If you have to confess every sin in order for it to be forgiven, as some people interpret 1 Jhn 1:9 , how will you know what sin is so you can go confess it?

Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (NKJV)

Since the law provides the knowledge of sin, you have to go to the law to find out what is considered sin by God so you can go confess it to Him. Which parts of the law do you use to define right and wrong for yourself? Do you use only the 10 Commandments, or do you use the entire law? Well, Jesus considered Leviticus 19:18 , love your neighbour as yourself, to be the second greatest commandment and that specific law wasn’t even part of the 10 Commandments. Has God granted you permission to judge which of His laws are applicable to you and which are not? Did Jesus ever mention that He is only going to fulfill certain parts of the law and that those parts are now no longer applicable? No! In fact, quite the opposite actually.

Luke 16:17 “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” (NKJV)

The law can’t be divided into applicable and not applicable sections for today. The law in its entirety will always remain intact. Heaven is more likely to pass away before even one law will fall away. That is why Paul wrote the following:

Gal 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” (NKJV)

All things, meaning you can’t pick and choose. So, before you go confess next time, just make sure you go through the entire law to see what God considers sin and confess all those too. Don’t forget to also confess every good thing you didn’t do, because that is sin too (James 4:17). And while you are going through the entire law on this quest for knowledge of right and wrong in order to confess and repent, just think for a moment what got Adam & Eve into trouble in the first place? Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What did God say would happen if they ate of that tree? They would die, right? So while you are busy eating from the same tree by trying to get more knowledge about good and evil, don’t be surprised if the very ministry of death you are placing yourself under ends up killing you.

Or, look at the Greek of the only single verse in the entire New Covenant that instructs anybody to confess sins and you will see something very interesting:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins (G266), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (G266) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (G93).

G266: Hamartia: (Noun) To miss the mark, to transgress the law, collectively the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many.

The sin that needs to be confessed is not every single sin you commit because the word is a noun, not a verb. You are to confess that you have fallen short, that you have transgressed, that collectively you are as sinful as can be. You confess your state of sinfulness, not the action of every sin you commit. What happens then? God is faithful to forgive us our sins, same word same meaning, and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

G93: Adikia: (Noun) Deeds of transgression, acts of unrighteousness.

Basically, confess your sinful state before God and He will forgive you of all your acts of unrighteousness. Now, the real whopper is that you have already done this. When? The day you got saved. You confessed your sinfulness, and the forgiveness God provided 2000 years before you even committed one act of sin was credited to you by grace. Now you either believe that and enter into rest from works of trying to earn forgiveness, or you keep asking God to forgive you over and over never really believing that He has already forgiven you. If you choose option 2, you better make sure you confess everything God considers sin, not just what you consider sin.

Does this mean we just forget about our sins, don’t deal with what we are struggling with and just live in any way we want? I will discuss this more in the next post. Stay tuned…

Grace to you!

Cornel

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This is a longer one, but worth it!

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NKJV)

1. When you fellowship with God, do you confess your sins to Him and ask for His forgiveness?
2. Do you do it every time you pray?
3. Do you feel guilty if you don’t confess and seek forgiveness?
4. Do you think you have to do this every day?
5. Do you make a list of every single sin you committed in a day and ask forgiveness for each one or is it a more general confessing and asking?
6. How do you do it? Do you acknowledge what you did wrong, say sorry, ask forgiveness and then feel that God is happy with you again?
7. Why? Were you taught to do it?
8. If so, did you check to see if what you were taught was true or did you just swallow it hook line and sinker?
9. Is confession and asking forgiveness your idea of repentance?

Did you answer ‘yes’ to a few of these questions? If you did, you really need to read the further and answer a few more questions for your own benefit.

Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. (NKJV)

Wouldn’t it be awesome if God didn’t impute our sin to us? We wouldn’t need to confess or ask forgiveness anymore if God stopped holding our sins against us. We would be blessed for sure as this verse says. But God is a just and righteous judge, so it is wouldn’t be possible for Him to not count our sins against us, right? Wrong!

