Book of 1 John chapter 1 Vs. 9

Walking in the Light

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 a restatement of (verse 7). We ought not to deny our sins (verse 8), but rather to confess them before God. This opens the door for His forgiving and cleansing light to purify our hearts.

from all unrighteousness... Is another way of saying sin

If we confess... If we do one thing—confess our sins—God will do four things:

1. Be faithful to us.

2. Be just with us.

3. Forgive our sins.

4. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Here means this is the first step to forgiveness. Christians are not righteous in their own right. We have taken on the righteousness of Christ. We are washed in the blood of the Lamb and robed in His white robe.

Confess (ὁμολογῶμεν)

From ὁμός, one and the same, and λέγω, to say. Hence, primarily, to say the same thing as another, and, therefore, to admit the truth of an accusation. Compare Psm. 51:4. The exact phrase, ὁμολογεῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας confess the sins, does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. Compare ἐξομολογε ῖσθαι ἁμαρτίας παραπτώματα Mat. 3:6; Mark 1:5; Jas. 5:16. See on Mat. 3:6; see on Mat. 11:25; see on Luke 22:6; see on Acts 19:18; see on Jas. 5:16.

Continual confession of sin is an indication of genuine salvation. While the false teachers would not admit their sin, the genuine Christian admitted and forsook it. The term confess means to say the same thing about sin as God does; to acknowledge His perspective about sin.

While (verse 7), is from God’s perspective (verse 9), is from the Christian’s perspective. Confession of sin characterizes genuine Christians, and God continually cleanses those who are confessing (verse 7).

Rather than focusing on confession for every single sin as necessary, John has especially in mind here a settled recognition and acknowledgment that one is a sinner in need of cleansing and forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32; Col 2:13).

Sins

Note the plural, as compared with the singular, sin, in the previous verse. See note. The plural indicates that the confession is to be specific as well as general. Augustine's words are exactly to the point, but his play upon pardon and confess cannot be reproduced in English. Vis ut ille ignoscat? Tu agnosce. Do you wish Him to forgive? Do you confess.

Faithful (πιστός)

True to His own nature and promises; keeping faith with Himself and with man. The word is applied to God as fulfilling His own promises (Heb. 10:23; 11:11); as fulfilling the purpose for which He has called men (1Thes. 5:24; 1Cor. 1:9); as responding with guardianship to the trust reposed in Him by men (1Cor. 10:13; 1Pet. 4:19). He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself (2Tim. 2:13). The same term is applied to Christ (2Thes. 3:3; Heb. 3:2; 2:17). God's faithfulness is here spoken of not only as essential to His own being, but as faithfulness toward us; fidelity to that nature of truth and light, related to His own essence, which rules in us as far as we confess our sins (Ebrard). The essence of the message of life is fellowship with God and with His children (1Jhn. 1:3). God is light (1Jhn. 1:5). Walking in the light we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus is constantly applied to cleanse us from sin, which is darkness and which interrupts fellowship. If we walk in darkness we do not the truth. If we deny our sin the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful (1Cor. 1:9) to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and thus to restore and maintain the interrupted fellowship.

Just (δίκαιος)

Rev., righteous. From δίκη right. The term is applied both to God and to Christ. See Rev. 16:5; John 17:25; 1Jhn. 2:1; 3:7; 1Pet. 3:18. The two words, faithful and righteous, imply each other. They unite in a true conception of God's character. God, who is absolute rightness, must be faithful to His own nature, and His righteous dealing with men who partake of that nature and walk in fellowship with Him, is simply fidelity to Himself. Righteousness is truth passing into action (Westcott).

To forgive (ἵνα ἀφῇ )

See John 20:23; 1Jhn. 2:12. Primarily the word means to send away, dismiss; hence of sins, to remit, as a debt. Cleansing (1Jhn. 1:7) contemplates the personal character of the sinner; remission, his acts. See on Mat. 6:12; see on Jas. 5:15. To forgive is, literally, that he may forgive. On John's use of ἵνα in order that, see on John 15:13; see on John 14:31. Forgiveness answers to the essential purpose of His faithful and righteous being.

