If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If sins are humbly acknowledged instead of denied or excused, God keeps His pledged word and remains just to His own law while forgiving them and removing every kind of wrongdoing and impurity. The conditions are simple and reasonable without painful penances, so sinners need not become holy first but may come as they are and seek blessing now without delay. Pardon and cleansing come only through Christ's sacrifice and atoning blood, for He as righteous Advocate and propitiation pleads His merits, takes guilt, and credits His righteousness so believers stand pure. True confession openly names definite acts with sorrow, forsakes them, repairs harm and makes restitution as far as possible, and includes confessing wrongs against others to those offended. After confessing it is duty to believe sins are pardoned on God's promise and not on changing feelings, and forgiveness requires giving sin up and living in obedience and progressive cleansing rather than continuing in it.
Setting and Wording
The verse belongs to John's eyewitness testimony to the Word of life, the eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested, seen, looked upon and handled, declared so that readers may have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ and may have full joy. It was given by John as an old man nearly one hundred years old, living out the life of Christ, steadfastly maintaining faith under persecution, and repeatedly telling the glad story of the crucified and risen Saviour to strengthen young believers in danger of losing hold on Christ. It belongs also to the shared testimony of faithful workers who stood true amid storm and trial over many years, who speak together of what they have heard and seen, of walking in the light, confessing sin, and receiving forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness. It gives even believers with many infirmities reason to praise the Lord that they can still bear witness for Him.
Its immediate message is that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. To claim fellowship with Him while walking in darkness is lying and not doing the truth, but walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, with full joy. Coming into the light into God's presence means confessing sins and believing the promise, leaving darkness for higher ground to receive light instead of staying in the dark and mourning over it. Careful reading of this first chapter prepares understanding of the second chapter, that believers are to sin not, with Christ as Advocate and propitiation, proved by keeping His commandments.
Against this light, saying there is no sin is self-deception without truth in the person. Saying there has been no sinning makes God a liar and shows His word is not within. Refusing reproof, justifying a wrong course, excusing sinful conduct, and claiming sinlessness while breaking the law is the opposite of walking in the light. Believers instead are to occupy a position of humility and self-abasement rather than pride, keeping the law of God as a mirror ever before them to test life, discover defects of character, and have them confessed and removed.
He is faithful and just means He keeps His pledged word without fail to the repentant soul, on the irrefutable argument that Christ died. He remains just to His own law while justifying all who believe in Jesus, because the sinless Christ took their place as substitute and surety, bore their iniquity and the law's condemnation, and planted His sacrifice between heaven and earth. Pardon through His merits is therefore possible, reaching the sinner as pardoning love, with mercy full and wanting in nothing, cleansing from the least sin and the greatest sins. Yet His justice is upheld so that He can pardon the transgressor without excusing continued sin, crediting Christ's righteousness so that the pardoned stand as innocent though undeserving and do not continue in sin but develop a character like His.
If we confess means humbly acknowledging iniquity, transgression against God, and definite wrong rather than denying, excusing, minimizing, or covering it. The truly penitent confess all their sins to God with the trust of a son speaking to a loving Father, recognizing His love and the cost of Calvary. To cleanse us from all unrighteousness means removal of every kind of wrongdoing, filthiness and idols through Jesus.
Promise of Pardon
When sins are confessed God faithfully and justly forgives them and cleanses from all unrighteousness, for confession means humbly acknowledging wrong rather than excusing it, denying it, or refusing reproof and justifying a sinful course. The conditions are simple and reasonable, without painful penances or pilgrimages, and those who have sins should not delay but seek the blessing now, believing pardon rather than remaining under continual condemnation. Denying sin makes God a liar and shows His word is not within, and stubborn refusal to confess prevents forgiveness and cleansing and bars entrance to heaven unless there is change, while even one greatly beloved confessed both personal sins and the sins of the people. Confession is made to Jesus Christ the righteous Intercessor rather than to another person, it is joined with true contrition, forsaking, and cooperation with the Holy Spirit to overcome evil, and it gives no excuse to continue in sin because others have sinned but calls for ceasing from sin in Christ's strength with an Advocate when failure comes.
The promise is positive and certain and cannot fail, resting on the irrefutable argument that Christ died, and to the repentant soul it is sure. Christ leads the penitent soul upward step by step and gives peace to the mind, and the penitent believing soul who confesses is guarded by angels of God so that evil angels cannot intrude. Pardon and cleansing are provided however sinful a person has been, even for sins like mountains, for adultery and habitual sin, and for one who has yielded to Satan through selfish interest and unsanctified ambition and divorced the soul from God. Such a one is not beyond pardoning love, for God receives all who now repent with a broken and contrite heart, opening the cold proud heart to the Saviour, confessing personal sins and leaving others to confess theirs, and making everything right between the soul and God. Heartfelt repentance renounces sin, confesses without hiding or excusing, sees and senses its real nature with abhorrence of self and of sin, accepts the gracious invitation, and trusts the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and even heinous impurity connected with God's work can be pardoned with probation granted to manifest repentance that needs not to be repented of, as when kings and nobles humbled themselves and turned from evil and were spared.
Forgiveness means pardon is written against the name, and confessed sins go beforehand to judgment to be taken away and blotted out through Christ's blood when refreshing comes from the Lord. The spotted record is washed clean, real confession naming definite acts and actual sins rather than general terms or admission only when reproved with undeniable facts, and full confession is especially necessary when errors are known to others and influence has widened. Sins hidden from mortals are open to God, and if not confessed now will be revealed in enormity in wrath, while covering sin brings no prosperity but confessing and forsaking brings mercy and hardening the heart brings destruction. This cleansing is present work for this present probation, which is the only time to overcome sin and secure the eternal reward, so sins must be confessed and put away now and today without putting off, making sinners vessels unto honor prepared to meet the Sin-bearer with joy and not grief. All who would be saved must come before the Lamb mangled and bleeding and tied for them and confess, overcoming shame and fear of ridicule, and those who come are pardoned, made happy with heaven's light on their faces, praising God like angel music and waiting in glad expectation, while delay risks being left alone in darkness when it is too late to right wrongs.
Only the truly penitent whose sins are confessed and pardoned will have a place in the city of God and an inheritance in the earth made new, for unless cleansed by the blood of the Lamb there is no place in the kingdom and no one living in transgression will be admitted. Receiving the Saviour by living faith cleanses from all sins and brings into right relation to God, prepares for heaven's brightness with abundant recognition above though unknown by the world, transforms character now so calling and election can be made sure and recovery from Satan's snare is still possible, and requires reaching a higher standard by seeing the true condition, turning from transgression of the law through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and no longer living in rebellion. The heavenly Father is wounded and bruised in heart when His children sin, yet keeps giving love and invites return, repentance and confession, freely and fully pardoning transgression and covering disgrace with pitying love without making sin appear less grievous and abhorrent, helping the misguided recover themselves. Earthly fathers and mothers should show the same remarkable tenderness to a fallen child who has dishonored them, and this mercy blots out every transgression for one whose soul is precious and must have a chance for eternal life, because Jesus loves him and died for him.
Pardon means justification, and it is connected with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in contrast to self-righteousness and an unpenitent unhumble spirit, bringing release from the condemnation that weighs on those whose deeds are evil when they come to Christ in faith. God does not deal with people as men deal with one another or all would be consumed, but is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgressions and sins, bearing long with perversity in love and compassion and placing the confessing sinner in the way of obedience. When sought with the whole heart He will be found, and His limit of forbearance is far beyond humanity's. Confessing to God and taking hold of His power leaves sophistry powerless to turn a person from truth, and when God's people confess and put away sins with subdued contrite hearts and claim His promises, neither wicked people nor devils can shut them off from His presence or hinder His work, since temptation and opposing influences can be resisted through His Spirit.
Without Christ salvation is incomplete, for He alone makes atonement for sin and gives power to faith, and this is seen in the Jewish nation who laid a foundation in typical sacrifices pointing to the Lamb and had the Old Testament and prophets yet refused the Redeemer and stumbled over Him as foretold, leaving their house of faith unfinished like a ruined building. God is merciful to those He called out of the world who joined Satan's service and did unprincipled worldly works in great light, deserving only disgrace and punishment, bearing with them and chastising and humbling them in the world's eyes to bring repentance. If they consent to part with sins He cleanses them, and heartfelt repentance with righteous works brings return of favor, proved by forsaking evil and showing love to God in love toward one another, so enemies no longer triumph. Forgiveness washes away sin but does not undo every effect, for self-indulgence leaves scars and damages the soul that repentance does not restore.
