Rebound revisited, part 11. 1Jo 1:8-10; 2Ti 2:11-14; Eph 1:7; Col 1:13-14.

Title: Rebound revisited, part 11. 1JO 1:8-10; 2TI 2:11-14; EPH 1:7; COL 1:13-14.     

 

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

“forgive” - avfi,hmi[aphiemi; aorist active subjunctive] = to let go, leave, to disregard, leave behind, dismiss, divorce, cancel, pardon, remit, forgive, abandon.

 

The subjunctive may lead us to believe that God may or may not forgive us based on our confession of the sin. This is what has led some to believe in two forgiveness’s.

 

The point in 1Jo is refuting false teaching and presenting the fact that all of us were born in sin and continue to commit sin and that sins can destroy our spiritual lives if we don’t deal with them effectively under the principle of grace, which is that all forgiveness and cleansing was accomplished at the cross and through recovery from walking in the darkness to walking in the light we appropriate or claim that finished work in our souls.

 

The judge, acknowledge, cease, and think doctrine recovery eliminates licentiousness [sin doesn’t affect me], asceticism [I don’t sin anymore], guilt, and condemnation [forgiveness depends upon me].

 

Therefore, grace gives the believer the confidence to forge ahead in the light that is the life in Jesus Christ.

 

EPH 1:7-8

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness [aphiemi] of our trespasses [paraptoma - synonym meaning trespass or offense], according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.

 

COL 1:13-14

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness [aphiemi] of sins [genitive plural of hamartia].

 

If forgiveness depends on anything that we do then the work of Christ was not finished. Faith in Christ for salvation is the believer’s acceptance of the work of Christ on his behalf. I do not have to believe in Him again. If the Bible states that I’m forgiven of all sin at the moment of salvation then what forgiveness is referenced in 1JO 1:9; the same one for there is only one.

 

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

The subjunctive is in use because the believer’s understanding of his recovery to fellowship or walking in the light is dependent on his understanding of the adverse effects of sin in his life.

 

Therefore 1JO 1:9 is clearly written by John through God the Holy Spirit to indicate recovery from time spent outside of the boundaries of the plan of God in a believer’s life. With the work of Christ as the basis then recovery is the direct output of grace. The believer recognizes his sin and acknowledges it without guilt or condemnation because he knows that Christ paid for it.

 

So he recognizes and acknowledges his walking in darkness and now he can make the choice to move on in the light and all by means of grace.

 

The aorist tense points to the time when forgiveness occurred - the cross.

 

The issue in 1Jo 1 is acknowledging that we are sinners, both inherent and in experience (vs. 8,10), recognizing and acknowledging the current sin (vs. 9), halting the current trend, and then changing our thinking back to the mind of Christ, which is the rest of the epistle. In this process the HS is fully influencing us and empowering us.

 

The final clause in verse 9, stating that God is always faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness is a direct link to the cross in your thinking so that there is no guilt or condemnation over the sin. It was done at Cavalry, so let’s move right on into the light, the environment that our new selves are designed to live in.

 

So the subjunctive is used because this is a conditional clause based on acknowledgment of the sin, since there were many in these churches that were under the false doctrines of Gnosticism who were not acknowledging that they had any sin at all.

 

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

“cleanse” - kathari,zo[katharizo; aorist active subjunctive] = to make clean, to cleanse.

 

The aorist tense again points the time that sin was cleansed and the subjunctive mood refers to the listeners, some of which or many of which concluded that they were immune to the affects of sin or had reached sinlessness and so there was no need for atonement.

 

You cannot live the Christian way of life unless you acknowledge you are born a sinner and that you do and will commit personal sin, for if you do not you will remain in sin and darkness and never stop the current trend that has you out of fellowship with God and therefore without power and soon to receive divine discipline [judge yourselves so that you may not be judged].

 

Uses of katharizo : 2CO 7:1.

 

2CO 6:14  Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness [having no law], or what fellowship has light with darkness?

 

“partnership” - me,tocoj[metochos] = one who shares with someone else as an associate in an enterprise or undertaking.

 

The word for fellowship is koinonia as it is in 1Jo 1.

 

This is a reference to partnership in the spiritual life. It would indicate two or more positive believers who are working towards a common objective in some kind of communication of the gospel or doctrine or in Christian service.

 

The fellowship indicated here does not mean to isolate yourself from the world, which makes poor ambassadors and hard hearts. And that does not mean that you should maintain close relationships with evil people. You must learn the valued of separation, either mentally or physically, and you must also learn the application of being in the world but not of the world.

 

The body of Christ is His representative on earth throughout the CA.

 

The Church cannot represent Christ properly by isolating itself from the world or by integrating the world’s ways within herself.

 

Fellowship - to share in common.

