Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 22.

The price: the blood of Christ. Refers to the entire act of salvation.

We noted in Act 20:28 that God purchased the church with His own blood.

Next, we moved to 1Jo where the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.

It is important to see the reason why an epistle is written if we can, and in John’s case we can. John states that he is writing to them in order to expose the opponents as false teachers and antichrists. He also states that he is writing to assure believers in his congregations that they indeed have eternal life.

The church is still in its infancy. John is the last surviving apostle and many in these churches have never seen or heard of false doctrines like these. They have yet to be attacked and some of there attackers were once members of their assemblies. This scared and confused them and John is writing to assure them.

We noted what the false teachers claimed: they denied Jesus Christ nature and His work; they claimed to walk in the light, to have seen God, know God, to have fellowship with God, and to abide in God; they said that they had no sin, and that they had not sinned.

1Jo 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life —

1Jo 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —

1Jo 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

1Jo 1:4 And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

1Jo 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

“We” – teachers, which are going to be either John and his co-workers or the false teachers and antichrists.

1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

John just wrote that “our fellowship is with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.” If he said that and yet walked in darkness (death) then he would be a liar. But he doesn’t say that.

He says God is light and “we” fellowship with Him.

Who says that they have fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness?

1Jo 2:9 The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

1Jo 2:10 The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

1Jo 2:11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

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1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

These are the false teachers. Next John refers to himself and those with him in fellowship with Christ.

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.

Notice that he doesn’t write “If we say,” but rather “if we walk,” which is doing and not saying.

Remember verse 5, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with the Father, and now we have fellowship with one another. Fellowship is a sharing of life, of love, or purpose, of destiny, of truth, or spirit.

Php 2:2

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

Now, does the fact that we walk in the light cause the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all sin? Not at all. And so, this is not a conditional clause in which the protasis causes the apodosis. This is an equivalence. Believers walk in the light because they are children of light. Believers are cleansed of all sin by the blood of Christ. They are equivalent.

Of course, John knows and we know that not all believers behave in a godly manner, but he is not addressing that here. He is writing this letter in order to identify the false teachers from the true and to assure his believers of the doctrines they learned from the beginning.

John and his fellow workers walk in the light of Christ and also the blood of Jesus cleanses them from all sin. They are sinners like the rest of us, but this does not stop them from walking in the light thanks to the finished work of Christ for redemption.

All believers are fully cleansed from sin and all unrighteousness, vs. 9. Our position and our knowledge of who we are in Christ as well as our full knowledge of Christ’s person enable us and motivate us to walk in the light of life that is Christ. It is the only life for us. Any believer who rejects it is arrogant and foolish.

Now we go back to the false teachers, and again, “If we say.”

1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

This same thing is repeated about the opponents of John.

1Jo 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

1Jo 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

1Jo 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

The opposers said one thing, “we have no sin,” and did another, did “not keep His commandments.” They were liars with no truth within.

John would never say that he had no sin, in fact, he is a confessor of sin.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to [hina: with the result that] forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Again, we don’t have “If we say,” but rather something we do, “If we confess.”

This is the only time that homologeo is used in connection with sin. It is used 26 times in the NT. John uses it four other times in this epistle and in every case, it is in connection with the confession of Jesus.

Homologeo in 1Jo: Confess sins, the Son, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and Jesus is the Son of God.

1Jo 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1Jo 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

1Jo 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

1Jo 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

These and all other uses of homologeo in the NT, as well as the use of the Greek verb exhomologeo (intensified form) all refer to public confessions, every one of them. It is only in 1Jo 1:9 that it is used concerning sin.

We do have evidence that at some time in some part of the early church, second century, that believers were exhorted to confess their sins publicly at the worship services. That is a rather false interpretation.

Jam 5:14-16

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.

James’ epistle is a wonderful example for Christian living. We wonder at this epilogue, but we also understand that it was written very early on in the church at Jerusalem where James was the leader, and that the church was almost all Jews who were still discovering the transition from the Mosaic Law to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The Law called for public confession of sin at animal sacrifices and perhaps this is a carry over, as for instance was the prohibition against eating blood.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to [hina: with the result that] forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We rather look at this example of confession as public, but not in the way that some would misinterpret. First, we do not hide our sins from God, as it we could.

This is very much associated with the doctrine of redemption, for as a redeemed person, I must live as one, free and walking in the light, though I am still a sinner.

We openly bear our sins before God. Being honest with Him is being honest with ourselves, but we do not do this for forgiveness.