Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Today on Grace in Focus, we are answering a question about 1 John 1:9. Is this verse about becoming a believer or about life after believing? And how does the context of 1 John 1:9 and the rest of 1 John help us know what this verse is about? Stay tuned, I know you will enjoy this informative discussion. Grace in Focus is a production and a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society, a focused free grace organization. Find out more about us at faithalone.org. At that website you will find hundreds of articles which we have there for your research and reading. We also have a bookstore. And right now we’re encouraging you to think about coming to our National Annual Conference. This year the dates are May 18th through the 21. Our theme is “Believe in Jesus for Life.” There will be lots of teaching, lots of fellowship, great food and fun. It’s at Camp Copass, get all the other details at faithalone.org. Get registered. We’d love to have you with us. That’s faithalone.org. 

Now for our discussion of the day, here’s Bob Wilkin along with San Marr. 

SAM: Well, Bob, we’ve got a question from Chip. It’s going to be in 1 John, the first chapter, 1 John 1:9. He gives a little bit of background, says that he really likes your writings and Zane Hodges’ writings, reads a lot, and says that his wife favors a different author. And so there’s a little bit of a discrepancy in their views of 1 John 1:9. This other author holds that 1 John 1:9 is an evangelistic passage and the reasoning according to this other author for a believer to admit, confess, acknowledge their sin would put a burden on the believer that the Lord would never expect and that it would put tremendous pressure on believers to remember and acknowledge their sins. 

BOB: Okay, now I did find the author. I have a book by him on my shelf and he does say what Chip is saying. In fact, he says, “So 1 John 1:9 is an invitation to become a Christian and it certainly holds relevance today. If anyone claims to be without sin, they’re wrong, but there is a solution to their misguided thinking. If they’re willing to change their mind and confess the opposite, that they do have sins, then there’s hope.” He doesn’t say then they’re born again. He says “then there’s hope.” What’s strange to me is how anyone could say that 1 John 1:9 is an evangelistic. Would you read 1 John 1:9?

SAM: Yeah, 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 

BOB: Okay, now follow what he was saying. Didn’t Chip say that he says if we had to admit and confess and acknowledge, that would be a burden and it would be pressure?

SAM: But he’s saying on a believer. 

BOB: Right, so wouldn’t it also be pressure on an unbeliever? And by the way, if we have to confess our sins, wouldn’t the unbeliever have to actually confess actual sins? Does anybody think that 1 John 1:9 is saying, let’s say you take this referring to believers, which I do, of course, that it’s enough to just say, I acknowledge I’m a sinner, or am I supposed to mention sins I’m aware of when the Holy Spirit convicts me? It sounds like this author is saying, that gives you hope if you acknowledge you’re a sinner, but what else do you have to do? 

In other words, if 1 John 1:9 is an evangelistic verse, if that is his view, then we wouldn’t need to believe in Jesus, would we? Where’s anything about believing in Jesus in 1 John 1:9? We certainly wouldn’t need to believe that He’s given us anything other than the forgiveness of sins, right? We wouldn’t need to believe in the promise of eternal life, right? 

SAM: Yeah, you’d have to go between different books to find the saving message if you take this as evangelistic. 

BOB: I’ve come across a number of people, this person Chip is talking about, is in the grace camp, the larger free grace camp, and I’ve met a number of people like that. I remember there was an author and he said the same thing, and you know what these people say, and this author did, and so did this other person? That a believer is never out of fellowship with God, that a believer is continuously cleansed, and that we’re not to confess our sins. And actually some of these people say that it’s legalistic and bad for your spiritual life to confess your sins, that what we’re supposed to do is recognize we’re already forgiven, and they don’t mean already forgiven in a positional sense, they mean a fellowship sense. 

Some of these people say God never judges believers. They would read the Bible and say, well, maybe he imposed that on David when he committed adultery and murder, if you read 2 Samuel 12 through 24. Then maybe we see some examples in the New Testament, but they have to somehow say, I mean like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:30, some of the believers in Corinth got drunk at the Lord’s Supper because of this, some of you are sick and some sleep. Well, what they have to say is those are natural consequences of getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper, they’re not actual consequences from God. And what I find when people often go to this view of 1 John 1:9, it leads to no accountability. 

SAM: Yeah, I mean, this whole first chapter is rich in instruction for believers, and in really, in my opinion, bite-sized, easy to digest structure for a new believer. This would be great content. Some of Paul’s writings can get confusing, but I think John is very easy to understand here, but if you’re starting with that viewpoint, you will misunderstand everything he’s written because if nothing here applies to a believer, it starts to get very confusing how you would share this with an unbeliever. I think rather than chase every rabbit hole and explain to every reason why it’s wrong, we should explain what’s correct, and most people can see that it’s not really something you can argue with. 