When the erring begins to work for himself, grieved angels come to rescue and battle Satan's host in severe conflict for the soul, even for one who has yielded the mind to Satan, departed from the right, separated from God and angelic watch-care, and given Satan ground to claim him. Freedom is not easy and requires desperate effort to resist darkness and break the snare, but if he continues pleading and in deep humility confesses wrongs, angels excelling in strength prevail and wrench him from evil hands back to Christ. True humble confession and heart repentance is the only hope for one whose mind Satan has bewildered to view things wrongly and whose course hinders the church and brings confusion, requiring humbling before God, confession, and conversion to cure warped character. God always pardons when confession is made, freely pardoning and healing after reproof, repentance and confession, with holiness required and wrongs in the church receiving immediate attention even with sharp rebuke that like a faithful physician cuts deep to leave no pestilent matter to burst forth again. Confession and repentance with humbled pride brings reconversion and reconsecration, reclaims backsliders, cures the leprosy of unbelief that weakens service, and prepares people to receive the Holy Spirit and floods of power to become channels of light and grace.
Ground in Christ
Forgiveness and cleansing come through Christ's sacrifice and atoning blood and the complete atonement made on the cross. He gave up His high command and clothed His divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the human race, suffered and died to make atonement for sin, shed His blood for remission of sins, and gave His life to obtain redemption for the sin of the world. That death removed the barrier that separated humanity from God, so that sinners who repent, confess, receive Him as Saviour, and accept the salvation offered can grasp His saving hand, cast all care on Him who cares for each one, and be healed. His life-cleansing, life-sustaining blood, appropriated by living faith, is hope whose inestimable value must be kept ever before the mind and grown in appreciation. It speaks better things than the blood of Abel, speaks in behalf of sinners as an eloquent plea, keeps the conscience clean and at peace with God only as its virtue is claimed by faith, cleanses from all sin, causes iniquity to pass away with change of raiment, and renews in holiness so the repentant may stand pure and spotless before God clothed in Christ's righteousness and made perfect through the Saviour's merits.
That forgiveness rests on Jesus Christ the righteous as Advocate with the Father and propitiation for the sins of believers and of the whole world. He is the Mediator and sin-pardoning Saviour who lives to plead His blood and make intercession for every soul who receives Him, standing at His Father's right hand with prevailing power to take away sins and make forgiveness and cleansing effective. He takes guilt upon Himself lest the sinner die, gives to all who receive Him power to become sons of God, keeps from falling those obedient to His will, and continues cleansing through unreserved surrender and continuous progressive sanctification through the truth until grace is lost in glory. Careful reading of the whole first chapter prepares understanding of the second chapter, which teaches that believers are to sin not, that if any sin there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for sins, and that knowing Him is proved by keeping His commandments and His word, by having the love of God perfected within, and by walking even as He walked. When a sinner overcome by Satan's temptations would sink in hopeless despair, hope is presented through this Advocate, and sinners should not listen to the adversary saying they have sinned too much to claim God's promises, but should meet him with the truth that provision for pardon has been made; not believing God as they should is itself the greatest sin. This is a precious promise of complete cleansing and saving power to the uttermost for all who come to Jesus in faith when they ask forgiveness, including those bound by uncontrolled temper and those with many infirmities.
Through Christ's merits sinners who accept Him can be justly forgiven. The law reveals guilt, exposing sinful thoughts, words, and actions, but it cannot cleanse or save, and people who have sinned cannot clear themselves of guilt under it. Sinners must therefore come to Christ by faith as personal Saviour and surety, for He takes their guilt, justifies them before God, bears the law's condemnation on their behalf as the sinless substitute, credits His righteousness so that instead of standing before a sin-hating God in sinful garments with every secret exposed they stand pure and spotless in the white robes of His righteousness made perfect by His virtue and merits, and gives them power to obey God's will rather than continue in sin. Apart from Him there is no hope of pardon and salvation.
Sinners need not become holy or prove reformation before coming, but may come as they are confessing need. Knowing one is a sinner is sufficient reason to ask mercy, and a sinner's need and desire to be cleansed are sufficient grounds for asking. Asking in faith expresses that need, and God's pledged word assures He will answer, so such asking is not presumption. The sinner comes as a poor, helpless, dependent, undeserving creature, acknowledging that though bought with a price and His property there has been refusal to give self to Him, trusting Christ alone to save, for Him to take sin upon Himself, take away sin, cleanse and purify from all sin, impart His righteousness, and keep from all further transgression of God's holy law, with resolve not to remain in sin one more day. Christ receives those who so come and surrender in faith, and grants pardon and peace.
The sinner so received is Christ's property, bought with the blood of the Son of God and redeemed by the Saviour through test and trial from the slavery of sin, and the pardoned sinner is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ the Deliverer from sin. Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin-pardoning Saviour with humbled confession brings forgiveness, and faith in His atoning blood is the assurance of pardon because He can cleanse away all sin. Keeping in the path of holiness as a subject of grace brings full salvation, joy, peace, and true wisdom from God, and simple daily reliance on His power gives keen wisdom to discern what will keep the soul in these last days from bondage, as by faith and prayer through knowledge of Christ the believer works out salvation. After the Fall, this is the way the Father's pardon is received, by confessing sins with communication with God through Christ.
True Confession Practice
True confession names the definite act itself with sorrow, openly owning actual transgression before the Lord and forsaking it to obtain mercy, rather than covering sin, hardening the heart, hiding iniquity or keeping guile in the spirit. It is not a general admission of being human and liable to err while still expecting to be trusted as unerring, for such confessions count for nothing, nor merely admitting wrong when reproved with undeniable facts. It is thorough and full work, promptly acknowledging sin and turning from it without hiding or excusing, made each evening with tears and belief, even for grievous moral sins. It is personal and voluntary, made by yielding to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, seeing oneself as one is in contrition of soul, with opportunity given by presenting general principles rather than exposing beforehand.
Secret inward corruption is confessed to God through Christ the one Mediator, not to finite fallible people who may judge wrongly, and forgiveness is obtained through His merits, not through priest or pope. Confession is made to Jesus Christ the righteous Intercessor in contrition, telling Him all, rather than taking the weight of woe to human beings. Private sins are confessed to Christ, while open sins are confessed openly, and wrongs against others are also made right with those offended. Pardon already evidenced must not be followed by continued sin, which brings condemnation, but by ceasing to sin in Christ's strength under abiding grace that makes sin appear hateful, without despair and without using others' sins as excuse.
Confession belongs with genuine repentance, contrition, forsaking, reformation and conversion, for self-justification leaves sin unforgiven and victory comes through repentance, confession, forgiveness and cleansing. It includes putting sin away, crucifying self and relying in faith on the merits of His blood, which human strength cannot accomplish alone, accepting His righteousness and cooperating toward perfected character. It requires addressing neglected duties and making every possible effort to repair harm, acknowledging wrongs in family and toward fellow members and making them right with kindness and restitution for injury or fraud, even when damage cannot be fully undone. Then the sinner relies helplessly on the crucified and risen Saviour, who restores the joy of salvation, upholds by the Spirit, gives strength to overcome, and enables the forgiven to teach others.
It calls for close investigation of self morning and night, diligently searching the heart by the Word to find many wrongs that could and should be righted, and putting away all that hinders communion with God. This heart-searching and humbling puts away from heart, family and church everything that grieves the Spirit, including evil-surmising, watching for evil, thinking and talking evil, bitter strife and envying, so as to become holy as God is holy. Making such confession requires great inward principle, like a crucifixion to admit great evil against God, with fasting and prayer and pleading day and night for victory to see salvation. Seeking the Lord in this way calls for seasons set apart from business cares, devoted exclusively to Him in self-examination, close searching of heart, penitential confession and renewed vows.
