Grace does not relieve you of the responsibility to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. – Part 2

Is confessing our sins (and repentance) necessary under grace? – You bet!

We read in 1 John 1:7 that “but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin”. Some may take this Scripture and suggest that once a Christian walks in the light and have fellowship with others, they automatically get cleansed from their sins so that confessing our sins to God to be forgiven becomes unnecessary. One big failure with such a non-biblical addition to 1 John 1:7 is the failure to define by the Scriptures what walking in the light means. Moreover, making 1 John 1:7 seem to say that confession of sins is not necessary is just a clear case of picking a Scripture out of its context/paragraph, make it stand alone and add your own conclusions to it contrary to what  the Scriptures say. It is worth noting that the Scriptures were not originally written in chapters and verses; these were later added for easy referencing. So we just can’t pick a chapter and a verse from the Bible, situate it out of its context/paragraph and make it say what we want it to say. Just as it has been rightly pointed out: we cannot simply quote “and he (Judas) went and hanged himself from Matthew 27:5, then quote Jesus as saying “…Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37), then erroneously conclude that Jesus commands his followers to commit suicide.  That will be heresy! Even so, we do same when we only take 1 John 1:7, disregard the statements that immediately follow in verses 8-10 and come up with our own doctrines and theologies contrary to the teachings of  Scriptures. Let’s examine 1 John 1:7-10 a little further.

In verse 7 of 1 John, we are told that if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and  the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The word “If” implies a condition, i.e. it is your choice to walk in the light, have fellowship with one another and have your sins cleansed or choose not to and have your sins remain. But what does it mean to walk in the light? Psalm 119:105 refers to the Word of God as Light: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. Also we are told that “God is light” (1 John 1:5), and God is also His Word (John 1:1). Therefore, to walk in the light is to walk in the light of the Word of God.

What does the Word of God, i.e. the Light we are to walk in, have to say about our sins being forgiven? Immediately following 1 John 1:7, we were told that “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). And immediately following this sentence we were shown how to have our sins forgiven: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). If we are truly walking in the light then we will be obeying the Word of God, which actually teaches us to confess our sins to God in order to have them forgiven. To suggest to people that confessing their sins to be forgiven is not necessary, is to plainly dissuade them from following the very path God has given us to have our sins forgiven when we err or fall into sin. This is to stand in direct opposition to God. I have heard a preacher render 1 John 1:9 as saying, “if we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful to have forgiven us our sins and to have cleansed us from all our unrighteousness.” But this is a direct misquoting of the Scripture. The Greek word “hina” which is translated “to” in the phrase “to forgive our sins” actually means in order that. Thus, 1 John 1:9 could literally read: In order that our sins be forgiven, we should confess them to God.

The Scriptures teach that provision was made for us to receive forgiveness when Jesus died on the cross, and we have to come to God to receive that forgiveness. So we are instructed thus:  “Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment]” (Hebrews 4:16). But what if we choose not to go to God to receive His mercy by refusing to confess and repent of our sins? Then we have chosen to reject God’s avenue to cleanse us, and have chosen to remain in our sins. And God has made it clear that nothing unholy or impure will ever enter heaven (Revelations 21:27).

Confessing our sins to God does not mean to come before God to merely recite our sins, then go back to indulge in those sins again. The Bible warns us to not be deceived, because God is not mocked (Galatians 6:7). Acknowledging our sins before God and asking for His forgiveness i.e. confessing our sins to God, also require that we repent from our sins i.e. to turn away from and forsake the sin. As the Bible teaches, it is those who confess and forsake their sins who find mercy (see Proverbs 28:13).

Kwadwo Omari
© 2016