Greg and Amy explain that, while acknowledging our sin plays a crucial role in our relationship with God, forgiveness comes only from Christ’s finished work.
Transcript
Question: If God sees believers as blameless, why do we need to ask for forgiveness for our sins?
Greg: I think this is a huge confusion in evangelicalism, although with a qualification. And I think the confusion comes from a misunderstanding of 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is offered time and time and time again as an antidote to Christian sinning. In other words, if you’re sinning, follow the dictates of 1 John 1:9, which, by the way, shows up pretty late in the New Testament record. So, what did Christians do for all of that time before 1 John was available to give this advice? Because there’s nothing else like this that I know of in any of the other Epistles.
The idea is, okay, so you sin. Well, then, you confess, and when you confess, you’re cleansed and forgiven, and then you’re right with God again. So, there’s this cycle of confession based on that formula, so to speak, that’s characterized in that passage. But of course, if you take the passage in a straightforward fashion—”If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just to forgive us”—well, it’s an if-then conditional. That means, if we don’t, then he doesn’t forgive. A lot of people have seen it that way because of the language itself and then gotten into a rut. “Oh, I haven’t confessed that, and if I don’t confess all these sins that I’m committing, then I’m not going to be cleansed.”
Here’s the harsh fact. You will never be able to confess all of the sins that you’ve ever committed because the greatest good is to love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and there has not been a single split second of my life when I’ve done that, which means every second, I’m sinning, and I would always be confessing if that’s what was required for forgiveness. The New Testament teaching is not that confessing in that fashion is what brings forgiveness. What brings forgiveness is the finished work of Christ that we appropriate when we become Christians.
Hebrews 10 describes the Old Testament sacrificial system as inadequate as a permanent answer to forgiveness. Then, Jesus is raised as the one who makes one sacrifice for all time, and then it’s finished. Therefore, we can go before the throne of God with full assurance of grace, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, our bodies washed with pure water, for he who promised is faithful. That’s Hebrews 10. That’s a magnificent promise of permanent cleansing.
So, what is John talking about, then? My conviction about 1 John is that John starts out somewhat evangelistically. If you think about his opening words, which are very well known in general, he is talking about his personal experience with the real Jesus of history. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life. And the life was manifested, we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” He’s saying, over and over, we’re speaking the truth about what we experienced with the man when he walked this earth, and he says our fellowship is with the Father, and we want you to have that same fellowship. That’s evangelistic.
The letters that were written by the apostles are written largely to the church, but churches have mixed audiences. The reason I know this is evangelistic is because of what follows. Now, I’m paraphrasing a little bit, but folks can read it for themselves. He says, “If you say that you have no sin, then the truth is not in you, and you’re making God out to be a liar. But if you acknowledge”—and this is a paraphrase, but I think it’s the heart of what he’s saying—”but if you acknowledge that you have sin, then he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” In other words, this is an appeal for people to come to Christ by acknowledging their sin before God and being forgiven of their sin. This is not offered as an antidote to Christians on a day-to-day basis for sin.
Now, I’m not saying Christians shouldn’t address sin on a day-to-day basis. I’m saying this passage is not talking about that. And, if this passage is not talking about that, then Scripture isn’t teaching that we have to keep on confessing in order to keep on being forgiven. What’s really interesting, by contrast, though, is that this is the antidote for non-Christian sin. The antidote for Christian sin is in chapter 2, verse 1, and this is what John addresses. He says, “My little children,” now he’s talking directly to the believers, “I write these things to you so that you do not sin. But if you do sin, confess it whenever it happens. Then, you’ll be forgiven.” No, he doesn’t say that. He says, “But if you do sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for your sins”—the satisfaction for the sins.
So, I think this is a passage that has been deeply misunderstood. If you take it at face value, the way people are taking it, you run into theological problems. And when I look at it in context, I don’t think that’s what John has in mind.
In my own life, I try to keep my records squared away with God. When I’m aware of doing something wrong, I apologize to God, and I try to set it straight, get back on the right road. And this happens for me every 90 seconds or so. It’s a continuous process, but I’m not begging God for forgiveness, because forgiveness is a fact based on the finished work of Christ.
Amy: What about the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” assuming that is an ongoing thing? What would you say that is doing, or what are you praying when you pray that?
Greg: I think that’s harder to deal with, and that’s the only other place I know in the New Testament where this kind of thing is mentioned, which, to me, is significant because the features that are important for a successful Christian life are the kinds of things that are repeated on a regular basis.
Now, David says in Psalm 32 that when he kept quiet about his sin, he wasted away, and then he confessed his sin and repented. And that identifies a dynamic that’s important relationally, but we’re talking here about New Testament, New Covenant forgiveness. The only thing that I have to say about Jesus is that Jesus said a lot of things that are hard to understand, especially in the light of our understanding of grace that we get later. One thing to keep in mind is that Jesus was consistently speaking in an Old Covenant set of circumstances. Now, that doesn’t modify everything he has to say, but it needs to be kept in mind when we’re looking at some things that seem to conflict with the kind of New Covenant theology we see in the Epistles. You notice that even as late as Matthew 25, Jesus is saying, “Do everything that the scribes and Pharisees tell you to do out of Moses; just don’t do what they do.” Well, obviously, that’s not a New Covenant requirement, but Jesus was speaking in that context. So, however we understand what’s going on there, there is an importance to dealing with sin—we get that from that passage. Whether forgiveness is dependent on confession, I don’t think that’s a factor in New Covenant circumstances. The practical concern is it’s just impossible to keep up with the sins in confession.
Amy: I think there’s something different happening here than when someone becomes a Christian and all their sins are paid for. Our Christianity is not just a transaction. The fact that we’re saved, this isn’t just a transactional thing that’s happening. We’re actually in a relationship with a Father. So, imagine you’re adopted by someone. You’re not in danger of doing something wrong and suddenly being unadopted. That’s not the problem here. I think the problem is relational. So, what we’re doing, I think, when we confess and ask forgiveness, is we’re just addressing that wrong that we’ve done that’s harmed our relationship—not in the sense that we’re unadopted suddenly, but that there’s now a strain between us that we’ve put there.
Greg: Definitely. This might be what Jesus is referring to. That is the common way that people have explained the 1 John 1:9 passage. I just don’t think it works for that passage. There are too many other things going on there that work against it. Also, the wording of that passage is so precise. It sure seems like if you’re not confessing all your sins, you’re not going to be forgiven, which I think is what the language suggests. I think that does apply to the idea of confessing that you’re a sinner. You’re confessing your sin to the non-believer, and I think that’s the point of that particular passage. But the relational element is really critical, and that’s why I think we should be keeping our books balanced with the Lord.
Amy: There are all sorts of things that happen when we’re confessing sin. We are being humble. We are aware of our sin. We’re aware of what Jesus did for us for that sin. So, that makes us love him more—as he said, those who are forgiven more, love more. And it’s part of our desire to be close to God. I have an image in mind from the Gospels. It’s kind of like when Jesus wanted to wash Peter’s feet, and Peter said, “No, wash my whole body.” And Jesus said, “No, you’re clean. I don’t have to wash your whole body,” and then he washes the feet. And so, maybe that’s kind of more what we’re talking about here. We are adopted. We are clean. But we care about keeping the relationship without things getting between us and God. And this happens in our own families, right? You don’t lose your relationship with a family member, even if there’s a fight that you have to resolve.