If you start with verse 8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” John is repeating the first person plural here all throughout the first chapter. It’s very clear that he’s including himself in what he’s talking about. That means that John has sin. That doesn’t mean he’s an unbeliever. It doesn’t mean he’s out of fellowship with God. It means he has sin. And then I think that makes sense of the other ones. “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and the word is not in us.” So he’s including himself in who he’s talking to. 

And we know the people he’s writing to are not just baby Christians. These are overcomers. These are very mature believers. But these things that he’s explaining here are true of all believers. We all have sin, we all do sin, and we shouldn’t deny that. 

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BOB: You make a good point. If you read 1:1:4 of 1 John, it’s clear that his purpose is that the readers might have fellowship with the apostles and with God. So the issue is fellowship with God. It’s not eternal life. And so 1:5 through 2:2 is part of fellowship with God and how we have fellowship with God. 1:7 says “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” That’s not an evangelistic verse. That’s telling us if we’re walking in the light, then we’re cleansed and walking in the light refers to the light of God’s revelation. 

And 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We confess the sins we’re aware of and then He cleanses us from more than that, the all unrighteousness. And by the way, look over at 2:20, what is it, 25 and 26? Doesn’t he say, “This is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life?” Well, who’s the us? It’s the same us as we’re reading in 1:6, 1:8 and 1:10. Guaranteed everlasting life. “These things I’ve written to you concerning those who try to deceive you” about the promise of eternal life. 

Look at 2:12-14. He talks about the fact that they’re overcomers, that they’ve overcome the world. Clearly, the readers are not just believers, but they’re mature believers. And the idea that 1 John 1:9 is an evangelistic verse is one you have to impose on the text.

And I get the fact that there are a lot of people in Christianity that would like to say, God is so gracious that we’re always in fellowship with Him. God is so gracious that He’s never disapproving of us. God is so gracious, there will be no negative consequences at the Judgment Seat of Christ. God is so gracious to us, we’re constantly cleansed, we’re constantly forgiven, we’re constantly pleasing to Him regardless of how we’re living. 

The problem with that view is, it doesn’t fit any Scripture in the Old or New Testament. It’s an imposing of theology on the text. Where is believing in Jesus in 1 John 1:9? Where is the guarantee that you’ll never perish but you have everlasting life in 1 John 1:9? It seems to me He’s leaving out believing in Jesus for everlasting life. He’s leaving out all three elements. Instead He’s got a different element and that’s confessing my sins. If that’s a burden on Christians, it would seem to me it would be a burden on non-Christians and if that’s the case, wouldn’t that be some sort of works salvation? 

SAM: Right. Like you said, you have to impose presupposition onto this text in order to make sense of it. Where can you find the verse that says there’s no burden for a Christian? But I read the New Testament it sounds like it’s going to be hard work. 

BOB: Didn’t He say at the end of His life in 2 Timothy chapter 4, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I’ve kept the faith? Those sound like effort, I’ve fought, I’ve finished the race, I’ve kept the faith. And of course in Romans 8:17 He says we’re joint heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him that we might be glorified together with Him. 

So the Christian life does involve effort and it seems to me, once we go to 1 John 1:9 as an evangelistic verse, we’ve abandoned the evangelistic purpose of the gospel of John and we’ve abandoned the promise of eternal life. And now it would seem a person could be born again even by not believing that the salvation they have is secure or not even believing anything about something, just believing that they’re forgiven because they’ve acknowledged they’re a sinner. 

SAM: Yeah. And for a believer, you miss out on the beautiful fellowship instruction that John is giving in 1 John, because if you misunderstand 1 John 1:9 then yes, it sounds like put this on a believer, that’s pretty hard, you know, I don’t want that burden or God doesn’t want that burden on me. But really this is the opposite of that, this verse is teaching that God helps alleviate burden, that He’s still with us and helps us. I want to be forgiven of my sin in this life, so that I can maintain fellowship with Him. 

BOB: Absolutely and John said, in 1 John, His commandments are not burdensome, Jesus said, “Take My yoke and learn from Me for My burden is light.” Confessing our sins is not some burden. In fact, we don’t have to pull off the side of the road and we don’t have to go through rosary beads or something. All we do is acknowledge that we have sinned to the Lord and if we are acknowledging that we’ve sinned to the Lord, we have confessed the sins we’re aware of. It’s liberating because I’m like, yeah, I messed up, didn’t I? 

SAM: 1 John chapter 2 starts with, “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” So He’s not some evil, demeaning God looming over you waiting for you to mess up so He can call you out on it. We have an Advocate ready there, so you confess your sin and now you’ve been forgiven. 

BOB: Very good. Well thanks so much and let’s all keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode: what is the difference between a type and an allegory? Please join us again and until then let’s keep grace in focus.