This article is a follow up to some statements I made in a recent sermon on the New Covenant.  One of the things I was talking about was the fact that God has already forgiven all the sins of the whole world.

For many people, especially those that grew up going to church, this comes as a very big surprise.  So before I go any further, I will provide some the scriptures where this is articulated.

2 Cor 5:17-21

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This passage says that God, from his side, had already reconciled the world to himself, and that he is not counting anyone’s sins against them.  This applies to the world, not just Christians, and it has already happened.  This occurred in the past and there is no way to change it.

But, this does not mean that everyone accepts this forgiveness. It does not mean that everyone is saved and goes to heaven.  It just means that sin is no longer the thing that separates people from God.  Sin is no longer the issue.  Jesus is the issue.  Do you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  That is the issue, just like Jesus said himself in John 3:18.  Salvation comes by grace through faith in Christ.

Now for our next passage:

1 John 2:2

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Jesus already “paid” for the sins of the whole world.  This has already happened.  Jesus is no longer “paying” for sins, and he is no longer forgiving sins.  He doesn’t need to.  He has already done that 2000 years ago.

Hebrews 1:3

 [Jesus] being the brightness of [God’s] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

This is just another way of saying the same thing.  2000 years ago, Jesus purged all sin, and then he sat down.  That means he was finished dealing with sin.  Sin has been dealt with, and nothing else needs to be done from God’s side regarding sin.

Hebrews 9:24-26

²⁴ For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Here again, the writer is making it very clear that all sin was dealt with at the same time.  When Jesus died for us, he only did it once, and all sin was “put away.”  He doesn’t have to do it again and again.  Once was enough.  And we are not in a position of hoping or praying or asking for God to forgive our sins.  We are in a position of gratitude and thankfulness that God has already forgiven our sins, even the ones we haven’t committed yet.

It is because of all of these passages, and the other ones like them, that I made the following statement:

If you are asking Jesus to forgive your sins, then you are in unbelief (or ignorance).

The Bible clearly says in many places that Jesus already forgave your sins.  He doesn’t need to do anything else.  He already did what needed to be done.  There is no special case where Jesus forgot to take care of someone’s sins when he went to the cross.  Jesus has already done it for you.  You are already forgiven.  That is a fact.  What you need to do is believe it and receive it…believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and receive the forgiveness that has been made available to you.

But what about 1 John 1:9?

When I teach on this topic, a question always comes up about 1 John 1:9 where it says that if we confess our sins, Jesus will forgive us.  I like it when this question comes up, because it tells me two things.  One, the person asking the question has read their Bible.  That is always very good.  And two, it tells me that the point I am trying to make is being understood properly.  That is also good, because I do not want people to think I am saying something that I’m not.

So yes, if you take it out of context, and just read it by itself, then this passage sounds like it is telling us that our forgiveness depends on whether or not we confess our sins.  It makes it sound like we are only forgiven of the sins we explicitly confess.  Here is the passage, out of context:

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

But it is never good to take something out of context, because there is a very good chance that you will get the wrong idea.

If this passage was truly saying that our forgiveness depends on our confessing of sin, then consider the following problems that arise:

• This contradicts all of the other passages I already mentioned, along with many others.
• If you have to confess in order to be forgiven, then anything you don’t confess is not forgiven
• Nobody can remember all of their sins from their whole life.  Especially when you consider statements like “whatever is not of faith is sin” (Rom 14:23).
• Since we all have all of this sin that was never confessed and never forgiven, then nobody is going to be in right relationship with God and nobody will receive eternal life

This interpretation is very disturbing when you think it through, and I know more than a few people that lived a very troubled life because of this out-of-context interpretation of this verse.

Fortunately, when you take the passage in context, in its historical setting, you come away with a very different result.   Allow me to take a moment and provide some background, and I believe you will see that the Bible does not contradict itself, and that we are not hopelessly doomed to die apart from God because we forgot to confess something.

1 John was written to address a heresy that was infiltrating the church.  The heresy is called “Gnosticism.”  It is a Greek philosophy that was around before Jesus came, and the Gnostics were trying to add Jesus to their world view.  Here is a very general summary of some of their false beliefs:

• all humans (and all reality for that matter) consist of two parts, spiritual and physical
• our spiritual part is is good, but our physical part is evil
• all sin resides in the physical flesh only
• since the physical flesh is temporary, it doesn’t matter
• therefore, we don’t really have any sin, because it is just our body and our body doesn’t matter
• this led to a very voluptuous and sensual lifestyle, where they believed they had no sin, and there had no need for forgiveness
• since flesh is evil, and Jesus was good, then Jesus could not have a physical body…he was a ghost or a phantom

There is more to it than this, but that is enough to give you an idea of why John is making certain statements in his letter.  He is addressing some false beliefs.  With all that in mind, here is the whole passage from 1 John chapter 1:

1 John :1-10

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Fellowship with Him and One Another
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

John is basically dismantling Gnosticism in this first chapter.  Here are the three main points.

1. He repeatedly makes the point that Jesus had a physical body.   They had “seen” and “heard” and “handled” Jesus.  Jesus was not a ghost or a phantom.  He had a physical body.
2. He corrects the wrong teaching that we have no sin and therefore do not need forgiveness.  He says twice that if we say we have no sin, we are wrong.  We do have sin, and we do need forgiveness.
3. He then says in verse 9 that if we admit that we do indeed have sin, then forgiveness is available through Jesus

John is not telling Christians that they need to confess their sins every day in order to be forgiven.

He is warning Gnostics that they do have sin, and they need to admit it and receive the forgiveness that is available in Christ.  (For more on this, and many other fascinating facts, I highly recommend “Haley’s Bible Handbook’)

Conclusion

All sin has already been “paid for” and forgiven by God through Christ.  Jesus has already done what is necessary, and then he sat down because “it is finished.”  God has already forgiven the whole world.  He has already reconciled everyone to himself.  Now it is up to us as individuals.  Will we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and receive this forgiveness?  I have, and I thank God all the time for what he has done for me.  I hope you do the same.