1𝙅𝙣 1:9 𝙆𝙅𝙑 𝙄𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨, 𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.
Today’s Devotional…
Many Christians today are taught, using the above verse, that all they need to do about their sins is to confess them and they are forgiven.
Yet again, the same “forgiven Christians” still believe that they are always sinful, and that all have sinned.
When you confess your sins to God for forgiveness and yet believe that “we” are all sinners, this only brings some questions to mind:
1. Did you not confess well?
2. How many times should you confess?
3. Did God unforgive you?
4. Where is the place of Jesus Christ, since you can handle the sin problem with your so-called confession?
When you read the Bible without understanding the times, seasons, backgrounds, authors, and audiences, you will always miss the context, and misunderstand the scriptures.
First of all, if you are reading this devotional right now, then you were NOT John’s audience. That is, John was not talking to you! John’s letter is almost 2,000 years old today. How old are you? Thought as much.
“Confession” (of sins) comes from the Greek word “homologeō” which means to agree as one human race, to concede sin, and then look up to God for salvation.
The apostle John, did not exclude himself from the audience. He did not say “if YOU confess YOUR sins…”; he said, “if WE confess OUR sins…”. Did you notice the difference?
Two thousand years ago, John would likely be addressing largely the very people whom Christ died for, who indeed, earlier on, lived in the bondage of sin, and later experienced the death and resurrection of Christ, but were still in denial of their salvation that came with that.
The sinful mankind confessed once and for all in Christ, and were forgiven once and for all. God does not unforgive; He forgave all mankind in Christ on the cross, and He has never revoked it.
May the spirit of guilt that nullifies the sacrificial love of God for you never be your portion in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
#Rev_N_Nelson #Apst_N_Nelson