Let me first say a few words lest you think that I do not believe in confession or restitution. Christians ought to confess their sins and make restitution. I admit that these are truths in the Bible, and as such, they should be applied. But I must add that the Bible never considers confession to be a way of salvation. If we think that we can be saved through confession, then the solution to the problem of our sins is still not clear to us. We are presuming that there is another method of redemption apart from the cross of Christ. We may even surmise that we can deal with our own sins before God and man without the cross of Christ.
Let us come to a verse many love to quote, that is, 1 John 1:9, which says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." There are a number who, based on this verse, state that confession is indeed a requirement for salvation. However, I must draw your attention to several points in this verse. First, what is mentioned here is definitely not public confession. First John 1:9 deals with our problem before God when it says, "If we confess our sins." This differs from the current practice of open confession before men. First John 1:9 does not say anything about open confession.
Second, the pronoun "we" in this verse is not like the same pronoun used in the books of Romans and Galatians in that it has nothing to do with the Jews. The Epistle of 1 John is also different from the Gospel of John. John's Gospel shows us how an unbeliever can obtain life, whereas his Epistle tells us how one who has life proves before man that he possesses that life in fact. His Gospel reveals the way to receive life, whereas his Epistle discloses how one who possesses such a life goes about demonstrating what he possesses. Thus, properly expounded, the "we" in this verse does not refer to sinners, but to believers. The Gospel of John describes the way a sinner is justified by God, but 1 John indicates how a Christian may restore his fellowship with God. The Word here does not discuss how the world can believe in Jesus to have eternal life. It indicates how a person who has eternal life and is a child of God can have his sins forgiven by God and have his unrighteousness cleansed when he fails. Hence, this verse makes reference to the believers alone, those who have been saved and justified, those who possess eternal life.
Remember that, whereas an unsaved person is forgiven of his sins by faith, a saved one is forgiven by confessing his sins. Sinners are pardoned by believing in the Lord, and Christians are forgiven by confessing their sins before their Father. First John 1:9 does not deal with the sins of a sinner but with those of a believer, not with the sins committed before one's salvation, but with those committed after one has been saved. Consequently, this verse has nothing to do with our present subject.
I would not be so strict as to say that this verse can be applied only to Christians. Rather, I would admit that one may borrow from a host of Scriptures and utilize them to get people saved. Recently a sister told me that a lady was saved by reading the phrase, "The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11). I do not know how this could have happened. When I first preached the gospel, I was convinced that it takes clear gospel Scriptures to get people saved. However, much experience in recent years has taught me, and I say this reverently, that many are actually saved by strange verses. One cannot imagine that verses as strange as some are can save people. I am not insisting that no sinner could be saved by 1 John 1:9. I am saying that when John was moved by the Holy Spirit to write his Epistle, in his mind the ones referred to in this verse were Christians and not sinners. He originally intended them to be for Christians. Although one may temporarily borrow this word and apply it to a sinner, he should not keep on borrowing it. Strictly speaking, such a verse refers to Christians and does not imply that one must confess his sins publicly and make restitution to others in order to be forgiven.