Our sins (τὰς ἁμαρτίας)

Sin is defined by John as ἀνομία, lawlessness. Compare Rom. 6:19. A.V., transgression of the law (1Jhn. 3:4). It may be regarded either as condition or as act; either with reference to the normal, divine ideal of manhood, or to an external law imposed upon man by God. Any departure from the normal ideal of man as created in God's image puts man out of true relation and harmony with his true self, and therefore with God and with his fellowman. He thus comes into false, abnormal relation with right, love, truth, and light. He walks in darkness and forfeits fellowship with God. Lawlessness is darkness, lovelessness, selfishness. This false principle takes shape in act. He doeth ποιεῖ or committeth sin. He doeth lawlessness τὴν ἀνομίαν ποιεῖ ; 1Jhn. 3:4, 3:8). He transgresses the words ῥήματα, John 17:8 of God, and His commandments ἐντολαί, 1Jhn. 2:3) as included and expressed in His one word or message λόγος, 1Jhn. 2:7, 2:14). Similarly the verb ἁμαρτάνειν, to sin, may signify either to be sinful (1Jhn. 3:6), or to commit sin (1Jhn. 1:10). Sin, regarded both as principle and act, is designated by John by the term ἁμαρτία. The principle expressed in the specific acts is ἡ ἁμαρτία (John 1:29), which occurs in this sense in Paul, but not in the Synoptists, nor in Acts. Many of the terms used for sin by other New Testament writers are wanting in John; as ἀσέβεια ungodliness (see on Jude 1:14); ἀσεβεῖν to be ungodly (2Pet. 2:6); παραβαίνειν to transgress; παράβασις transgression; παραβάτης transgressor (see on Mat. 6:14; see on Jas. 2:11); παρανομεῖν to act contrary to the law; παρανομία breach of law (see on Acts 23:3; see on 2Pet. 2:16); παράπτωμα trespass (see on Mat. 6:14).

To cleanse

See on 1Jhn. 1:7.

Unrighteousness (ἀδικίας)

With reference to δίκαιος righteous. The righteous One who calls us into fellowship with Himself, purges away the unrighteousness which is contrary to His nature, and which renders fellowship impossible. The word occurs in John's writings only at John 7:18; 1Jhn. 5:17.

Again in view of 1Jhn. 1:8, Christians ought to be ready at all times to acknowledge any failure which God’s light may expose to them. Thus John wrote, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Though the NIV’s translation our sins after the words forgive us is quite admissible, our is not in the Greek text. The phrase tas hamartias contains only an article and noun and it is conceivable that the article is the type which grammarians call the article of previous reference. If so, there is a subtle contrast between this expression and the all unrighteousness which follows it. John’s thought might be paraphrased: If we confess our sins, He… will forgive the sins we confess and moreover will even cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Naturally only God knows at any moment the full extent of a person’s unrighteousness. Each Christian, however, is responsible to acknowledge the meaning of confess, homologōmen; cf. 1Jhn. 2:23; 4:3) whatever the light makes him aware of, and when he does so, a complete and perfect cleansing is granted him. There is thus no need to agonize over sins of which one is unaware.

Moreover, it is comforting to learn that the forgiveness which is promised here is both absolutely assured because God is faithful and also is in no way contrary to His holiness He is just. The word used here for just dikaios is the same one which is applied as a title to Christ in 1Jhn. 2:1 where it is translated the Righteous One. Dikaios is also used of God either the Father or the Son in 1Jhn. 2:29 and 1Jhn. 3:7. Obviously God is just or righteous when He forgives the believer’s sin because of the atoning sacrifice which the Lord Jesus has made (see 1Jhn. 2:2). As is already evident from 1Jhn. 1:7, a Christian’s fellowship with God is inseparably connected with the effectiveness of the blood which Jesus shed for him.

In modern times some have occasionally denied that a Christian needs to confess his sins and ask forgiveness. It is claimed that a believer already has forgiveness in Christ (Eph. 1:7). But this point of view confuses the perfect position which a Christian has in God’s Son by which he is even seated… with Him in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6) with his needs as a failing individual on earth. What is considered in 1Jhn. 1:9 may be described as familial forgiveness. It is perfectly understandable how a son may need to ask his father to forgive him for his faults while at the same time his position within the family is not in jeopardy A Christian who never asks his heavenly Father for forgiveness for his sins can hardly have much sensitivity to the ways in which he grieves his Father. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Himself taught His followers to seek forgiveness of their sins in a prayer that was obviously intended for daily use cf. the expression give us today our daily bread preceding forgive us our debts, Mat. 6:11-12). The teaching that a Christian should not ask God for daily forgiveness is an aberration. Moreover, confession of sin is never connected by John with the acquisition of eternal life, which is always conditioned on faith. 1Jhn. 1:9 is not spoken to the unsaved, and the effort to turn it into a soteriological affirmation is misguided.

It may also be said that so long as the idea of walking in the light or darkness is correctly understood on an experiential level, these concepts offer no difficulty. Darkness has an ethical meaning Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. skotos, 7:444). When a believer loses personal touch with the God of light, he begins to live in darkness. But confession of sin is the way back into the light.