Are There Two Types Of Forgiveness: Judicial Forgiveness And Relational Forgiveness? PART 4
Is John contrasting between judicial forgiveness and relational forgiveness in 1 John 1:9 when he writes, “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”?
To understand a verse, we must seek to understand the context of the verse.
So, what is the context of 1 John.
John states his purpose for writing his letter in 1 John 2:26-21. He writes,
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
In these verses, we see the reason John writes his letter. He writes so the liars, those who deny Jesus is the Christ, do not lead the believers away from the truth about Jesus being the Christ. These liars, by denying Jesus is the Christ, are denying the Father and the Son, since they are rejecting Jesus as the Christ.
John addressed these liars the same way Jesus addressed the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in the book of John. Jesus called the Pharisees and teachers of the law liars in John 8:44. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law denied Jesus was the Christ, though they claimed to know God, meaning to be in fellowship with God. Because John spent much time with Jesus, It would only make sense John would address those claiming to know God and be in fellowship with him as liars, since they rejected Jesus as the Christ.
John also states in 1 John 5:10 that those who do not believe God when he has testified that Jesus is the Son (a title for Christ in the Jewish scriptures) make God out to be a liar, sincw God testified that Jesus is the Son.
So who are these liars?
These liars are false teachers who have infiltrated the Jewish community of believers that John was shepherding who claimed to know and love God (be in fellowship with God) yet who denied Jesus was the Son the Jewish scriptures said would come.
These liars about Jesus are seeking to lead Jewish believers away from the truth concerning the identity of Jesus. John writes to assure them that Jesus is the Son and that fellowship with God and eternal life is belief in Jesus as the Son.
It seems these liars, these antichrists as John calls them, have left the community of believers (1 John 2:19) because of a denial of Jesus as the Son (Christ), and they are now seeking to persuade others to leave the Jewish community of believers as well. John writes so they will no be led astray by these leaders and away from the truth of Jesus being the Son (1 John 2:20-27).
We see in John that the liars are those who have denied Jesus is the Son and who make God out to be a liar because God has testified Jesus is the Son.
Those in 1 John 1:10 also made God out to be a liar by claiming to be without sin. John writes, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” The common identification of those in 1 John 1:10 is these are believers John is referring to who are denying their sins, and, therefore, are out of fellowship with God.
However, based upon the clear identification of liars in 1 John 2:22-23 and the clear information John provided where they made God out to be a liar in 1 John 5:10, is it possible those of 1 John 1:10 are not referring to believers in need of confessing their sins so fellowship with God can be restored, but instead are the false teachers who need to agree with God concerning their sins by admitting their sins and by believing Jesus is the Son.
Let’s examine this in PART 5.
