1 John 1:8-2:2

Scripture 1 John 1:8-2:2(ESV)

⁸ If we say we have no sin; we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins; he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Devotion:

            Saying we have no sin can be a very dangerous thing to say. I was at a religious meeting and was walking and talking with a man who claimed that he had not sinned in a long time. Just after he finished telling me this he tripped over a chair, fell to the ground and took the Lord’s name in vain. As I helped him up, I couldn’t resist saying “I guess you’ll have to start your sinless streak all over again.” God cannot be mocked. We cannot get away with claiming to be sinless. Eventually our sin will find us out.

            However, verse 9 (the most memorized verse in this letter) gives us the good news. If we confess our sins, we will find forgiveness. “Confession is successful (and this is critical to John’s argument) because of the character of God. His forgiveness is not an act of mercy, as if he were setting aside some usual disposition in response to a religious act of penitence. God’s character is to be faithful and just (cf. Deut. 32:4; Ps. 89:1–4; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 10:23). It is essential not to oppose these two ideas, as if God’s loving-kindness or faithfulness (Gk. pistos) and his justice or righteousness (Gk. dikaios) were at odds. His faithfulness to us has prompted him to make a way for our purification and thereby satisfy his demand for righteousness.”¹

            Saying that we don’t sin makes God out to be a liar because as scripture says “we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God:(Romans 2:12). If this teaching were not true, God’s salvific efforts to save and retrieve his people recorded throughout the Bible would make no sense.² Jesus did not need to die if the world were a sinless place.

            Also, in this verse, it says God’s word is not in us. This may be a reference to Jesus (who John calls the word in his Gospel). If Jesus is not in us, then we are in a         

terrible condition.

            John in Chapter 2 verse 1 changes his audience here. He had been addressing his opponents, but here he makes an appeal to those who are in his flock to avoid sin and remain pure. But comforts them with the fact that if they do happen to sin, they have an advocate with the Father in Jesus. “The advocate speaks with extraordinary authority before the judge, however, because his defense for us is that he, the defense attorney, has already paid any price the judge could impose. The willingness of the judge to forego judgment is not based on the life of the one on trial (us), but rather on the merits of Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed his life in our place. He paid the price for our sin with his death”³ Jesus paid the price not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world, for all of time and in all places.  

  

¹Burge, Gary M. The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary) (pp. 82-83). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.

²Burge, Gary M. The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary) (p. 83). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.