Refusing to confess from stubbornness, pride, self-justification or to protect position and influence blocks cleansing and leaves a person in darkness without pardon and without Christ as Redeemer, adding sin to sin toward judgment as recorded in the books. Until confession there is no entrance to heaven, no forgiveness, help or guidance, and the self-sufficient unpardoned worker going forth in sorrow in his own strength becomes a subject for the enemy's deception. Pride that counts confession a disgrace, making light of transgression while cherishing bitterness, judging others, claiming freedom in love and appearing earnest in duties, grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves one weighed and found wanting, though long borne with to bring to repentance. Even Daniel though greatly beloved confessed his own sins with his people's, showing all exposed to temptation through failure to depend on God have something to confess.
Saul's stubborn refusal to admit disobedience, insisting on innocence while walking contrary to commandments and claiming to have kept them, and resisting reproof and the Spirit, shut out forgiveness and made the case hopeless. Turning away from the Holy Spirit's reproof in stubborn self-justification willfully separates from God and rejects the only means of salvation from self. Confession is therefore each one's own work under conviction, owning one's own sins instead of charging others, accusing others, demanding they confess, or confessing another's sins, humbling the heart and laying aside self-confidence. Each must individually confess defects of character without blinding the eyes, cast the helpless soul upon Him, and refuse to let go until He reveals Himself as sin-pardoning Saviour, ending darkness and doubt to walk in light with Christ formed within; leaders especially must confess defects to discern needs and work successfully. Forgiveness received does not excuse another's hostility or bitter criticism, and each must make whatever restitution is possible.
When faults pointed out are admitted with hearty confession and united prayer, the enemy's hold and spell is broken, God manifests pardoning grace and rich blessing in the assembly, and those sorry who leave sins are forgiven and cleansed. Christ as sin-pardoning Redeemer then removes filthy garments, gives a change of raiment and sets a clean covering on the head. As long as turning from wrongdoing is refused, a pure holy character to stand in the great day of judgment cannot be formed. Confession should be made openly before God without fear of spoiling experience, removing stumbling blocks so light clears the way for love for one another. Unwise human affection and sympathy hinders it by breaking reproof, leading the wrongdoer to treat sin lightly, despise correction, walk after own desires, counsel and sight while supposing it God's will, whereas faithful reproof heeded brings humiliation, reformation and salvation from death.
Refusing to confess is a reckless headstrong course that hardens the heart against the Spirit's influence, puts the mind under Satan's control, and deceives into mistaking stubbornness for bravery, as seen in setting the will against a widowed mother. Opening the heart to the Saviour who died to redeem instead subdues proud rebellious self in noble victory over self, takes Jesus as friend and counselor, and receives the tender softening comforting influence of His Holy Spirit as a humble penitent.
Faith Assurance and Peace
After confession it is as much a duty to believe that sins are pardoned as it is to confess them, for the promise is positive and certain and God keeps His pledged word without fail. To remain under continual condemnation and to doubt pardoning love after true contrition dishonors God, while to trust His word implicitly proves Him as the sin-pardoning Saviour and brings blessedness, grace and love to the contrite heart. This trust rests on God's Word and Christ's righteousness and merits, not on changing feelings, personal goodness, works, worthiness, happiness or depression, and acceptance is sure when laid hold of by faith even while emotions fluctuate. Unbelief can prevent receiving cleansing and leaves the soul mourning, sinning, repenting and under a cloud, whereas believing cooperation with the Holy Spirit to put sin away overcomes evil and strengthens moral powers to live dead to sin and alive to God, even to turn from enslaving habits like tobacco and liquor. A claim to such faith must show itself in fruits of a changed life.
The verse is placed on record for the very case of children of God who have sinned and are tempted to think their acts have separated them from God and that He no longer loves them. When a life looks full of mistakes, guilt, discouragement, unworthiness, fear of being lost, bodily infirmity and depression are no evidence of not being His child, for they come from the enemy. Jesus knows human trials and weakness, gave Himself that sinners might be saved, and will not thrust away the tempted and erring but still loves, still blesses, still works day by day, pardons abundantly and speaks personal forgiveness, peace and grace. Sin is not infinite however aggravated its character or oppressive the guilt, and the price has been paid in Christ who died, an argument that cannot be refuted, so the repentant one need not despair but should meet the adversary by admitting sin and lostness, affirming greater need for a Saviour, and claiming the Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Not to believe God as one should is the greatest sin.
Believing brings rejoicing rather than continued mourning over personal defects, release from condemnation, peace to the mind, and angelic guarding so that evil angels cannot intrude upon the penitent believing soul. The sinner is not to worry out of the arms of Jesus but to lie trustingly in faith, rest in His love, and gather the sweet promises to the soul, with conscience centered on God rather than surroundings or others' sympathy. This gives melody and a new song with joy among angels, a clear conscience, and confidence to approach God and claim promises, so that some could say for the first time they knew they were forgiven.
Seeing Jesus lifted upon the cross dying so that the sinner might not perish but have everlasting life, and realizing something of the enormity of sin, awakens longing for pardon for all transgressions and for the favor of God. As the Holy Spirit impresses the mind the sinner asks in faith trusting the promise, and rejoices in pardoning love. Receiving that love is shown in sincere service, for genuine conversion is manifest by vigorous endeavor to obey all the commandments, renouncing every evil work, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well and turning from evil to good because Christ is formed within as the hope of glory. Earnest prayer for purity and salvation may continue until the person receives the sweet assurance of pardoned sin.
Obedient Transformed Life
Forgiveness gives no excuse to keep on sinning because others have sinned, for the promise belongs only when sin is repented, forsaken, given up, left and hated, with Christ's righteousness accepted by faith in cooperation toward perfected character. Safety after falling is found in confessing to Jesus Christ the Righteous, the one Mediator and Intercessor, telling Him all in contrition rather than carrying woe to human beings, and pardon already shown must not be followed by continued sin which brings condemnation but by ceasing to sin in His strength under abiding grace that makes sin appear hateful, without despair. The first chapter prepares for the second, whose message is that believers are to sin not, with hope held out through Christ the righteous Advocate and propitiation proved by keeping His commandments, and cleansing means truth brought into the sanctuary of the soul working by faith to purify, elevate, refine and ennoble. The promise does not belong to those who know God's requirements and claim to love Him yet cherish sin, for He does not minister to sin and their asking amiss rises no higher than their heads as mere form without strength, while those striving with all power to overcome and confessing are forgiven and cleansed for Christ's sake. Sins against others must also be confessed to them, and injury or fraud requires restitution.
The law kept as a mirror ever before the life tests conduct and discovers defects of character so they can be confessed and removed, calling for humility and self-abasement instead of pride. Seeing sin in the light of that law must lead to repentance and confession with faith in Christ as personal Saviour, without sinking into discouragement under condemnation as if hopeless, without breaking the mirror or closing the eyes and hardening the conscience to avoid seeing, and without trusting own virtues and piety. Those sincerely seeking to keep the law may still fall through temptation, yet when the law reveals sinful thoughts, words and actions they repent and seek pardon through Christ's merit, in contrast to claiming sinlessness and attained perfect sanctification despite exposure. Christ saves the condemned sinner without abolishing the law that exposes and condemns, for the law reveals guilt but cannot cleanse or save, so sinners must come to Him to have guilt taken, to be justified, and to receive power to obey. Those truly striving to keep the law never boast of holiness, because sanctification is entire conformity to God's will, not a moment's work or happy flight of feeling but the lifetime result of constantly dying to sin and constantly believing and living to Christ while practicing His virtues, showing faith by action.
Cleansing belongs to getting ready for heaven as life's highest aim, showing sanctification is the work of a lifetime and not of a moment, with confusion about what sin is cleared by studying the Word. It continues as unreserved surrender and continuous progressive sanctification through the truth until grace is lost in glory, with Christ living to intercede at the Father's right hand with prevailing power to take away sins and keep the obedient from falling. When fault or defilement appears in character it is time to recognize it and trust Christ's blood to wash it away, believing He is Saviour now, praying as He prayed, resisting temptation, refusing to yield the will to Satan, and cooperating with divine power through grace rather than continuing as if overcoming were impossible. Genuine faith is shown through practical obedience, with faults confessed and wholly forsaken while trusting the promises, as Jesus cleanses and sanctifies the heart.
