

An Amplified Summary of 1 John 1:7-10

With these five terms in mind, we can now easily understand what John is saying in 1 John 1:7-10. Here is an amplified paraphrase:

1 John 1:7. God walks in the light and we can walk in the light with Him if we agree with the light of truth He has revealed. When we live in light of this, we will live in peace with God and with each other and will no longer engage in the sinful practices of accusing, condemning, scapegoating others, which was revealed to us through the blood of Jesus. When we turn from such practices, we will be cleansed from living in such violent ways.

1 John 1:8. Of course, not everybody wants to admit that they engage in such practices. We humans tend to think that our judgments of others are just, and that our accusations of them have the backing and support of God. But if we believe this way, then we are simply deceiving ourselves, and we have not yet understood the truth.

1 John 1:9. However, if we agree that we do indeed engage in the sinful practices revealed through the bloody death of Jesus on the cross, then God is faithful and just and will help us gain deliverance and freedom from our bondage and enslavement to these practices, and He will help us stop engaging in them any longer. (God has freely forgiven us of all these sins, but if we want to practically be cleansed from them, we need to admit that we engage in them, and then follow the example and teachings of Jesus in how to live with love and free forgiveness instead.)

1 John 1:10. So once again … if you deny that you engage in this basic human practice of accusing, condemning, and scapegoating others … if you think that the people you call “monsters” and “heretics” truly are guilty of everything you accuse them of … if you think that some people truly deserve to burn in hell for all eternity … if you think that war is righteous and good and we need to bomb some groups of evil people off the face of the planet … then you are calling God a liar, and you have not understood the first thing about God and what He taught through Jesus (cf. 1 John 4:7-11).

So what is John teaching in 1 John 1:7-10?

The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin by exposing sin for what it is and then calling us to no longer live in the way of sacred violence. His blood cleanses us through calling us to practice non-violence.

1 John 1:7The blood of Jesus is not a spiritual antidote to sin which somehow removes the polluting presence of sin from our lives.

No, the blood of Jesus exposes our sacred violence to us so that we can see in our own lives how we make scapegoat victims out of others, and then calls us to no longer live in this way. Instead, we are to walk in the light of Jesus and have fellowship with Him, with God, and with one another (1 John 1:3).

Of course, as John goes on to explain, if we deny what Jesus reveals to us through His blood, and say that we are not guilty of sacred violence toward others, then we simply have not yet seen the truth about the blood of Jesus and have not owned up to our own duplicity and participation in human scapegoating and violence.

Only once we admit it and own up to our role in making victims of others can we then be cleansed from it and work in fellowship with God and others (1 John 1:8-10).

But what about our PAST sins?

While this understanding helps cleanse our life from present and future sins, how does the blood of Jesus cleanse us from past sins?

In other words, while the understanding proposed here helps us turn from our violent, sinful ways in the future, what does 1 John 1:7-10 have to say about our past sins?

The answer is that the text doesn’t say anything about our past sins. It is only concerned with our present and future behavior.

love of GodJohn is primarily interested in make sure that his readers recognize how they have been involved in the violent, bloody, accusatory, scapegoating practices that run this world, and turn from such behaviors to walk in the light of God’s love.[1]

Nevertheless, other passages in Scripture tell us how we are cleansed and forgiven by God from our past sins. Passages such as Romans 3:25-26, 2 Corinthians 5:19, and Colossians 2:13 reveal that God simply overlooks our sin, does not count our sin against us, and freely forgives all people of all their sin.

The instruction in 1 John 1:9 to confess our sins so that we might be forgiven is referring to a conditional type of forgiveness which is not the same thing as God’s free and unconditional forgiveness. Here in 1 John 1:7-10, the issue is not so much about being cleansed from our past sins, but about our present and future behavior as we seek to live in fellowship with God and one another.

So how are you going to live?

First of all, do you see what is revealed through the violent and bloody death of Jesus? Do you see how He revealed the truth that we humans accuse, condemn, scapegoat, and even kill other people in God’s name … but that none of this has anything to do with God, but is in fact the exact opposite of what God wants and desires?

Second, you you agree that you have engaged … and might still be engaging … in some of these practices today? Maybe you are engaging in this practice toward Muslims … or gays … or Democrats … or Republicans … or President Trump … or the Media … or your boss … or your neighbor … or … whomever.

Third, if you recognize you have engaged in some of these practices, then what are you to do about it? Well, that’s what the rest of 1 John is all about, which you can read on your own. But the bottom line is that you need to unconditionally love and freely forgive, just as God loves and forgives us.

But all of that will have to be saved for another study.

If you have questions or comments, leave them in the comment section below … and also, consider joining us in the online discipleship group where we regularly discuss these sorts of topics and passages. If you are already in the group, make sure you have signed up to take “The Gospel Dictionary” course, which is free for you to take inside the group.

