There is a lot of confusion over this scripture in the New Covenant in the light of grace and righteousness. I think a lot of the confusion arises in translating the scripture from Greek into English and other languages. In this study, I am going to translate directly from the Greek to give a better understanding on what the lord is saying in 1 John 1:9.
Before I do that, we need to fully understand that as believers we are righteous in Christ and not unrighteous and therefore we do not need to be cleansed from unrighteousness. Sin shall not have dominion over us for we are under grace. We are the righteousness of God in Christ… confessing sin over and over is not the will of God… our confession should be, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ and sin shall not have dominion over me for I am under grace. I am not a sinner, I am righteous, in Jesus Name!”
Now, let us look at 1 John 1:9…
The word translated as ‘confess’ is the Greek word, ‘Homologé’ it literally means ‘to say the same thing’. John is encouraging us to confess and to declare the same thing and to come in agreement with God’s Word according to our New Covenant in Christ… specifically when we make mistakes and when we do not reach our targeted goals. We confess, “Father, I thank You that when I am weak, then I am strong in Your strength by your grace. I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me, I walk in supernatural ability and I shall be successful and I shall be on target and on time in every assignment, in every relationship and in all things, in Jesus Name!” That is what we are to confess, not… “Oh Lord, I am such a rotten unworthy sinner…”
Telling the Lord that we are sorry for missing it is a good thing, but we should not take our godly sorrow to the point of condemnation, depression, self-loathing and sin consciousness.
Next, the word translated as ‘sins’ is the Greek word, ‘Hämärtē'ä’ literally meaning, ‘to make a mistake – to wander off the path or to not reach our goals’. We all miss the mark and we all make mistakes and sometimes wander off the ideal path that the Lord has put us on. In 1 John 1:9 The Lord is ministering to His Children how to walk free from condemnation when they make mistakes. He is not encouraging sin-consciousness by getting us to confess our sins, He is teaching us how to stay free and how to maintain righteousness consciousness.
Next, let’s look at the word translated as ‘forgive’… it is the Greek word ‘Aphími’, literally meaning to suffer or to leave destitute. Jesus is saying that He has suffered for our sakes, therefore all wrongdoing on our behalf will be left destitute and that we will not suffer the consequences.
The word translated as ‘cleanse’ is the Greek word ‘Katharíz’, to purify and to remove all consequences.
The word translated as ‘unrighteousness’ is probably the biggest translation blunder… It is the Greek word ‘Adikía’ literally meaning ‘Injustice’. Righteousness is a totally different, unrelated Greek word, ‘Dikaiosýn’. ‘Adikía’ has nothing to do with our free gift of righteousness in Christ… mistakes cannot make you unrighteous! No work can make you unrighteous and no work, including confession can make you righteous. What the Lord is addressing here is the injustice and bad things that could come to us from the devil and vengeful people as a result of our mistakes and as a result of us wandering off the path of safety. The Lord is showing us how to escape the consequences of our wrongdoing in the light of the New Covenant.
Let’s look at all of this together…
1 John 1:9, “If we agree with the Word and declare and say the same thing that the Lord says regarding our mistakes and decree and declare that sin has no power over us, He is faithful and just to dismiss all consequences in the light of His suffering in our stead on the cross and to keep us clean and stainless, regardless of our actions. We will stand protected from all injustice and we will be free from the consequences of all of the bad things that would have happened to us as a result of our wrongdoing.”
When we come into agreement with the Word in the confession of our faith, no mistakes that we make along the road will besmudge us.
Now some naysayers may say, “are you giving people a license to sin?” No, people sin without a license everyday. We all make mistakes, and very few people ever do it on purpose, we all get off track and we all miss the bull’s-eye occasionally… this scripture is for those of us who make mistakes… it is a God given, New Covenant way to walk free from condemnation, in strength and in grace and in righteousness by speaking the Word over our lives in areas of weakness, mistakes and shortcomings – Selah!
*In tomorrow’s devotion we will look at New Covenant repentance…