That cleansing reaches heart and mind and removes every impurity, curing dwarfed spirituality, little faith and life lived under condemnation from evil speaking, evil thoughts and dishonest actions that sting conscience, bring separation from Christ and desire to hide from God. Forgiveness writes the law in the heart and creates in those who come in faith a divine ruling principle of holiness that enlightens understanding and captures affections. It gives a new, pure, elevated, holy moral taste carrying constant warfare against inward corruption, creating love for Christ that hates what He hates and loves what He loves, with goodness, mercy and righteousness belonging to His throne to give both pardon and victory over sin's power. By looking long enough into the divine mirror to see and despise sins and unlikeness to the meek and lowly Jesus, confessing believers receive strength to overcome, bring hereditary and cultivated tendencies under the divine will so sin has no dominion, cooperate with Christ, speak kind, tender, respectful words by the Holy Spirit, and are changed into His likeness growing to full stature. Failures need not discourage but are to be turned into victories, discarding worthless rotten timbers and bringing solid timbers into character-building until it becomes a beautiful temple for God, seen in daily Christlikeness with Christ abiding within and speech after His pattern instead of sharp speeches, quick temper and unsanctified speech that misrepresent Him and cannot enter heaven.
Everyone is under obligation to strive for mastery over self, refusing to be led by inclination or selfish desires. Holiness is gained by taking time to seek God, confess sins, and let the Holy Spirit soften and subdue the soul, learning first lessons of walking before God with a perfect heart, living by His law as the unswerving standard of character and by His will as the principle of holiness.
Confession of sin and humility before God are continually needed, not only at the beginning but at every step of growth, with weakness and dependence recognized rather than self-trust, and this continuing confession and faith keeps safe from sin. It means coming to Jesus every day just as you are to confess mistakes, errors and sins with true contrition and seek pardon, telling Him daily of need for strength and heavenly wisdom to understand what sin is and how to forsake it, heeding wise counselors who love and fear Him without delay because the Lord is soon to come, for no one can keep his own way and perverse spirit while acknowledged as His child. Confession is to be prompt and specific, naming the day's wrongdoings in evening prayer with sorrow, tears and belief, speaking humble words right where one is, receiving forgiveness and peace, while unrepented wicked speech against others stays written in heavenly books and will leave the speaker outside the city.
Only those who come with humble heart confessing errors and sins can be blessed, requiring complete consecration and entire willing obedience, since unconfessed faults such as quickness of temper and bitterness of feeling neutralize profession and keep from good.
Fellowship Restoration and Mission
Confession and reformation clear away what divides hearts, removing the effects of human devising that encourage alienation and strife and prolong difficulty through refusal to submit to Christ's yoke. Walking in the light brings fellowship with one another through the blood of Jesus, and forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness come when sins are confessed by owning one's own sins instead of charging guilt upon others. That light exposes bitterness, prejudice, zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, feelings with no kinship to love, refusal to harmonize or receive truth in a Christlike spirit, hard speeches, hatred of brethren and bitter words against the more righteous, all of which belong to darkness and are used to set believers against the word of truth and lead them step by step in the false way. Those without experimental knowledge of God, bound by selfishness and hereditary and cultivated defects and neglecting His will while claiming to do it, are forgiven and made clean from all moral defilement when under conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment they receive Christ as personal Saviour with faith for power to overcome and confess their sins. Evil speaking, evil thoughts and dishonest actions bring sting of conscience, separation from Christ, desire to hide from God and life under condemnation with dwarfed spirituality and little faith, but believing in Christ for the eternal interest and confessing removes condemnation, and God forgives and cleanses as the Lamb who takes away sin, writing His law in the heart and creating a divine ruling principle of holiness that enlightens understanding and captures affections.
Christ's representatives may proclaim on God's authority that when sins are confessed God forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness, which is remission of sins according to His Word, directing sinners to the forgiveness He gives. This promise is to be given to the erring to encourage repentance and faith in Christ who pardons, and the church is to receive the repentant with gratitude and lead them into the light of faith and righteousness. When repentance is accepted the remission is ratified in heaven. When one has wronged a brother the wrong should first be confessed to that person and the difficulty cleared away, then pardon can be asked of Christ without fear of rejection, for Christ keeps His promise to forgive transgressions and cleanse from all defilement and does not exploit or disappoint those who confess to Him. When those reproved accept reproof and make hearty confession followed by united prayer, God manifests pardoning grace to those who have confessed and brings rich blessing into the assembly. Frank confession frees both sinners and church from bondage, while unsanctified union to cover sin hinders prayer.
The promise is conditional upon repentance and forsaking of sin, with confession made to Jesus as Saviour and sins against others also confessed to them, and injury or fraud requiring restitution. Private sins are confessed to Christ the one Mediator, open sins openly, and wrongs done to another, in the family or toward fellow members, including what has harmed others or led them astray, must be made right with the offended and confessed before them as well as before God. Heartfelt confession and repentance with full purpose of heart and humbling before Him are conditions for blessing. Forgiveness does not mean continuing in sin, but giving sin up, leaving and hating it, accepting Christ's righteousness by faith and cooperating with God toward a perfected character.
Making things right belongs with prayer for the sick, for when wrongs have been put right the sick may bring needs to God in calm faith. Violations of natural or spiritual law are sins that in seeking restoration to health must be confessed and forsaken to receive blessing. The story of Christ as sin-pardoning Saviour whose love has provided pardon for all who come confessing needs to be heard by those needing physical and spiritual healing, to draw them to Him and bring them under His influence to heal both soul and body.
God's presence and power convict sinners and cleanse from all unrighteousness, but this work is not manifest when those preaching the truth are themselves unsanctified by it. Workers must walk humbly with God, humble self with fasting and prayer, plead day and night for victory through Christ the all-sufficient Helper who understands weakness and need, so the heart is cleansed from all impurity and they see His salvation and know the power of His grace.
Confession with repentance and conversion brings ministers and physicians and all believers into line under Christ as an army of workers, able to speak the Word with holy boldness and power and to go with faith, much prayer and the Bible among those who never heard to teach His Word, with Christ as support and sufficiency giving success. When one overtaken in fault confesses, the Lord pardons, saving a soul and hiding a multitude of sins, and those who see weakness and faults are responsible not to push him away but to hold out hope, speak kindly, pray with him, tell him never to be discouraged, and show kind sympathy and tender forgiving love, while the pardoned one learns by experience how to deal tenderly with others who err.
Children and youth who truly repent, feel sorry and honestly confess to God without hiding wrongs can be forgiven for Jesus' sake, and even being overcome need not discourage, for Jesus loves, pities and pleads with the Father. They should ask Jesus to pardon transgressions and take away sins and believe He does so, ready as He is to accept and bless. Those who know what they ought to do yet practice iniquity and cherish fostered sin must confess before God rather than live a false character and false life, for God cannot bless while it remains, and since Christ gave His life and paid with His blood that they might be saved, they must do their part by confessing and forsaking false living to become Christlike.
Seeking the Lord calls for separating for a few days from business cares and burdens to time devoted exclusively to Him, occupied in self-examination, close searching of heart, penitential confession and renewing vows, which is the proper object of camp-meetings. Cherished evil makes worship a mockery, so coming to God in humble faith requires searching the heart and putting away whatever grieves Christ, with confession and forsaking of sin, trusting on His pledged word that Jesus hears prayer because God is faithful to forgive and cleanse. Congregations praying together for forgiveness and grace to resist temptation share determination to put away sin and seek God.
When persons confess, God forgives and cleanses all moral impurity by the flowing current of the Spirit, and witnesses must let that work go forward and not hinder it. Self, personal feelings, prejudice and faulty judgment of His work block this cleansing, grieve the Spirit and leave believers destitute of quickening power, by failing to recognize God when He visits to forgive and treating His work as an enemy. Humbling before God and confessing personal sins brings pardon, and this seeking and receiving of pardon must come before doing ordained work, with much more prayer than talking. Doubt, unbelief, criticism and faultfinding must be put away because speaking doubt closes the door against the Holy Spirit, while practical godliness after confession brings fellow believers into working order and makes them willing messengers even to suffer for truth. Each must humble the heart and confess personal sins, for confession belongs with reconversion and renewal by the Holy Spirit so crooked characters that held back the work can be remade and face His controversy.