Notes:

[1] The Greek word for “cleansing” in 1 John 1:7 is present indicative, and in 1 John 1:9 is aorist subjunctive. Though aorists can indicate past time, the subjunctive mood indicates probability or objective possibility. Therefore, due to the inherent contingency of the subjunctive mood, the implied timing is usually future, so that aorist subjunctive tends to have a future timing, and can even be used as a substitute with the future indicative. See https://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-detail-frame.htm

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: 1 John 1:7, 1 John 1:7-10, 1 John 1:9, blood of Jesus, cleanse from sin, confess, confess your sins, confession, death of Jesus, forgiveness, gospel dictionary, One Verse Podcast, sin

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

By Jeremy Myers
46 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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Is Confession of Sin Required for Forgiveness?

By Jeremy Myers
30 Comments

Is Confession of Sin Required for Forgiveness?

Does God only forgive the sins we confess? Is confession of sin requires for the forgiveness of sin?

When it comes to the issue of the unforgivable sin, some people seem to believe that all sin is “unforgiven” until we confess it. In other words, you are not forgiven unless you confess.

This idea is drawn primarily from 1 John 1:9:

1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins

While I could get into the Greek, parse the words, diagram the sentence, look at the grammar, and perform word studies on this verse (which I have done in the past) I think that would bore you to tears. So let me just summarize for you what I believe 1 John 1:9 and the surrounding context teaches.

Confession and 1 John 1:9

Once a person believes in Jesus for eternal life, they begin their relationship with God just like any baby begins its relationship with its mother: in perfect harmony and peace. In the case of God’s family, the Father and the child are in perfect fellowship (1 John 1:3).

As we remain in fellowship, the blood of Jesus continually purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7). As new believers, we may not know all that God expects from members of His household. We may not know how to live according to rule and reign of God. As a result, it is probably not long—maybe only a few seconds—before the new believer sins. When this happens, what does God do? God forgives. Repentance and confession are not required because new believers often do not know how to properly behave as a member of the family of God.

I once sat with a brand new believer who used profanity in his very first prayer. I smiled to myself as I listened to him pray, and I believe God smiled also. Was the bad word a sin? Yes. Was God approving of this man’s sin? Of course not. But God is thrilled with every new person who is born into His family no matter how they come to Him.

All of us should be extremely grateful for this. I am convinced that all of us commit numerous sins every day which we do not realize are sinful. And if we had to specifically confess each one of these sins, we would spend all day trying to figure out what was sinful and what wasn’t, and confessing anything and everything which might potentially be sinful, just so that we could make sure we had confessed everything. Thankfully, we do not have to do this, because Jesus cleanses us from all sin, whether we confess it or not.

Forgive our SinsBut there comes a day in the life of every believer when God decided to start working on us with a particular sin. There is no set order or timeframe on sins God seeks to liberate us from. God works with each person in His own time and His own way. But He does work on each one of us. God decides that a particular behavior or thought pattern in our life must change. He wants to make us look more like Jesus, and help us better reveal the light of the Gospel, and to do that, we must straighten out a particular area of our life.

So God instructs the Holy Spirit to begin working on us in that area. When this happens, God has already forgiven us for this sin.

But when we sin, God wants us to come to Him and admit what we have done, and thank Him for the forgiveness we have in Jesus Christ (1 John 1:8-9). This helps maintain our fellowship with God.

Family Relationship and Fellowship

It is like any parent-child relationship. If a child sins against a parent, and the parent asks the child about it, the worst thing is for the child to deny it. The child is caught, and denial only compounds the problem.

But if the child confesses what they have done, then the fellowship between parent and child is maintained. This is how it works with God as well.

God, your heavenly Father, loves you so much, that He has already forgiven you for all of your sins, past, present, and future.

There is no sin which you can commit which will surprise God or which will cause Him to separate you from His love.

But when He makes us aware of a sin we are committing, He desires and expects us to agree with Him that we have sinned. If we do not agree, then this is essentially the same as calling God a liar (1 John 1:8) which only makes the damage in our fellowship greater. If, however, we agree with him that we have sinned, then the fellowship is restored.

Note as well that in the case of sin, it is never God who breaks fellowship with us, but we who break fellowship with God. When we sin, we turn away from God, but He never turns away from us.

Our relationship with God is like a relationship with any family member. Once the relationship is established by birth, nothing can break it. But the fellowship can be radically damaged, and the only way to restore the fellowship is through confession.

This is how I understand 1 John 1:9. It is a call to maintain fellowship with God by agreeing with Him when He points out our sin.

God has already forgiven us for all our sins. But when we confess our sins, it is agreeing with Him that we have sinned, so that we can be restored to fellowship with Him. Confession restores fellowship within an already existing relationship.

(And in case you are wondering, you may not need to confess your sins to a priest either…)

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

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God is Redeeming Books, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: 1 John 1:9, confess your sins, confession, fellowship, forgiveness, Theology of Salvation, Theology of Sin, Unforgivable Sin, unpardonable sin

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