“A verse without a context is a prooftext for a pretext.” This maxim from my former pastor¹ reminds me that familiar verses must be studied in their context if I want to understand them correctly. I encountered the need for this principle in the first week of my newest study.

All my life I have heard, read, and been taught that when I messed up, had an impure thought, or got angry with my children, I simply needed to confess to God and he would be “faithful and just to forgive” my sin and “purify [me] from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But this teaching can lead us to fear the fires of hell between the time we do the deed to when we confess the sin.

To interpret 1 John 1:9, let’s first determine who the writer, the apostle John, is addressing. Before our verse in question John invites his readers into fellowship with him, which seems to imply that they were not yet part of the church (1 John 1:3). He also mentions those who “walk in darkness” and “don’t live out the truth” (1 John 1:6).

The next direct reference to his audience is found at the beginning of the next chapter. There John calls them “My dear children” (1 John 2:1). This gives evidence that John is most likely addressing believers in the church in chapter two and non-believers in chapter one.

Scholars agree John is speaking to a specific group of non-believers—Gnostics heretics who had infiltrated the congregation. These gnostics (from the Greek “to know”) believed they were saved by ascending to an intellectual plateau that few could reach.

Gnostics also believed in a dualism between spirit and body, specifically that the spirit is good and the body is evil. This translated into a practice of licentious living because if only the spirit was good and important, then the actions of the body did not have any impact on the spirit. Thus they thought they were incapable of sinning (1 John 1:8) and therefore did not need a savior.

From this evidence, I don’t think John is addressing a believer who sins in verse nine. Rather, he’s speaking the good news of the gospel to non-believers. “If you confess your sin, God will forgive…” If they will say what God says about their actions and attitudes, God will send away their sin and make them clean. Then they will have fellowship with God and with one another (1 John 1:3, 7).

According to my former pastor, 1 John 1:9 is “not a bar of soap to apologetic Christians.” In other words, it’s not a formula that we can use to make us feel clean or assuage our conscience. Rather, it is “an invitation to total forgiveness to people who are pretending to be Christians.”

But what about me, a believer? I sometimes sin. I fail to do what I should. For the believer, scripture teaches that forgiveness is once and for all.

• I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. (1 Jn 2:12)
• Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Heb 7:27)
• He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. (Heb 9:12)
• And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10:10)

Some worry that if all Christians understood this, they would feel free to live however they wish. But the opposite is actually true. When we grasp the wonder of God’s forgiveness, we desire holiness, not more sin.

So when I mess up and judge my neighbor, for instance, I grieve the Holy Spirit, he convicts me, and I feel sorry. Then I talk to God about it. I ask for his help to change and not repeat that behavior or attitude. But I am not ever unforgiven. And I don’t need God to re-forgive me.

Do you want to come into fellowship with God? Confess and be forgiven.

Do you live more focused on your sin than your Savior? You are already forgiven. Stand on it.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, thank you for forgiving my sin once for all. My gratitude motivates me to not keep repeating my shortcomings—talk about others in a judgy way or consider myself more enlightened than others. May those who aren’t in your fellowship yet accept this invitation to confess and be forgiven.

---

1. *This blog (including quotes) is a summary of a message by Pete Briscoe, Clean From Sin, which you can listen to here. ↩︎

All scripture is in the New International Version unless otherwise noted, with emphasis added.