If sins are humbly acknowledged instead of denied or excused, God keeps His pledged word and remains just to His own law while forgiving them and removing every kind of wrongdoing and impurity.
The conditions are simple and reasonable without painful penances, so sinners need not become holy first but may come as they are and seek blessing now without delay.
Pardon and cleansing come only through Christ's sacrifice and atoning blood, for He as righteous Advocate and propitiation pleads His merits, takes guilt, and credits His righteousness so believers stand pure.
True confession openly names definite acts with sorrow, forsakes them, repairs harm and makes restitution as far as possible, and includes confessing wrongs against others to those offended.
After confessing it is duty to believe sins are pardoned on God's promise and not on changing feelings, and forgiveness requires giving sin up and living in obedience and progressive cleansing rather than continuing in it.
Setting and Wording
The verse belongs to John's eyewitness testimony to the Word of life, the eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested, seen, looked upon and handled, declared so that readers may have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ and may have full joy. It was given by John as an old man nearly one hundred years old, living out the life of Christ, steadfastly maintaining faith under persecution, and repeatedly telling the glad story of the crucified and risen Saviour to strengthen young believers in danger of losing hold on Christ. It belongs also to the shared testimony of faithful workers who stood true amid storm and trial over many years, who speak together of what they have heard and seen, of walking in the light, confessing sin, and receiving forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness. It gives even believers with many infirmities reason to praise the Lord that they can still bear witness for Him.
Its immediate message is that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. To claim fellowship with Him while walking in darkness is lying and not doing the truth, but walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, with full joy. Coming into the light into God's presence means confessing sins and believing the promise, leaving darkness for higher ground to receive light instead of staying in the dark and mourning over it. Careful reading of this first chapter prepares understanding of the second chapter, that believers are to sin not, with Christ as Advocate and propitiation, proved by keeping His commandments.
Against this light, saying there is no sin is self-deception without truth in the person. Saying there has been no sinning makes God a liar and shows His word is not within. Refusing reproof, justifying a wrong course, excusing sinful conduct, and claiming sinlessness while breaking the law is the opposite of walking in the light. Believers instead are to occupy a position of humility and self-abasement rather than pride, keeping the law of God as a mirror ever before them to test life, discover defects of character, and have them confessed and removed.
He is faithful and just means He keeps His pledged word without fail to the repentant soul, on the irrefutable argument that Christ died. He remains just to His own law while justifying all who believe in Jesus, because the sinless Christ took their place as substitute and surety, bore their iniquity and the law's condemnation, and planted His sacrifice between heaven and earth. Pardon through His merits is therefore possible, reaching the sinner as pardoning love, with mercy full and wanting in nothing, cleansing from the least sin and the greatest sins. Yet His justice is upheld so that He can pardon the transgressor without excusing continued sin, crediting Christ's righteousness so that the pardoned stand as innocent though undeserving and do not continue in sin but develop a character like His.
If we confess means humbly acknowledging iniquity, transgression against God, and definite wrong rather than denying, excusing, minimizing, or covering it. The truly penitent confess all their sins to God with the trust of a son speaking to a loving Father, recognizing His love and the cost of Calvary. To cleanse us from all unrighteousness means removal of every kind of wrongdoing, filthiness and idols through Jesus.
Promise of Pardon
When sins are confessed God faithfully and justly forgives them and cleanses from all unrighteousness, for confession means humbly acknowledging wrong rather than excusing it, denying it, or refusing reproof and justifying a sinful course. The conditions are simple and reasonable, without painful penances or pilgrimages, and those who have sins should not delay but seek the blessing now, believing pardon rather than remaining under continual condemnation. Denying sin makes God a liar and shows His word is not within, and stubborn refusal to confess prevents forgiveness and cleansing and bars entrance to heaven unless there is change, while even one greatly beloved confessed both personal sins and the sins of the people. Confession is made to Jesus Christ the righteous Intercessor rather than to another person, it is joined with true contrition, forsaking, and cooperation with the Holy Spirit to overcome evil, and it gives no excuse to continue in sin because others have sinned but calls for ceasing from sin in Christ's strength with an Advocate when failure comes.
The promise is positive and certain and cannot fail, resting on the irrefutable argument that Christ died, and to the repentant soul it is sure. Christ leads the penitent soul upward step by step and gives peace to the mind, and the penitent believing soul who confesses is guarded by angels of God so that evil angels cannot intrude. Pardon and cleansing are provided however sinful a person has been, even for sins like mountains, for adultery and habitual sin, and for one who has yielded to Satan through selfish interest and unsanctified ambition and divorced the soul from God. Such a one is not beyond pardoning love, for God receives all who now repent with a broken and contrite heart, opening the cold proud heart to the Saviour, confessing personal sins and leaving others to confess theirs, and making everything right between the soul and God. Heartfelt repentance renounces sin, confesses without hiding or excusing, sees and senses its real nature with abhorrence of self and of sin, accepts the gracious invitation, and trusts the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and even heinous impurity connected with God's work can be pardoned with probation granted to manifest repentance that needs not to be repented of, as when kings and nobles humbled themselves and turned from evil and were spared.
Forgiveness means pardon is written against the name, and confessed sins go beforehand to judgment to be taken away and blotted out through Christ's blood when refreshing comes from the Lord. The spotted record is washed clean, real confession naming definite acts and actual sins rather than general terms or admission only when reproved with undeniable facts, and full confession is especially necessary when errors are known to others and influence has widened. Sins hidden from mortals are open to God, and if not confessed now will be revealed in enormity in wrath, while covering sin brings no prosperity but confessing and forsaking brings mercy and hardening the heart brings destruction. This cleansing is present work for this present probation, which is the only time to overcome sin and secure the eternal reward, so sins must be confessed and put away now and today without putting off, making sinners vessels unto honor prepared to meet the Sin-bearer with joy and not grief. All who would be saved must come before the Lamb mangled and bleeding and tied for them and confess, overcoming shame and fear of ridicule, and those who come are pardoned, made happy with heaven's light on their faces, praising God like angel music and waiting in glad expectation, while delay risks being left alone in darkness when it is too late to right wrongs.
Only the truly penitent whose sins are confessed and pardoned will have a place in the city of God and an inheritance in the earth made new, for unless cleansed by the blood of the Lamb there is no place in the kingdom and no one living in transgression will be admitted. Receiving the Saviour by living faith cleanses from all sins and brings into right relation to God, prepares for heaven's brightness with abundant recognition above though unknown by the world, transforms character now so calling and election can be made sure and recovery from Satan's snare is still possible, and requires reaching a higher standard by seeing the true condition, turning from transgression of the law through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and no longer living in rebellion. The heavenly Father is wounded and bruised in heart when His children sin, yet keeps giving love and invites return, repentance and confession, freely and fully pardoning transgression and covering disgrace with pitying love without making sin appear less grievous and abhorrent, helping the misguided recover themselves. Earthly fathers and mothers should show the same remarkable tenderness to a fallen child who has dishonored them, and this mercy blots out every transgression for one whose soul is precious and must have a chance for eternal life, because Jesus loves him and died for him.
Pardon means justification, and it is connected with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in contrast to self-righteousness and an unpenitent unhumble spirit, bringing release from the condemnation that weighs on those whose deeds are evil when they come to Christ in faith. God does not deal with people as men deal with one another or all would be consumed, but is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgressions and sins, bearing long with perversity in love and compassion and placing the confessing sinner in the way of obedience. When sought with the whole heart He will be found, and His limit of forbearance is far beyond humanity's. Confessing to God and taking hold of His power leaves sophistry powerless to turn a person from truth, and when God's people confess and put away sins with subdued contrite hearts and claim His promises, neither wicked people nor devils can shut them off from His presence or hinder His work, since temptation and opposing influences can be resisted through His Spirit.
Without Christ salvation is incomplete, for He alone makes atonement for sin and gives power to faith, and this is seen in the Jewish nation who laid a foundation in typical sacrifices pointing to the Lamb and had the Old Testament and prophets yet refused the Redeemer and stumbled over Him as foretold, leaving their house of faith unfinished like a ruined building. God is merciful to those He called out of the world who joined Satan's service and did unprincipled worldly works in great light, deserving only disgrace and punishment, bearing with them and chastising and humbling them in the world's eyes to bring repentance. If they consent to part with sins He cleanses them, and heartfelt repentance with righteous works brings return of favor, proved by forsaking evil and showing love to God in love toward one another, so enemies no longer triumph. Forgiveness washes away sin but does not undo every effect, for self-indulgence leaves scars and damages the soul that repentance does not restore.
