In this verse we learn the wonderful truth. God forgives sins and is “faithful and righteous.” These are firm truths. Anyone may lean on them who feels the burden of sin. Every child of God may look back with joy. That was the moment when they confessed their sins to God. And they may know this. God has forgiven all their sins. He will never remember them again! Indeed: “How blessed is he whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psalms 32:1).
Only for the sincere
But this happiness is granted only to the sincere and truthful. In verse 8 we saw someone. He denies having sin. He claims sinlessness for himself. In verse 10, as we will still see, we find someone else. He denies having sinned. But in verse 9 we have someone. He confesses his sins. We might have expected John to write this. “If we say that we have sin,” or, “…that we have sinned.” Instead, he writes: “If we confess our sins…” In this, he shows a case. Someone is no longer standing before people, but before God.
Confession instead of denial
We see someone here. He neither denies nor waters down anything. Nor does he shift responsibility away. He confesses sins committed before God. He does so with a sense of responsibility and guilt. He also shows that he seeks forgiveness. And he shows trust in God. He runs, as it were, into the arms of the One he sinned against. May no one be like Cain. He murdered his righteous brother Abel. After his terrible deed, he understood nothing. Not the weight of his sin. Not whom he had sinned against. Nor did he seek forgiveness. He simply went away. He went “from the presence of the Lord, and lived in the land of Nod (that is, Wandering)” (Genesis 4:16). A tragic end!
A timeless principle
But here it is different. God shows us a wonderful principle. Forgiveness follows confession! It is not about when, where, or how this confession is made. Nor is it about the basis on which God forgives us here. We will still see this. God has a firm basis. He must have one, to be able to forgive sins. But let it be stated here. This is the timeless principle. Whoever confesses their sins experiences forgiveness.
A common fear among believers
As simple and clear as this principle may seem, it causes many children of God serious problems. They ask themselves this. What if I have not confessed all my sins? What if I forgot or left out even one? Then I am lost. Only the sins we confess are actually forgiven.
Sinner and child of God
Of course, children of God may apply this verse to themselves. The principle found here also applies to them. But this verse speaks, as will be shown more precisely, of a sinner. He comes to God with his sins. It is not a child of God who has sinned. And who now comes to the Father with a confession. There is an essential difference between the two. The sinner comes to gain eternal forgiveness. This concerns heaven and eternity. But a child of God who has sinned already has eternal forgiveness. Why, then, does he still confess his sins? Not to regain something lost. God’s eternal forgiveness is irrevocable. It cannot be lost. It rests on the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus. A child of God remains a child of God, even after sinning. The relationship itself is not lost.
But unclouded fellowship with the Father is disturbed. If this sin is confessed, fellowship is restored. Besides forgiveness for eternity and heaven, there is also God’s forgiveness for time and earth. This applies when He deals with people in discipline and government. These are children of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 12:4–11). But the starting conditions are completely different. This is true for a child of God on the path of faith. It differs from a sinner. It also differs from someone at the start of the path of faith. Such a person comes to God to receive eternal forgiveness in principle.
The context of the verse
The context of our verse makes this clear. It is about basic eternal forgiveness at the start of the path of faith. The case of a child of God sinning appears only in chapter 2:1. Remarkably, it does not say we have an Advocate with God. It says we have one with the Father. We also see this in verse 7. John writes of “the blood of Jesus His Son.” It “cleanses us from all sin.” We already saw this when we dealt with that verse. It presents the fundamental means that removes sin. But this removal by the blood happens only once in life. It happens when the sinner comes to God in repentance and faith. But when it is about children of God sinning, it speaks of water. This is a picture of the Word of God in its cleansing power.
All sin and all unrighteousness
In addition, it does not speak of a specific sin. It speaks quite generally of “all” (or “every”) sin (v. 7). Or it speaks of “all unrighteousness” (v. 9). In fact, a sinner may be conscious of forgiveness for all sins. This includes past, present, and future. It also includes sins he did not confess. He may have forgotten them. Or he may not have been aware of them. God is not a formalist. He does not only care about speaking certain words.
We humans sometimes pay more attention to form than content. A procedural error can cause an acquittal in court. Or it can cause a rightful motion to be rejected. But God looks above all at the inner attitude of the heart. That attitude is expressed in confession of sins. If God required a sinner to remember every sin, none would be saved. This would also require full awareness of every sin.
The basis in the work of Christ
In the heart, God also sees faith. It connects a sinner with the finished work of the Lord Jesus. That work was on the cross of Golgotha. And it connects him with its wonderful results. There God finds the righteous basis. Only on that basis can He forgive sins. It may be that we forgot sins. Or we are not aware of them at all. Yet God knew them all. He knew them before any had been committed. And He laid them all on the Lord Jesus. This was in the three hours of darkness. He did not leave out a single one. He judged the Lord Jesus as a substitute for them all.
Forgiveness for His name’s sake
God forgives us our sins with a view to the finished work of the Lord Jesus: “I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of His name” (1 John 2:12). “Of Him all the prophets bear witness. Through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43). Faith is what is needed on our side. It is needed to share in the blessed results of the Lord Jesus’ work. But the name of the Lord Jesus is the means for God. That means what the Lord Jesus is. It means His whole person and His work. Through that, God can forgive us our sins.
Faithful and righteous
Therefore He is now also “faithful and righteous.” He forgives all sins in response to a confession. Recognizing this can calm every troubled heart. This applies to a child of God. God forgiving sins is not only an act of His love. It is also an act of His faithfulness and righteousness. God is faithful first of all to Himself. He can do nothing that contradicts His own nature. In this, He is also faithful to His given word. He is faithful to His promises. What God says, He will do.
God’s righteousness and judgment
But when it says that God is righteous, it has a judicial meaning. Once, as Judge, He judged the Lord Jesus at the cross. This was in the three hours of darkness. It was substitutionary. Therefore He is now righteous. He forgives those who come in faith. They believe in the Lord Jesus and His work. And they come with a confession to Him. They may know this. Christ already went into judgment for them as a substitute. This was the judgment of a holy and righteous God.
With the words from Isaiah 53 they may say: “But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Would it be righteous to punish the same sins a second time? In the same way, God is righteous when He punishes the one who rejects the Lord Jesus’ work. Such a person does not come to Him with confession. God’s holiness demands a just penalty for sins. But He will never punish the same sin a second time.
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