Have you ever noticed that 1 John 1:9 speaks of both forgiveness and cleansing? John wrote:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
For years, I thought John was saying that if we confess our sins, God forgives the sins we confess as well as all the sins we are not aware of. In other words, I thought that cleansing was a synonym for forgiveness.
Is it? Is cleansing a synonym for forgiveness?
As I’ve meditated on this question, I’ve concluded that they are related, but different.
Forgiveness is a fellowship concept. If I’m in fellowship with God, realize I’ve sinned, and confess that sin, He forgives and cleanses me, and I remain in fellowship with Him. However, if I’m in fellowship with God but have unconfessed sins in my life of which I’m unaware, I’m not completely clean. I need cleansing, even though I’m in fellowship. The next time I confess a known sin, I’m forgiven and completely cleansed.
Note this comment by I. Howard Marshall on 1 John 1:9,
The thought of purification from sin is expanded in terms of forgiveness of sin and purification from unrighteousness. Sin is regarded as making us guilty in the sight of God, and therefore in need of forgiveness, and also as making us unclean in God’s sight, and therefore in need of purification. Most commentators regard the two terms as synonymous, but it is possible that purification signifies the removal not only of the guilt of sin but also of the power of sin in the human heart (The Epistles of John, p. 114).
While I don’t agree that cleansing means removing the power of sin, I do agree that the two terms are not synonymous.
God wants His servants to be clean. He doesn’t want their clothing and faces covered in dirt and grease. He enjoys seeing us clean. Believers who walk in the light (1 John 1:7) and confess their known sins (1 John 1:9) are never filthy dirty. They are constantly being cleansed as they are honest with God about their sin.
Remember Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (John 13)? The Lord said, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you” (John 13:10). The words “but not all of you” referred to Judas (John 13:11). However, there is probably a play on words there as well.i Peter was clean, but not all of him. His feet needed cleansing.
I used to think that John 13 was about forgiveness. But it is about cleansing, not forgiveness.
While Hodges does not discuss the difference between forgiveness and cleansing, his discussion of 1 John 1:9 is very insightful:
1:9. As long as believers walk in that light, they are in a position to be shown their failures. When that happens, they should confess them. The word repentance is not used here or anywhere in the epistle. In John’s usage, Christian repentance is appropriate when a pattern of sin is persisted in and needs to be changed (see Rev 2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:3, 19). In 1 John 1:9, John is talking about those who discover sin while in fellowship with God, not those who have wandered away. The audience of 1 John is spiritually stable and has nothing to repent of (see 2:12–14, 21). Their task is to “abide” in Christ and His truth (see 2:24, 28).
Confession of sin enables believers to remain in fellowship. First John 1:9 is not meant for the unsaved. Nowhere in the Johannine literature is confession of sin given as a condition for obtaining eternal life. Faith is the only condition for salvation (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; 1 John 5:1, 12, 13) (“1 John” in GNTC, p. 1196).
For the believer in fellowship with God, forgiveness allows that fellowship to continue. When the believer is forgiven, he is also cleansed. As a result, God sees the cleansed believer as clean, without spots or stains.
Keep grace in focus, and you will continue to walk in the light, confess your sins, and experience ongoing forgiveness and cleansing.
i Raymond Brown takes this view, favorably citing T. H. Weir who “suggests the possibility of a double meaning in the underlying Semitic… The disciples could have understood Jesus to mean that they had been clean but not entirely (their feet were dusty), while he really meant that not all of them were clean, for one was a sinner [i.e., unregenerate and unclean]” (John, p. 552).