When the erring begins to work for himself, grieved angels come to rescue and battle Satan's host in severe conflict for the soul, even for one who has yielded the mind to Satan, departed from the right, separated from God and angelic watch-care, and given Satan ground to claim him. Freedom is not easy and requires desperate effort to resist darkness and break the snare, but if he continues pleading and in deep humility confesses wrongs, angels excelling in strength prevail and wrench him from evil hands back to Christ. True humble confession and heart repentance is the only hope for one whose mind Satan has bewildered to view things wrongly and whose course hinders the church and brings confusion, requiring humbling before God, confession, and conversion to cure warped character. God always pardons when confession is made, freely pardoning and healing after reproof, repentance and confession, with holiness required and wrongs in the church receiving immediate attention even with sharp rebuke that like a faithful physician cuts deep to leave no pestilent matter to burst forth again. Confession and repentance with humbled pride brings reconversion and reconsecration, reclaims backsliders, cures the leprosy of unbelief that weakens service, and prepares people to receive the Holy Spirit and floods of power to become channels of light and grace.
Ground in Christ
Forgiveness and cleansing come through Christ's sacrifice and atoning blood and the complete atonement made on the cross. He gave up His high command and clothed His divinity with humanity to stand at the head of the human race, suffered and died to make atonement for sin, shed His blood for remission of sins, and gave His life to obtain redemption for the sin of the world. That death removed the barrier that separated humanity from God, so that sinners who repent, confess, receive Him as Saviour, and accept the salvation offered can grasp His saving hand, cast all care on Him who cares for each one, and be healed. His life-cleansing, life-sustaining blood, appropriated by living faith, is hope whose inestimable value must be kept ever before the mind and grown in appreciation. It speaks better things than the blood of Abel, speaks in behalf of sinners as an eloquent plea, keeps the conscience clean and at peace with God only as its virtue is claimed by faith, cleanses from all sin, causes iniquity to pass away with change of raiment, and renews in holiness so the repentant may stand pure and spotless before God clothed in Christ's righteousness and made perfect through the Saviour's merits.
That forgiveness rests on Jesus Christ the righteous as Advocate with the Father and propitiation for the sins of believers and of the whole world. He is the Mediator and sin-pardoning Saviour who lives to plead His blood and make intercession for every soul who receives Him, standing at His Father's right hand with prevailing power to take away sins and make forgiveness and cleansing effective. He takes guilt upon Himself lest the sinner die, gives to all who receive Him power to become sons of God, keeps from falling those obedient to His will, and continues cleansing through unreserved surrender and continuous progressive sanctification through the truth until grace is lost in glory. Careful reading of the whole first chapter prepares understanding of the second chapter, which teaches that believers are to sin not, that if any sin there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for sins, and that knowing Him is proved by keeping His commandments and His word, by having the love of God perfected within, and by walking even as He walked. When a sinner overcome by Satan's temptations would sink in hopeless despair, hope is presented through this Advocate, and sinners should not listen to the adversary saying they have sinned too much to claim God's promises, but should meet him with the truth that provision for pardon has been made; not believing God as they should is itself the greatest sin. This is a precious promise of complete cleansing and saving power to the uttermost for all who come to Jesus in faith when they ask forgiveness, including those bound by uncontrolled temper and those with many infirmities.
Through Christ's merits sinners who accept Him can be justly forgiven. The law reveals guilt, exposing sinful thoughts, words, and actions, but it cannot cleanse or save, and people who have sinned cannot clear themselves of guilt under it. Sinners must therefore come to Christ by faith as personal Saviour and surety, for He takes their guilt, justifies them before God, bears the law's condemnation on their behalf as the sinless substitute, credits His righteousness so that instead of standing before a sin-hating God in sinful garments with every secret exposed they stand pure and spotless in the white robes of His righteousness made perfect by His virtue and merits, and gives them power to obey God's will rather than continue in sin. Apart from Him there is no hope of pardon and salvation.
Sinners need not become holy or prove reformation before coming, but may come as they are confessing need. Knowing one is a sinner is sufficient reason to ask mercy, and a sinner's need and desire to be cleansed are sufficient grounds for asking. Asking in faith expresses that need, and God's pledged word assures He will answer, so such asking is not presumption. The sinner comes as a poor, helpless, dependent, undeserving creature, acknowledging that though bought with a price and His property there has been refusal to give self to Him, trusting Christ alone to save, for Him to take sin upon Himself, take away sin, cleanse and purify from all sin, impart His righteousness, and keep from all further transgression of God's holy law, with resolve not to remain in sin one more day. Christ receives those who so come and surrender in faith, and grants pardon and peace.
The sinner so received is Christ's property, bought with the blood of the Son of God and redeemed by the Saviour through test and trial from the slavery of sin, and the pardoned sinner is reconciled to God through Jesus Christ the Deliverer from sin. Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin-pardoning Saviour with humbled confession brings forgiveness, and faith in His atoning blood is the assurance of pardon because He can cleanse away all sin. Keeping in the path of holiness as a subject of grace brings full salvation, joy, peace, and true wisdom from God, and simple daily reliance on His power gives keen wisdom to discern what will keep the soul in these last days from bondage, as by faith and prayer through knowledge of Christ the believer works out salvation. After the Fall, this is the way the Father's pardon is received, by confessing sins with communication with God through Christ.
True Confession Practice
True confession names the definite act itself with sorrow, openly owning actual transgression before the Lord and forsaking it to obtain mercy, rather than covering sin, hardening the heart, hiding iniquity or keeping guile in the spirit. It is not a general admission of being human and liable to err while still expecting to be trusted as unerring, for such confessions count for nothing, nor merely admitting wrong when reproved with undeniable facts. It is thorough and full work, promptly acknowledging sin and turning from it without hiding or excusing, made each evening with tears and belief, even for grievous moral sins. It is personal and voluntary, made by yielding to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, seeing oneself as one is in contrition of soul, with opportunity given by presenting general principles rather than exposing beforehand.
Secret inward corruption is confessed to God through Christ the one Mediator, not to finite fallible people who may judge wrongly, and forgiveness is obtained through His merits, not through priest or pope. Confession is made to Jesus Christ the righteous Intercessor in contrition, telling Him all, rather than taking the weight of woe to human beings. Private sins are confessed to Christ, while open sins are confessed openly, and wrongs against others are also made right with those offended. Pardon already evidenced must not be followed by continued sin, which brings condemnation, but by ceasing to sin in Christ's strength under abiding grace that makes sin appear hateful, without despair and without using others' sins as excuse.
Confession belongs with genuine repentance, contrition, forsaking, reformation and conversion, for self-justification leaves sin unforgiven and victory comes through repentance, confession, forgiveness and cleansing. It includes putting sin away, crucifying self and relying in faith on the merits of His blood, which human strength cannot accomplish alone, accepting His righteousness and cooperating toward perfected character. It requires addressing neglected duties and making every possible effort to repair harm, acknowledging wrongs in family and toward fellow members and making them right with kindness and restitution for injury or fraud, even when damage cannot be fully undone. Then the sinner relies helplessly on the crucified and risen Saviour, who restores the joy of salvation, upholds by the Spirit, gives strength to overcome, and enables the forgiven to teach others.
It calls for close investigation of self morning and night, diligently searching the heart by the Word to find many wrongs that could and should be righted, and putting away all that hinders communion with God. This heart-searching and humbling puts away from heart, family and church everything that grieves the Spirit, including evil-surmising, watching for evil, thinking and talking evil, bitter strife and envying, so as to become holy as God is holy. Making such confession requires great inward principle, like a crucifixion to admit great evil against God, with fasting and prayer and pleading day and night for victory to see salvation. Seeking the Lord in this way calls for seasons set apart from business cares, devoted exclusively to Him in self-examination, close searching of heart, penitential confession and renewed vows.
