The first scripture that comes to mind in response to that question is probably 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Those are powerful words, and a wonderful promise. Yet there’s a common misunderstanding of that scripture that can leave a person troubled, confused, and fearful; instead of confident toward God.
John wrote this letter to believers, not sinners, so this is about Christians confessing their sins, not sinners coming to Christ. And he says that one of the reasons he wrote this letter, is that we may KNOW that we have eternal life. (1 John 5:13) The word “know” is a very, very, positive term. There is nothing uncertain about ‘knowing’. And of course, you can’t ‘know’ something that is not absolutely true. No matter how strong your confidence in something, if it is discovered to be false, you didn’t really ‘know’ it… you only thought you knew it.
When it comes to something as important as whether or not we have eternal life… whether we will spend eternity in heaven or hell… we’ve GOT to know! Nobody in their right mind would settle for any uncertainty on that, if they knew that they could KNOW!
There are some things in the Christian life that are gray areas… like matters of conscience… where the definition of sin could be different for different people, depending on the light they have. Whether or not your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life, should NEVER be gray, or cloudy, or questionable in any way. It is black or white! It’s either written there, or it’s NOT! Either way, God wants everyone to KNOW! …That their joy may be full, who have eternal life; or that those who DON’T have eternal life would repent and be saved.
Nearly every word of this verse holds powerful truth, but here I’m going to zero in on one word, that when misunderstood, creates a doctrine that undermines the ‘knowing’, and leaves people in doubt and fear.
That word is “IF”. It’s such a small word, yet it can have a huge impact on the meaning of any statement, especially a promise. Those two letters can be easily overlooked, or under-emphasized. Some deliberately ignore that little word, because they don’t like the idea that God has established conditions for receiving His promises.
But there’s still another danger. To add force to that little ‘if’, some will add the word ‘ONLY’ to the ‘if’… often not even aware of what they’re doing. In some cases that’s no big deal; but in other places, it completely changes the meaning. Sometimes it fits, but other times it leads to a false conclusion.
For illustration, if you say to a child, “If you eat all your vegetables, I’ll give you this treat,” then you still have the option to tweak the requirement to give them the treat, even if they don’t eat all their veggies. (Like God can send rain on the just and the unjust.) But if you add ‘only’ to the ‘if’, now you can’t give them the treat, UNLESS they eat those veggies.
If you add ‘only’ to the ‘if’ in 1 John 1:9, it would mean that God WILL not, or CAN not, forgive sins UNLESS the person confesses their sins. The result is a doctrine that takes away the confident assurance of salvation, and replaces it with the uncertainty of whether or not that person has confessed every sin before their life is ended. For someone who might be killed instantly, or die unexpectedly… that teaching can make their eternal life quite uncertain… even questionable… which can also bring on troubling questions for their loved ones.
You could even say that their eternal life is unlikely, according to that doctrine. Who is there, that has confessed every single sin that they’ve committed since giving their life to Jesus, and having all their past sins washed away? Some have unconfessed sins, that they just brushed off when the Holy Spirit convicted them. They convinced themselves, or were persuaded by the devil, that it really wasn’t a big deal, so they never confessed it as sin, and finally forgot all about it. Forgetting it doesn’t erase it.
Some have ongoing struggles with sins that they are trying to overcome, like anger, for example, but still stumble so often that they no longer confess that sin every time. Some are just dull of hearing, or blind to their sins, like pride or envy or slothfulness.
If you include ‘knowing to do good, but doing it not’ (James 4:17) in the definition of sin… who has confessed every time they didn’t do what they knew they should?
Some think that they can get forgiveness for all their sins, by covering it all with a blanket confession like, “Lord, forgive me for everything I’ve done wrong since the last time I asked you to forgive me for everything I’ve done wrong.” That’s not necessarily a bad prayer, but it would be confessing that you’ve sinned… not “confessing your SINS”.
“Confessing our sins” in the context of 1 John 1:9, is sandwiched right between verses 8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” & verse 10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” Clearly, John is saying that, IF we sin, and the Spirit of God tries to convict us… do we agree with Him (confess)? Or do we go into denial mode… excusing or justifying ourselves? IF we live a life, CONTINUALLY agreeing with God… including about our own sin… we will be CONTINUALLY forgiven, cleansed from all unrighteousness.
Part of the problem is that salvation or eternal life is often mistakenly equated with forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is part of salvation, but full salvation encompasses much more than that. Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34), but that doesn’t give them salvation or eternal life. If salvation was based on forgiveness of sins, and forgiveness of sins was dependent on confessing your sins, you would lose your salvation every time you sinned, and be ‘lost’ until you confessed your sins… when you would be ‘saved’ again. You would be getting lost and saved too often to count. The Lamb’s book of life is not a chalkboard.
It’s no wonder that a Christian living under that doctrine would have very little confidence that they would make it in to heaven. And without that assurance… that witness of the Holy Ghost… it’s no wonder that they would be vulnerable to anyone or anything that would offer some assurance. That could be hanging out with the right crowd, following the right ministry, giving money, keeping man-made rules, feeding the hungry, etc, etc. All those things only offer a fragile, shallow feeling of assurance… NOT the deep unshakeable ‘KNOWING’ that you have eternal life.
We need to understand that there’s something much bigger than forgiveness of sins, that guarantees our eternal life. The simplest description for it is ‘justification by faith’. That is how Abraham was ‘saved’. That’s how anyone was ‘saved’ during the time of the old covenant law. That is STILL how we are ‘saved’ under the new covenant. Now, though, we can experience that salvation in way that they couldn’t before the Lamb was slain, and raised from the dead; and the Holy Ghost was given to believers. It’s so much MORE glorious now!
The faith by which we are justified, is a LIFE, not a one-time clincher to get our ticket punched. As long as that faith remains in us, and we remain in the faith, we can KNOW that we HAVE eternal life. Our name IS written in the book of life. Yet our salvation is not ‘complete’ until we have our glorified bodies, and we are with Jesus eternally. We can say “I AM saved” right now as a present fact, but yet we still need to say, “I WILL be saved” as a declaration of our commitment to keep the faith, and finish the race.
In the same way that a “lifetime warranty” on some purchased product can be voided by not abiding by the terms of the warranty, so can our “eternal” life be voided by departing from the faith. The manufacturer can’t legally void the warranty for no reason, but the purchaser has that option. Just because you void the warranty prematurely, does not mean that it was not a ‘lifetime’ warranty. Just because a Christian can cause his eternal life to be voided, does not mean that it was not ‘eternal’ while it was in effect. We must hold fast our faith, and endure to the end, so that our name is never blotted out of the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 3:5). Then our salvation shall one day be complete.
What an awesome future is ours! And until that day comes, we can have absolute peace with God, and rest in the knowledge of His great love, in full assurance of eternal life! We can boldly confess the righteousness that God has imputed (given) unto us. Spotless! Whiter than snow!
And yes, when He convicts us of sin, confess that, too… that we may stay cleansed from ALL unrighteousness! And walk with Him in white!
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