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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]. |
Subject: If our sins are forgiven, why repent? |
Bible Note: I appreciate your thoughts. And thank God for mothers who say things like that. I can understand your hesitation to use use the word "mistake" in reference to sin. Yet it may be that, at the one end of the spectrum, there are mistakes. At the other end, there are willful, premeditated, deliberate, perhaps persistent transgressions. Where does my sin fall? I chose the particular word because I was at that very moment aware that, in spite of my best intentions, I had made a mistake. Even now I am wondering if it was a mistake to use the word “mistake”. If everyone understands the idea of secret faults (Psalm 19) then I would feel better. If anyone thinks that the idea is to excuse sin, then it would have been a mistake. I do not know how to avoid it. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults” (Psalm 19:12). I think of James’ point (James 3) that we offend with our words. And sometimes we offend without intending so to do. That is what I mean by “mistake“. Since it is not like me to write a short response, and at the risk of making another mistake, let me add this: I am meticulous in my preaching, (though perhaps not as much so as I think) and I worry about making a mistake. I sometimes fill my outline with annotations and references and try so hard to stick to them. Yet I often find myself including things I had not planned to say. I take these additions as from the Spirit, and yet I worry about not having had the opportunity to clear all points through Scripture in advance. What if I say something wrong??!! Last week I preached at a certain church and got carried away with the subject. It was an interactive exercise and everyone seemed to enjoy it. More than that, they actually practiced the word, which I try to include in all my messages. I thought in the end that it had gone perfectly. But then someone pointed out that we had gone beyond the allotted time. That was my mistake. I had offended someone, and I apologized and asked forgiveness. It is not my intention to garner sympathy here. I realize that some will think it was no mistake. Some might say it was the Spirit leading us beyond the man-made time slot, and the complainer was at fault, etc. But the point is that we make mistakes, and it is often wise to simply apologize, when someone is offended. I do not mean either to defend use of the term “mistake”, though I do think that we make mistakes, and I am not sure we can avoid them. There is something in the definition that includes that. But I agree that we should hesitate to call sin a mistake; someone may get the wrong idea. Many sins, perhaps most sins, are anything but mistakes. Usually, there is manageable time in the progression from being tempted, to sinning, and to death (James 1) and it can be short-circuited. But sometimes there is little time, as between thinking and speaking, and we do not make a right response. We should be quick to hear and slow to speak, but sometimes we do not take the time. That in itself is a mistake, and it may lead to sin. Thank God for the provision of forgiveness. We may not be able to avoid sin completely, but we can confess it when it happens, and be cleansed from all unrighteousness. |