2 Cor 5:19 that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, (NKJV)

It seems like God isn’t imputing our sins to us if we are in Christ. Now if He is not holding our sins against us, are we blessed as Romans 4:8 says? Of course. So what sins do you need to confess if God is not charging you with any of them?

Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (NKJV)

So Jesus is the end of the law of righteousness, the end of the measure of right standing before God based on a person’s moral performance, a person’s ability to keep the law. If He ended the law, meaning it is not applicable any longer, why should I keep measuring myself according to it? Easy, I shouldn’t and I don’t.

Rom 4:15 the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. (NKJV)

Rom 5:13 For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law (NKJV)

Many people believe when we sin we deserve God’s wrath because we broke His laws. But sin is only sin if there is a measure that defines what it is. That measure was the law and it has come to an end. Where there is no law, no transgressions are counted against us. If no transgressions are imputed, there is no need to confess them since there aren’t any to confess. If there aren’t any sins held against us that we need to confess, we also don’t need to worry about God’s wrath. There is only wrath when transgressions are counted. If no sin is counted against you, you also do not need to ask forgiveness. But how can all this be? How can God just end the law and not count people’s sins against them any longer?

2 Cor 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)

Jesus was made into sin for you. God counted every single wretched vile sin of every single person throughout time and history against Jesus. All the wicked rebellious sin of the entre world was tied together in one person in one place at one time and that gave God the opportunity to punish all sin in one go. All the wrath God had against all the sin of the entire human race, was poured out completely on Jesus and He was put to death.

Heb 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, (NKJV)

One sacrifice paid for all sins FOREVER. So if it is paid for, it is dealt with. How many of your sins were included in sins Jesus died for? All of them? If you said yes, then don’t you think God knew every sin you would ever commit and remembered to count all of them against Jesus? If He already counted your sin against Jesus and poured out His wrath, then He doesn’t need to do the same thing for you. If He counts your sin against you and Jesus, then Jesus died for nothing. Since He doesn’t count them against us, stop trying to count them against yourself by confessing them to God.

At the point of salvation, we merely accepted and believed that Christ took our punishment already. When we believed that, we were reborn and created as new beings. We were made the righteousness of God in Christ. All our unrighteousness was taken away and we now have the same right standing before God as Jesus has. How can that be? Because when Jesus became sin for us, the righteousness He had from perfectly keeping the law, was given as a free gift to all mankind.

Rom 5:18-19 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (NKJV)

In light of this, let us look again at 1 John 1:9.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NKJV)

Have you been cleansed from all unrighteousness? Yes. So if you have been cleansed, does that mean you have been forgiven? Logically, yes. If you were forgiven, when did you confess your sins? The day you said, “Jesus, I can’t do this. I trust You to save me.” That was your confession. Now that you know God doesn’t count your sins against you anymore, you can also stop counting them. God did His job perfectly. Just trust Him.

But what about sinning again after salvation? That doesn’t change the fact that ALL your sins were forgiven already. You don’t need to confess “new” sins. When you do, all you are saying is that God apparently forgot to count those ones against Jesus. Since Jesus isn’t going to die again, you have a problem if God messed up and forgot to count even one of your sins against Jesus. Rest assured that God didn’t mess up. He forgave ALL your sin, even the ones you are going to commit tomorrow. Does that mean I can just go out and sin? Technically yes, but just remember that Jesus removed the punishment, the eternal separation sin brought between us and God. He didn’t remove the consequence of sin. If I cheat on my wife, the consequence is that my marriage is over. If I steal or murder, the consequence is that I go to jail and become an outcast from society. Does that mean God is punishing me? No. It means I sowed destruction in my own life. The thief on the cross next to Jesus was forgiven but he still stayed and died on his cross. Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t make you immune against consequence, it made you immune from ever falling out of right standing before God.

That’s enough for now. I have already given you enough reasons to go thank God for being so awesome!

Glory to Glory!

Cornel Marais

Ps. If you think I am saying go out and sin, you missed the entire point of the article!  Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

Click here to read a preview of Cornel’s new book, “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” If you’re tired of religion, legalism and the traditions of man, this book will be a great starting block for you to starting living the life you were destined to live in Christ!