The Man Who Must Confess — How God cleanses

by Andrew Emery on March 21, 2025 in Bible Study

Introduction

In an earlier post, I shared about a trip to the President’s Hall of Fame. This dilapidated, decades old attraction features exhibits of the United States presidents. One man, despite his passion for the attraction, was oblivious to its decay. We pondered how we grow callous to sin, like the man without a duster. But, he was also the man walking in darkness, because the poor lighting rendered cleaning difficult. We meditated on 1 John 1:8, looking at how God’s light cannot be in us if we walk in darkness. Oblivious or not, he was the man who must confess the awful state and his need for help. Today we will examine 1 John 1:9 to understand confession of sin and how God responds to it.

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 ESV

Faithful, just, and forgiving?

“If we confess our sins,” John tells us, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” How can this be? To be faithful means you are trustworthy, and loyal, to forgive means you pardon and have mercy, yet to be just means you are upright, impartial, and keep with truth. In Romans 3, Paul simply says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If we have sinned, how can God be loyal and merciful to us while still being impartial?

To understand this, we will examine the word translated as “to”; which is ἵνα (hina) in the original Greek. Ἵνα (hina) means “in order that”, or ‘so that’. So, we can read this verse as “he is faithful and just so that he can forgive us our sins.” How does God’s faithfulness and justness make him able to forgive us? God showed his faithfulness and justice through Jesus’ death on the cross, as Paul explains in Romans chapter 3.

Faithful

From the first sin in the Garden of Eden, God promised he would destroy evil and restore humanity to himself; he passed this promise onto Noah, Abraham, Moses and all Israel. Deuteronomy 7:9 is clear when it says God is “the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love.” God remained faithful to humanity despite their total rebellion. Paul tells us how God “passed over former sins” of humanity because he knew that one day Jesus would pay the penalty for our sins. Knowing humanity’s inability to be good, God knew he would have to provide restoration. God remained faithful to his promise by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us.

Just

God did not allow the sins of humanity to go unpunished. He carried out justice when he placed the punishment for sin on Jesus. Paul helps us understand this in Romans 3 when he says, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.” The definition of “propitiation” is “a means of forgiveness.” Paul is telling us that God used Jesus’s sacrifice as the means to forgive us. God remained just by placing the punishment for sin on Jesus, and he was also faithful because Jesus’s sacrifice allowed humanity’s relationship with God to be restored.

The bible tells us that the day of God’s judgment is coming; he will not leave humanity’s sins unpunished. But God is merciful, and faithful, and placed the penalty for sin on Jesus. He will forgive us of our sins if we accept Jesus’ payment on our behalf. God offers us forgiveness as a gift through Jesus’s death on the cross. We can accept this gift by confessing our need for Jesus and placing our faith in him.

Confession

Confession is our work in salvation. Like me, you might be a Protestant who finds the connection of work and salvation unsettling. Let me explain.

John is simple when he says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Confessing sin is throughout the Bible. In Leviticus 5, when speaking of sin offerings, it says “when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty … they must confess in what way they have sinned.” In Psalm 32:5, the psalmist writes, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” People throughout the Bible instruct and practice the confession of sin, but what does this have to do with our salvation? If we jump forward to Romans 10, Paul says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Confessing that Jesus is Lord means we declare our allegiance to him, and believing in our heart means we trust in his redemptive work; God raised him from the dead. How can we place our trust in Jesus without acknowledging our sin and need for redemption? One cannot have saving faith in Jesus’s redemption without confessing sin.

If we want to receive God’s forgiveness through Jesus, we must confess our sins. Confession of sin is our act of humility before God. Confession requires more than an acknowledgment of sin. It must testify to our reliance on Jesus. David shows he understands this humility when he writes, “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Once we understand God displayed his faithfulness and justness through Jesus’ death on the cross, we must humble ourselves before God in confession to receive his cleansing.