Another reason given to support the deception that Christians don’t need to confess their sins to receive God’s forgiveness is the idea that “the early Christians did not have the book of 1 John for some fifty years, so their getting “right with God” could not have been through the confession of sins”. When we make this statement, we fail to recognize that John’s teaching to the church about the need to confess our sins to God, was not a new doctrine John was introducing. He simply repeated what Jesus had already taught. A very simple truth we should never lose sight of is the truth that the apostles are not the authors of the Christina faith. Jesus is (see Hebrews 12:2). Jesus, during His earthly ministry taught on the New Covenant He was bringing us. Consequently, the apostles took what Jesus taught and ran with it after His death and resurrection, using the teachings of Jesus as the foundation for their teachings and epistles. Jesus Himself affirmed that His words or teachings constitute the foundation upon which we have to build (Matthew 7:24-25). Even so, the apostles did not have to reinvent the wheel. Jesus commanded them to go preach exactly what He had taught them. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave this final charge to His disciples after His death and resurrection, before His ascension to heaven: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you… (Matthew 28:19). In the Words of Jesus, what the apostles had to teach in the New Covenant were the very things He commanded. Not words simply ascribed to Him, but the very things He Himself spoke and commanded them. They were not to abolish His words but to teach others to obey them. So the Scriptures literally say of the early apostles that that they preached Jesus Christ (Acts 5:42). And this is what John did in 1 John 1: 9. He only repeated Jesus’ words to His followers that they ought to confess their sins in order to receive God’s forgiveness.
On two different occasions, once when He had been asked (Luke 6:4 ), and the other on His own accord (Matthew 6:12), Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Although many claim that the Lord’s prayer isn’t for the New Testament, the apostles in their writings actually refuted this claim, as we find that the very words of this prayer constitute truths the apostles re-echoed and taught in their epistles, as well as prayers they prayed or encouraged the church to pray (See here). Jesus, long before John wrote His epistle, taught His followers that receiving God’s forgiveness was dependent on asking God for His forgiveness, and choosing to forgive others. (Matthew 6:12, Luke 6:4). We find the apostles, teaching these same conditions for forgiveness in their epistles. James taught that “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13). When you choose not to forgive others, you refuse to show them mercy, and the Scripture promises that God’s judgement will be merciless towards those who do so. Simply, when we don’t forgive, God also withdraws His mercy and without God’s mercy we are condemned eternally because it is mercy that triumphs over judgement (James 2:13). John also, re-echoed the other condition Jesus gave for forgiveness when He wrote to the church that they needed to confess their sins to God in order to receive His forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
The Greek word translated “confess” is “Homologeo”, which also means to “say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent, or to concede. This means that when confess our sins, we say the same things God says about our sins, and we agree with what God has to say about sin. Thus, to confess our sins to God is to acknowledge before God that what we have done is indeed sinful. And because we know that Jesus teaches us to ask for God’s forgiveness, we do so and receive His forgiveness by faith (Matthew 6:12, Luke 6:11). Again, God teaches that sins ought to be repented of (Matthew 3:2, Proverbs 28:13). To repent of our sins is to turn away from them and forsake them. Thus, confessing our sins to God, is not only to utter sincere words before God but to make the commitment in your heart, with the help of God, to turn away from your sins.
Contrary to the deception that you need not confess your sin to obtain God’s forgiveness, the Scriptures teach the direct opposite: “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” (Proverbs 28:13)” and “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).
Kwadwo Omari, PhD
July 14, 2019