“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” -Â 1 John 1:8-9
Christian Bible On Line: 1 John 1:8-9 NIV
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make ourjoy complete.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from allsin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
The Commentary from the Swaggart’s ministry has some excellent points to consider.
The “Natures” of the Christian are Three – 1. the human nature; 2. The divine nature; 3. The sin nature. This lead into my own devotional about these verses in 1 John. Jesus was human and divine but had no sin nature because he was born of the Holy Spirit and not of man. Mary was the vessel the ‘sperm and egg’ of Jesus was from the Holy Spirit. Self will is the character of the sin nature and before we are born again we love sin and hate God in our nature. That is how we deceive ourselves and have no truth as John rightlyfully claims. Now when we are born again we become new creations in Jesus Christ and our sin nature becomes dormant at the moment of salvation. The dormant sin nature does not last because of being part of a fallen creation we will eventually sin again. This is where 1 John 1:9 comes into reality in our lives. Confession to God the Father through Jesus Christ is the key here admitting we are guilty of doing wrong and tansgressing the laws of God. God the Father now applies the blood of Jesus to our sins and cleanses us from these sins never more to be remembered as we change our minds and follow Jesus Christ example. So only God the Father can forgive sin, No Man can forgive sin. We must confess our sins only to God the Father to be made free from the sin(s) and all unrighteousness (instantly restores fellowship and communication with the Lord). This is all because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, so the cross and what it represents must be totally accepted to be a true believer and disciple of Jesus Christ.