Just to Forgive

1 John 1:9 is a well-known verse offering assurance of forgiveness to the one who confesses his sin: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I have often understood this to be for believers: if anyone who is in Christ falls into sin, confesses his sin to God, God here gives a promise of forgiveness. He will forgive that sinner and cleanse him from his unrighteousness.

What is interesting is the promise of forgiveness is rooted in both God’s faithfulness and His justice. God is faithful and He is just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I have always understood how God’s faithfulness is grounds for forgiveness. "Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds." God’s character to us is so benevolent and unfailing, how could he hold our sins against us if we come to Him in brokenness and repentance? What has been less clear to me is how God’s forgiveness can be rooted in his justice. How is God just to forgive sin?

At the first look it would seem forgiveness has nothing to do with justice. Forgiveness is quite the antithesis of justice as its very definition involves not giving someone what is their rightful due. The sinner is in the position of a debtor and justice demands a rightful payment. Forgiveness, however, is the act of removing a debt that should be paid, which has to do with mercy. How then can it be said that God just to forgive sin?

I believe the answer can be found in the blood of Jesus Christ. If Jesus has made complete atonement for the sinner, covering his debt in full, it would be injustice for God to demand payment from the sinner a second time. It would be wrong for God to look at that completed work which covers the entirety of the sinner’s stains and require additional payment. It is Christ which makes God just to forgive sin. His payment is so complete that the Father is satisfied to look at that completed sacrifice instead of our sin. And as we falter in the future, it remains just and good for God to forgive because of the thorough mediation of the Son.

Matthew Henry commenting on this passage says the following:

“God is faithful to his covenant and word, wherein he has promised forgiveness to penitent believing confessors. He is just to himself and his glory who has provided such a sacrifice, by which his righteousness is declared in the justification of sinners. He is just to his Son who has not only sent him for such service, but promised to him that those who come through him shall be forgiven on his account.”

But why confess at all?

One might argue if we are in a position of such grace through the blood of Jesus, why does 1 John 1:9 seem to make a preliminary condition? Why does is it appear that God’s forgiveness is dependent on “if we confess our sins”? I believe this “confession” is nothing more than the fruit of a life that has been confronted with the goodness of God in Jesus Christ. Confession is the natural result of someone born of God.

While sin cannot disrupt our standing before God the Father, our union with God; it can very much disrupt our fellowship with Him, our communion with Him. Where we do not have to fear losing our position as a righteous child before him, sin nevertheless disrupts our intimacy with Him. Sometimes Christians in sin will experience the loving discipline of their Father as a result of their disobedience; but someone who has tasted of the gospel and been touched by the love of God, cannot help but confess His sins to His Father. He is now in a position of sonship and any breach in that closeness with His Father will cause Him to confess, that he may once again be brought near. This is characteristic of all children of God, for what child of God, imbued with the Holy Spirit of God, will live in a prolonged state of opposition to the Father he loves?

Confession, much like repentance, is a hallmark of the believer’s life. As my Dad has told me in the past, we are to keep “close accounts” with God. Confession is one of the ways we can do this: asking God to reveal evil ways in us and confessing them to God. As we confess and turn from the sin God has revealed to us, God has promised that He will forgive of us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is faithful and just to do so.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!

    Try me and know my thoughts!

 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Psalm 139:23-24