Refusing to confess from stubbornness, pride, self-justification or to protect position and influence blocks cleansing and leaves a person in darkness without pardon and without Christ as Redeemer, adding sin to sin toward judgment as recorded in the books. Until confession there is no entrance to heaven, no forgiveness, help or guidance, and the self-sufficient unpardoned worker going forth in sorrow in his own strength becomes a subject for the enemy's deception. Pride that counts confession a disgrace, making light of transgression while cherishing bitterness, judging others, claiming freedom in love and appearing earnest in duties, grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves one weighed and found wanting, though long borne with to bring to repentance. Even Daniel though greatly beloved confessed his own sins with his people's, showing all exposed to temptation through failure to depend on God have something to confess.
Saul's stubborn refusal to admit disobedience, insisting on innocence while walking contrary to commandments and claiming to have kept them, and resisting reproof and the Spirit, shut out forgiveness and made the case hopeless. Turning away from the Holy Spirit's reproof in stubborn self-justification willfully separates from God and rejects the only means of salvation from self. Confession is therefore each one's own work under conviction, owning one's own sins instead of charging others, accusing others, demanding they confess, or confessing another's sins, humbling the heart and laying aside self-confidence. Each must individually confess defects of character without blinding the eyes, cast the helpless soul upon Him, and refuse to let go until He reveals Himself as sin-pardoning Saviour, ending darkness and doubt to walk in light with Christ formed within; leaders especially must confess defects to discern needs and work successfully. Forgiveness received does not excuse another's hostility or bitter criticism, and each must make whatever restitution is possible.
When faults pointed out are admitted with hearty confession and united prayer, the enemy's hold and spell is broken, God manifests pardoning grace and rich blessing in the assembly, and those sorry who leave sins are forgiven and cleansed. Christ as sin-pardoning Redeemer then removes filthy garments, gives a change of raiment and sets a clean covering on the head. As long as turning from wrongdoing is refused, a pure holy character to stand in the great day of judgment cannot be formed. Confession should be made openly before God without fear of spoiling experience, removing stumbling blocks so light clears the way for love for one another. Unwise human affection and sympathy hinders it by breaking reproof, leading the wrongdoer to treat sin lightly, despise correction, walk after own desires, counsel and sight while supposing it God's will, whereas faithful reproof heeded brings humiliation, reformation and salvation from death.
Refusing to confess is a reckless headstrong course that hardens the heart against the Spirit's influence, puts the mind under Satan's control, and deceives into mistaking stubbornness for bravery, as seen in setting the will against a widowed mother. Opening the heart to the Saviour who died to redeem instead subdues proud rebellious self in noble victory over self, takes Jesus as friend and counselor, and receives the tender softening comforting influence of His Holy Spirit as a humble penitent.
Faith Assurance and Peace
After confession it is as much a duty to believe that sins are pardoned as it is to confess them, for the promise is positive and certain and God keeps His pledged word without fail. To remain under continual condemnation and to doubt pardoning love after true contrition dishonors God, while to trust His word implicitly proves Him as the sin-pardoning Saviour and brings blessedness, grace and love to the contrite heart. This trust rests on God's Word and Christ's righteousness and merits, not on changing feelings, personal goodness, works, worthiness, happiness or depression, and acceptance is sure when laid hold of by faith even while emotions fluctuate. Unbelief can prevent receiving cleansing and leaves the soul mourning, sinning, repenting and under a cloud, whereas believing cooperation with the Holy Spirit to put sin away overcomes evil and strengthens moral powers to live dead to sin and alive to God, even to turn from enslaving habits like tobacco and liquor. A claim to such faith must show itself in fruits of a changed life.
The verse is placed on record for the very case of children of God who have sinned and are tempted to think their acts have separated them from God and that He no longer loves them. When a life looks full of mistakes, guilt, discouragement, unworthiness, fear of being lost, bodily infirmity and depression are no evidence of not being His child, for they come from the enemy. Jesus knows human trials and weakness, gave Himself that sinners might be saved, and will not thrust away the tempted and erring but still loves, still blesses, still works day by day, pardons abundantly and speaks personal forgiveness, peace and grace. Sin is not infinite however aggravated its character or oppressive the guilt, and the price has been paid in Christ who died, an argument that cannot be refuted, so the repentant one need not despair but should meet the adversary by admitting sin and lostness, affirming greater need for a Saviour, and claiming the Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Not to believe God as one should is the greatest sin.
Believing brings rejoicing rather than continued mourning over personal defects, release from condemnation, peace to the mind, and angelic guarding so that evil angels cannot intrude upon the penitent believing soul. The sinner is not to worry out of the arms of Jesus but to lie trustingly in faith, rest in His love, and gather the sweet promises to the soul, with conscience centered on God rather than surroundings or others' sympathy. This gives melody and a new song with joy among angels, a clear conscience, and confidence to approach God and claim promises, so that some could say for the first time they knew they were forgiven.
Seeing Jesus lifted upon the cross dying so that the sinner might not perish but have everlasting life, and realizing something of the enormity of sin, awakens longing for pardon for all transgressions and for the favor of God. As the Holy Spirit impresses the mind the sinner asks in faith trusting the promise, and rejoices in pardoning love. Receiving that love is shown in sincere service, for genuine conversion is manifest by vigorous endeavor to obey all the commandments, renouncing every evil work, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well and turning from evil to good because Christ is formed within as the hope of glory. Earnest prayer for purity and salvation may continue until the person receives the sweet assurance of pardoned sin.
Obedient Transformed Life
Forgiveness gives no excuse to keep on sinning because others have sinned, for the promise belongs only when sin is repented, forsaken, given up, left and hated, with Christ's righteousness accepted by faith in cooperation toward perfected character. Safety after falling is found in confessing to Jesus Christ the Righteous, the one Mediator and Intercessor, telling Him all in contrition rather than carrying woe to human beings, and pardon already shown must not be followed by continued sin which brings condemnation but by ceasing to sin in His strength under abiding grace that makes sin appear hateful, without despair. The first chapter prepares for the second, whose message is that believers are to sin not, with hope held out through Christ the righteous Advocate and propitiation proved by keeping His commandments, and cleansing means truth brought into the sanctuary of the soul working by faith to purify, elevate, refine and ennoble. The promise does not belong to those who know God's requirements and claim to love Him yet cherish sin, for He does not minister to sin and their asking amiss rises no higher than their heads as mere form without strength, while those striving with all power to overcome and confessing are forgiven and cleansed for Christ's sake. Sins against others must also be confessed to them, and injury or fraud requires restitution.
The law kept as a mirror ever before the life tests conduct and discovers defects of character so they can be confessed and removed, calling for humility and self-abasement instead of pride. Seeing sin in the light of that law must lead to repentance and confession with faith in Christ as personal Saviour, without sinking into discouragement under condemnation as if hopeless, without breaking the mirror or closing the eyes and hardening the conscience to avoid seeing, and without trusting own virtues and piety. Those sincerely seeking to keep the law may still fall through temptation, yet when the law reveals sinful thoughts, words and actions they repent and seek pardon through Christ's merit, in contrast to claiming sinlessness and attained perfect sanctification despite exposure. Christ saves the condemned sinner without abolishing the law that exposes and condemns, for the law reveals guilt but cannot cleanse or save, so sinners must come to Him to have guilt taken, to be justified, and to receive power to obey. Those truly striving to keep the law never boast of holiness, because sanctification is entire conformity to God's will, not a moment's work or happy flight of feeling but the lifetime result of constantly dying to sin and constantly believing and living to Christ while practicing His virtues, showing faith by action.
Cleansing belongs to getting ready for heaven as life's highest aim, showing sanctification is the work of a lifetime and not of a moment, with confusion about what sin is cleared by studying the Word. It continues as unreserved surrender and continuous progressive sanctification through the truth until grace is lost in glory, with Christ living to intercede at the Father's right hand with prevailing power to take away sins and keep the obedient from falling. When fault or defilement appears in character it is time to recognize it and trust Christ's blood to wash it away, believing He is Saviour now, praying as He prayed, resisting temptation, refusing to yield the will to Satan, and cooperating with divine power through grace rather than continuing as if overcoming were impossible. Genuine faith is shown through practical obedience, with faults confessed and wholly forsaken while trusting the promises, as Jesus cleanses and sanctifies the heart.
