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NASB | 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 1:9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose]. |
Bible Question:
Angel - you wrote: "The wage of sin is death--this never stops being true, even for those who come to Christ and willfully chose to return to sin!" So then what hope or confidence do I have as a believer if Christ's death was not sufficient to pay the "wage" of my sin? Of what purpose was Christ's death if my sins result in death? As you noted from Romans 6 - When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. . . .You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. What does it mean to be set free from sin? Does it mean that I no longer sin or that I am set free from the "wages" of sin? Are you saying that IF we don't confess our willful sin, we will pay the wage???? |
Bible Answer: Hi, Mommapbs! The wage of sin has been paid in Jesus, yet Jesus Himself warns that not all who call Him Lord will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46); clearly, Jesus is warning that an empty word (saved, Lord, born-again...) is just that an empty word... He will look into the heart and discover the truth about every person who claims His Name! Those who reject Him by refusing to obey His Will will be cast out! When he announces that He is the Resurrection, He does not say that He is the Ransom for all but for many (Matthew 20:16, 28; 22:14; 26:28); not that His power was limited by any specific amount of humans being saved, but because not all would accept Him at His terms! (John 3:19-21) In Revelation 2:18-29 Jesus is not speaking to a mob of unbelievers or a gathering of atheists or people who were ignorant of the Gospels. He has given us time to repent from our old nature and to abide in Him... if we reject His Command and we lie with sin we make sin our master and we reject Jesus as our Master--we cannot serve two masters! To say that we have no sin makes God a liar--He has stated that none are righteous... but if we come to Jesus (no not go to a congregation and be baptised and claim to be born/saved, but abide in Jesus) He is Just and Loving and will receive our repentant heart and our humble obedience--even if we failed him 70 times 7 (just a matter of numbers--not that there is a limit to God's forgiveness of our trespasses!). Confessing our sins does not mean getting up on a stage and replay how awful we were before we met the Lord and how we ar now born again and partakers of salvation--living in a state of grace where no matter what we do we have a get-to-Heaven-free membership! Those who preach that sin is OK, that there is no need to confess our sins and to ask God for forginess are just as confused as the Pharisees and Sadducees that were guardians of the written and oral Law, yet they did not apply the text to themselves but to others... rejecting Christ, the Creator of all that exists on the grounds that He made Himself to be God! They rejected Him because He preached Love and broke the Sabbath in order to bring into the Kingdom of God the lost sheep! Just as a comparison: There were two criminals crucified alongside of Jesus... one rejected and mocked Him, the other opened His heart and spirit to the One True God and He repented and asked for Mercy--Jesus acted according to their obedience (one) and rejection (the other)! These two people were fully aware of Christ... perhaps they did not have the overall picture that the disciples and we have, but they were knowledgeable enough to make a judgment: one foolishly mocked and rejected Christ (no primise); the other humbly accepted his own faults and failures and asked for forgiveness (no he did not went into a repertoire of all his past deeds--Jesus looked into his heart and spirit), Jesus opened His Heart and cleansed him (he received the promise)! Again, in 1 John 1:9, John is not speaking to the unbelievers nor to atheists... he is speaking to other Christians and he is warning that those who claim to be above others (no sin) are only fooling themselves and that because we are in Jesus, He will forgive us, if we repent!--noticed that he did not say "when we confessed nor he forgave us..." Rather, John uses a clause "if" which demonstrates a cause-effect situation... "if we confess...forgive..." Convesely, the opposite must also be true: "if we do not confess...no forgiveness..." God Bless! Angel |