Continuing our series about the misunderstood Bible verse of 1 John 1:9, we take a look at this specific verse as we consider the context leading up to it. John was writing to people who denied Jesus came in the flesh, that they had ever sinned, and that sin didn’t even exist. He couldn’t have been addressing Christians in this first chapter, who would’ve previously admitted a sin problem and the need for a savior. We find what John addressed actually syncs with something the Apostle Paul wrote on the subject of confession. Not the confession of individual sins in order to acquire a renewed forgiveness over and over, but a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. We also find John comes back to the subject of confession later in his book and it brings further clarification.
583. The Context Leading Up To 1 John 1:9 (Confession)
A common doctrine found in Christianity is that of confessing sins in order to receive a renewed forgiveness from God. Interestingly, the Apostle Paul, who wrote more books in the New Testament than anyone, never once instructed us to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. Considering previous scriptures we’ve covered which declare we’re already forgiven in Christ, where does this concept come from? It basically revolves around one verse in the entire Bible. This week, we look at the context leading up to that verse, who John was speaking to, and what his message was really meant to communicate.
582. Reminding God of Sins He Remembers No More?
Under the Old Covenant, Israel was constantly reminded of sins through the repeated offering of animal sacrifices, which resulted in a guilty conscience. Under the existing New Covenant, God declared long ago that He would be merciful to our iniquities and He would remember sins no more. Yet religion has made it a point to pull a single verse from the Bible out of context by advocating that sins need to be confessed in order to be forgiven (again). What’s wrong with this picture? That’s our discussion on this week’s program.