That cleansing reaches heart and mind and removes every impurity, curing dwarfed spirituality, little faith and life lived under condemnation from evil speaking, evil thoughts and dishonest actions that sting conscience, bring separation from Christ and desire to hide from God. Forgiveness writes the law in the heart and creates in those who come in faith a divine ruling principle of holiness that enlightens understanding and captures affections. It gives a new, pure, elevated, holy moral taste carrying constant warfare against inward corruption, creating love for Christ that hates what He hates and loves what He loves, with goodness, mercy and righteousness belonging to His throne to give both pardon and victory over sin's power. By looking long enough into the divine mirror to see and despise sins and unlikeness to the meek and lowly Jesus, confessing believers receive strength to overcome, bring hereditary and cultivated tendencies under the divine will so sin has no dominion, cooperate with Christ, speak kind, tender, respectful words by the Holy Spirit, and are changed into His likeness growing to full stature. Failures need not discourage but are to be turned into victories, discarding worthless rotten timbers and bringing solid timbers into character-building until it becomes a beautiful temple for God, seen in daily Christlikeness with Christ abiding within and speech after His pattern instead of sharp speeches, quick temper and unsanctified speech that misrepresent Him and cannot enter heaven.
Everyone is under obligation to strive for mastery over self, refusing to be led by inclination or selfish desires. Holiness is gained by taking time to seek God, confess sins, and let the Holy Spirit soften and subdue the soul, learning first lessons of walking before God with a perfect heart, living by His law as the unswerving standard of character and by His will as the principle of holiness.
Confession of sin and humility before God are continually needed, not only at the beginning but at every step of growth, with weakness and dependence recognized rather than self-trust, and this continuing confession and faith keeps safe from sin. It means coming to Jesus every day just as you are to confess mistakes, errors and sins with true contrition and seek pardon, telling Him daily of need for strength and heavenly wisdom to understand what sin is and how to forsake it, heeding wise counselors who love and fear Him without delay because the Lord is soon to come, for no one can keep his own way and perverse spirit while acknowledged as His child. Confession is to be prompt and specific, naming the day's wrongdoings in evening prayer with sorrow, tears and belief, speaking humble words right where one is, receiving forgiveness and peace, while unrepented wicked speech against others stays written in heavenly books and will leave the speaker outside the city.
Only those who come with humble heart confessing errors and sins can be blessed, requiring complete consecration and entire willing obedience, since unconfessed faults such as quickness of temper and bitterness of feeling neutralize profession and keep from good.
Fellowship Restoration and Mission
Confession and reformation clear away what divides hearts, removing the effects of human devising that encourage alienation and strife and prolong difficulty through refusal to submit to Christ's yoke. Walking in the light brings fellowship with one another through the blood of Jesus, and forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness come when sins are confessed by owning one's own sins instead of charging guilt upon others. That light exposes bitterness, prejudice, zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, feelings with no kinship to love, refusal to harmonize or receive truth in a Christlike spirit, hard speeches, hatred of brethren and bitter words against the more righteous, all of which belong to darkness and are used to set believers against the word of truth and lead them step by step in the false way. Those without experimental knowledge of God, bound by selfishness and hereditary and cultivated defects and neglecting His will while claiming to do it, are forgiven and made clean from all moral defilement when under conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment they receive Christ as personal Saviour with faith for power to overcome and confess their sins. Evil speaking, evil thoughts and dishonest actions bring sting of conscience, separation from Christ, desire to hide from God and life under condemnation with dwarfed spirituality and little faith, but believing in Christ for the eternal interest and confessing removes condemnation, and God forgives and cleanses as the Lamb who takes away sin, writing His law in the heart and creating a divine ruling principle of holiness that enlightens understanding and captures affections.
Christ's representatives may proclaim on God's authority that when sins are confessed God forgives and cleanses from all unrighteousness, which is remission of sins according to His Word, directing sinners to the forgiveness He gives. This promise is to be given to the erring to encourage repentance and faith in Christ who pardons, and the church is to receive the repentant with gratitude and lead them into the light of faith and righteousness. When repentance is accepted the remission is ratified in heaven. When one has wronged a brother the wrong should first be confessed to that person and the difficulty cleared away, then pardon can be asked of Christ without fear of rejection, for Christ keeps His promise to forgive transgressions and cleanse from all defilement and does not exploit or disappoint those who confess to Him. When those reproved accept reproof and make hearty confession followed by united prayer, God manifests pardoning grace to those who have confessed and brings rich blessing into the assembly. Frank confession frees both sinners and church from bondage, while unsanctified union to cover sin hinders prayer.
The promise is conditional upon repentance and forsaking of sin, with confession made to Jesus as Saviour and sins against others also confessed to them, and injury or fraud requiring restitution. Private sins are confessed to Christ the one Mediator, open sins openly, and wrongs done to another, in the family or toward fellow members, including what has harmed others or led them astray, must be made right with the offended and confessed before them as well as before God. Heartfelt confession and repentance with full purpose of heart and humbling before Him are conditions for blessing. Forgiveness does not mean continuing in sin, but giving sin up, leaving and hating it, accepting Christ's righteousness by faith and cooperating with God toward a perfected character.
Making things right belongs with prayer for the sick, for when wrongs have been put right the sick may bring needs to God in calm faith. Violations of natural or spiritual law are sins that in seeking restoration to health must be confessed and forsaken to receive blessing. The story of Christ as sin-pardoning Saviour whose love has provided pardon for all who come confessing needs to be heard by those needing physical and spiritual healing, to draw them to Him and bring them under His influence to heal both soul and body.
God's presence and power convict sinners and cleanse from all unrighteousness, but this work is not manifest when those preaching the truth are themselves unsanctified by it. Workers must walk humbly with God, humble self with fasting and prayer, plead day and night for victory through Christ the all-sufficient Helper who understands weakness and need, so the heart is cleansed from all impurity and they see His salvation and know the power of His grace.
Confession with repentance and conversion brings ministers and physicians and all believers into line under Christ as an army of workers, able to speak the Word with holy boldness and power and to go with faith, much prayer and the Bible among those who never heard to teach His Word, with Christ as support and sufficiency giving success. When one overtaken in fault confesses, the Lord pardons, saving a soul and hiding a multitude of sins, and those who see weakness and faults are responsible not to push him away but to hold out hope, speak kindly, pray with him, tell him never to be discouraged, and show kind sympathy and tender forgiving love, while the pardoned one learns by experience how to deal tenderly with others who err.
Children and youth who truly repent, feel sorry and honestly confess to God without hiding wrongs can be forgiven for Jesus' sake, and even being overcome need not discourage, for Jesus loves, pities and pleads with the Father. They should ask Jesus to pardon transgressions and take away sins and believe He does so, ready as He is to accept and bless. Those who know what they ought to do yet practice iniquity and cherish fostered sin must confess before God rather than live a false character and false life, for God cannot bless while it remains, and since Christ gave His life and paid with His blood that they might be saved, they must do their part by confessing and forsaking false living to become Christlike.
Seeking the Lord calls for separating for a few days from business cares and burdens to time devoted exclusively to Him, occupied in self-examination, close searching of heart, penitential confession and renewing vows, which is the proper object of camp-meetings. Cherished evil makes worship a mockery, so coming to God in humble faith requires searching the heart and putting away whatever grieves Christ, with confession and forsaking of sin, trusting on His pledged word that Jesus hears prayer because God is faithful to forgive and cleanse. Congregations praying together for forgiveness and grace to resist temptation share determination to put away sin and seek God.
When persons confess, God forgives and cleanses all moral impurity by the flowing current of the Spirit, and witnesses must let that work go forward and not hinder it. Self, personal feelings, prejudice and faulty judgment of His work block this cleansing, grieve the Spirit and leave believers destitute of quickening power, by failing to recognize God when He visits to forgive and treating His work as an enemy. Humbling before God and confessing personal sins brings pardon, and this seeking and receiving of pardon must come before doing ordained work, with much more prayer than talking. Doubt, unbelief, criticism and faultfinding must be put away because speaking doubt closes the door against the Holy Spirit, while practical godliness after confession brings fellow believers into working order and makes them willing messengers even to suffer for truth. Each must humble the heart and confess personal sins, for confession belongs with reconversion and renewal by the Holy Spirit so crooked characters that held back the work can be remade and face His controversy.