 

2CO 6:15 Or what harmony [sounding together - the sound you make together] has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

 

The unbeliever does not sound or talk the way that the believer does. So fellowship in the strict sense of the word is out.

 

Fellowship is a symphony of thought, between the believer and God and between positive believer and positive believer.

 

It is not a commune and it is not forced through pot lucks and programs in the church. What is shared in common is thinking, love, spirit and purpose. Friendships and romances may arise from it, but these are not necessary. You don’t even have to like a person that you share a common destiny with. How do we run the church as all doing our jobs as unto the Lord, while not resorting to the ways of the world, putting out the best gospel and doctrinal product that we can, while loving one another with virtue love, avoiding MAS’s, using our spiritual gifts, intent on one purpose - glorifying TLJC. That’s the truest sense of fellowship and not parties, retreats, of social events.

 

I liken this to the founding fathers who threw off the bonds of tyranny in a common purpose of creating a nation based on the freedoms that God has given to all men. We preserve the bond of freedom in Christ and while teaching ourselves and anyone who will listen how to throw off the bonds of tyranny from the satan and the KOD, the world system, and the flesh.

 

Hence, if we begin to think that sin does not affect us, or that we don’t sin anymore, or we become guilty or condemned, then what unites us is thrown off and we are divided. What unites us is the person and work of Christ. If we walk in darkness there is nothing but arrogance, division, selfishness, covetousness, etc. in the body and the Church loses her effectiveness in the world.

 

Government systems seek to remove this freedom. In true fellowship ideas grow, prosper, and many things get done. There would be no Grace and Truth Ministries without the truth of this principle.

 

ECC 4:12

And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

 

JOH 14:12

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

 

PHI 2:2

make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

 

Believers cannot be in fellowship with another believer if one or both of them are walking in darkness.

1JO 1:7

but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

2CO 6:16 Or what agreement [putting votes together or hence agreement] has the temple of God [the believer] with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 

2CO 6:17 "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate [from the idol worshippers]," says the Lord.

"And do not touch what is unclean;

And I will welcome you.

 

2CO 6:18 "And I will be a father to you,

And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,"

Says the Lord Almighty.

 

OT Law is used as a picture of the CA believer’s soul.

 

The OT believer could touch what is unclean. The CA believer can only think what is unclean.

 

2CO 7:1Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit [recovery], perfecting holiness in the fear [awe and respect] of God.

 

Promises: The believer is the holy temple of God; God is his Father, he is God’s son/daughter, God indwells him, the Almighty is his God.

 

So why let the flesh and negative volition towards doctrine, which means positive volition towards God’s opposition, rule such a one as this?

 

The use of the word “beloved” makes it perfectly clear that this is being written to believers; hence believers can defile themselves, or stain themselves with God’s opposition. In God’s eyes they are sanctified and holy, but they have chosen fellowship with the world over fellowship with God, which is to make these promises remain as just that, promises, potentials with no fruit. 

 

“cleanse” - kaqari,zw[katharizo; aorist active subjunctive] = to make clean, to cleanse.

 

It is in the same tense, voice, and mood as 1JO 1:9 except it is first person plural - “us.” 1JO 1:9 is third person singular - “God.”

 

Recovery is clearly spelled out here. Our old friends the Corinthians were defiled by their flesh and by their souls. They were licentious and they rejected Paul’s ministry so they were defiled by flesh and spirit.

 

“defilement” - molusmo,j[molusmos] = a smear, spot, blemish, spoil or stain as with mud or filth.

Defilement of flesh: licentiousness.

Defilement of spirit: rejection of Paul’s teachings.

 

sarx [flesh] - has an ethical sense and denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. [Joseph Thayer]

 

Spirit is pneuma, which interestingly is usually opposed to the flesh, but here it is not the spirit of God but the mere spirit of man, which in the case of the Corinthians, is in agreement with the human nature and opposed to the divine nature or divine Spirit.

 

So they have mental attitude sins as well as sins of the flesh as a consistent lifestyle and that have stained or defiled themselves - and yet they still continue to be the holy temple of God, and God is their Father and their Almighty God and indwells them and He calls them sons and daughters.

 

The change from this type of thinking to perfecting holiness in the fear of God is a vast change. It is not accomplished by confession alone and then right back to defilement as a lifestyle. God is not going to force you to think a certain way. Yet nor is it done in human power or through any human agency other than volition.

 

The word of God and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit are given to lead the believer into the truth and beauty of God’s holiness and also to empower the believer to walk in that holiness.

 

But volition cannot be taken out of the equation. And the believer has to think for himself, from the privacy of his own priesthood, thinking with his own doctrine, answering his own questions and solving his own problems from that doctrine.

 

If the believer wants the HS or the word to force them to make decisions in a robotic sort of way then he is stating clearly that he personally would rather not choose the things of God but would rather have someone else do that for him.