If We Confess Our Sins: 1 John 1:9 and Religious Paranoia

In his first letter, John makes the statement: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). It would be an understatement to say that this verse has been misunderstood and misapplied throughout most of the church's history. Those in top-down religious positions of authority have wrongly used this verse to insist we must continually be on high alert and be constantly confessing all of our sins in order to stay forgiven or receive continued forgiveness up to that point in time. One contemporary example of this is John MacArthur. In his explanation of 1 John 1:9, he writes:

"It is a subjective, relational kind of forgiveness. It is the restoration to a place of blessing in the eyes of a displeased father. ...it is a spiritual washing to rid you of the defilement caused by sin in your daily walk. The verse is speaking of an ongoing pardon and purification from sin, not the cleansing and forgiveness of salvation." If We Confess Our Sins, (Emphasis Mine)

MacArthur insists that 1 John 1:9 is referencing an accumulation of sin caused by living life. In other words, as I live my life, sin accumulates and requires periodic confession in order to be restored to a Father who has become displeased with me in between my confessions because of accumulated sins. For him, it is a "subjective, relational kind of forgiveness" that depends on my faithfulness to repeatedly and continually confess all of my sins in order to receive "ongoing pardon and purification." In his own words, I become defiled and unclean just be living my life every day, apart from continual, faithful confession of all of my sins continually. For MacArthur, the forgiveness and pardon you received at conversion doesn't "eliminate the need for you to deal with the subjective reality of sin in your life." In short, you're forgiven but not really. 

Desiring God Ministries adds a new layer of confusion by insisting: 

"You’re not saved through faith alone. Be killing your sin." Twitter 10/14/2017 

Sin management and behavior modification have become modern evangelicalism's latest obsession. In our cut-and-paste church/Bible cultures, where we're quick to grab a verse out of context and use it as a proof text to shame and/or guilt someone into conformity to our opinion, 1 John 1:9 and confessing sin is a prime example. Church leaders and religious organizations present their interpretations of it in a schizophrenic "you're forgiven but you're not forgiven" way that keeps people doubting, dazed, and confused about where they stand with God. Have we done enough confessing and who decides what's enough? 

Kevin DeYoung adds this to our conversation, 

Forgiveness and Reconciliation With God

One of the most misunderstood truths of the gospel is the forgiveness of sins. With varying success, religion has convinced us that we're supposed to continually ask God to forgive us for each new sin. We're told it's up to us to keep short accounts with God by confessing our sins over and over again so as not to forget or omit one. After my initial salvation, forgiveness only works to the degree that I am able to keep confessing my sins each time I sin. This comes from a basic misunderstanding of 1 John 1:9 in the New Testament. We'll talk about that in my next post but in this one, let's talk about when our sins were forgiven and how understanding when our sins were forgiven makes everything religion has convinced us is true about ongoing forgiveness come crashing down.

Belief, Unbelief, and Reconciliation

Unlike so many religious institutions, the gospel isn't fixated on policing sin but on the good news of the complete once-for-all forgiveness of sin that occurred at a particular point in time. Paul's message of the good news of the gospel wasn't "Ask God to forgive you, clean up your act and start confessing all of your new sins from this point forward." No. It was a message of reconciliation. It was a message of movement from unbelief to belief. It was a message of movement from being unreconciled to being forever reconciled. It was a message of movement from death to life. Here's what he said:

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20, ESV, Emphasis mine)

Wait a minute Paul. Didn't you mean to say, "Ask God for forgiveness"? What's with this reconciliation language? This isn't the message we normally hear from church pulpits. What are you talking about Paul? In the verses prior