New Insights

God does not have to forgive us if we confess our sins.

That's the deep revelation that I walked away with at employee chapel last Thursday after David Smith gave the message.

I John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (NIV)

The first thing Dr. Smith pointed out that this is all structured around community (see the words "we", "our", and "us"??) - we are not our own island living out our Christian faith alone and how we see fit. He created us for community and we can only truly live out our faith and become more like Him within this structure.

The next thing that he pointed out is that in the Greek, the verbs "forgive" and "purify" are not conditional. There is no implication that the action has to take place. This was astounding to me as a math major...to me this verse has always been an "if - then" statement. If I confess my sins, then I will be forgiven. But the eye opener for me is that GOD DOES NOT HAVE TO FORGIVE ME!! If this was the case, then my actions would be controlling God. He would no longer be in control, I would be. So the revelation that God doesn't have to forgive me is not a bad thing, it is a good thing!!

Maybe a better translation would be: If we confess our sins he is faithful and just, and might forgive us our sins and might purify us from everything that is unlike Him.

But we can't forget that the most important part of the whole verse is what is in between - that God is FAITHFUL and JUST. If I am confessing my sins for the purpose of forgiveness, I have missed the heart of God. He doesn't want us to have that motive...if we truly believe in Jesus Christ, we should want to do it so that we humble ourselves and learn to become more like HIM.

So my initial statement stands - God does not have to forgive us. But He is faithful and just, and that's what we need to focus on. He CHOOSES to forgive us, even though we don't deserve it. And a large part of why we are on this earth is to become less like ourselves and more like Him.