1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Where this sits
Written to a church troubled by teachers claiming to have no sin. John is countering that claim, not addressing people wracked by guilt.
Reflection
The two adjectives are the surprise. Faithful and righteous — not merciful, not kind, which is what the sentence seems to want.
Faithful means he keeps to what he has said. The forgiveness is not a mood he happens to be in when you approach; it is an obligation he has taken on himself, and he is the sort who honours those. Righteous is stranger still. It means the forgiving is the just thing to do, not a suspension of justice for your benefit.
That only makes sense because of what John writes two verses later, about an advocate and a sacrifice. The debt is not being waived. It has been settled elsewhere, which is why paying it out to you is a matter of fairness rather than leniency.
And the condition is small: if we confess. The word means to say the same thing — to agree with the assessment rather than argue it down. That is all. There is no penance in the sentence, no probation, no waiting period.
Then two things happen, and they are not the same. Forgive the sins — the record dealt with. Cleanse from all unrighteousness — the person dealt with. One addresses what you have done; the other addresses what you are like. John gives both, because absolution without change would leave you exactly where you were.
- Theme:
- Forgiveness
- Book:
- 1 John