The believers experience God’s redemption in being forgiven of their sins through their confessing of sins. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confession here denotes the confession of our sins, our failures, after regeneration, not the confession of our sins before regeneration. Even though we have been saved and regenerated and are under the transformation of the Holy Spirit, it is still possible for us to sin. Since we can still sin after we are saved, we need to confess our sins. Our confession is needed for God’s forgiveness. Such forgiveness of God for the restoration of our fellowship with Him is conditional and depends on our confession.
First John 1:9 tells us that God is faithful to forgive us our sins. God is faithful in His word. His word is the word of the truth of His gospel (Eph. 1:13), which tells us that He will forgive us our sins because of Christ (Acts 10:43). If we confess our sins, He, according to His faithfulness in His word, will forgive us. Otherwise, He would be unfaithful.
God forgives the believers’ sins not only according to His faithfulness but also according to His righteousness in the cleansing blood of Jesus His Son (1 John 1:7). God is righteous in the blood of Jesus His Son. The blood of Christ has fulfilled God’s righteous requirements so that He may forgive us our sins (Matt. 26:28). Therefore, if we confess our sins, He, based upon the redemption through the blood of Jesus, forgives us, because He must be righteous in the blood of Jesus. Otherwise, He would be unrighteous.
Because the Lord Jesus has shed His blood for us, God in His righteousness, in His justice, must forgive us. There is no ground for Him not to forgive us. The Old Testament way for God to forgive His people’s sins was through the offerings that were types pointing to the coming Christ. But the New Testament way for God to forgive us is for Him to take the ground of Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. Because the Lord has shed His blood for us, God has the ground righteously to forgive us. If we confess our sins, God, in order to be righteous, must forgive us. This is His righteousness in Christ’s redeeming act. This act was accomplished on the cross and then preached to us according to God’s word in the Bible. Because God is righteous, He, with Christ’s shed blood as the basis, must forgive us our sins.
The believers experience God’s redemption not only in being forgiven of their sins but also in being washed, cleansed. First John 1:9 tells us that God cleanses us from all unrighteousness. For God to cleanse us from unrighteousness is for Him to wash us from the stain of our unrighteousness.
“Unrighteousness” and “sins” in 1 John 1:9 are synonyms. All unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17). Both unrighteousness and sins refer to our wrongdoings. Sins indicate the offense of our wrongdoings against God and men; unrighteousness indicates the stain of our wrongdoings. The offense needs God’s forgiveness, and the stain requires His cleansing. Both God’s forgiveness and His cleansing are needed for the restoration of our fellowship with Him that we may enjoy Him with a good conscience void of offense (1 Tim. 1:5; Acts 24:16).
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