Reflections with Andy - 1 John 1: 5-10 – Confession and Forgiveness

In this Tuesday reflection on 1 John 1:5–10, the light-and-darkness imagery that runs through John’s Gospel flows directly into the letter — God is light, and walking in fellowship with him means being called continually out of the dark. The key distinction John makes is not between sinning and not sinning — we all sin, and to claim otherwise is to make God a liar — but between remaining in darkness and walking in the light, where the blood of Jesus keeps cleansing us as we go. The pastoral heart of the reflection centers on verse 9: if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Crucially, confession doesn’t trigger God’s forgiveness — God’s forgiveness isn’t transactional or conditional on our performance. Rather, confession is the moment we speak our failure aloud and hear back the words our souls most need: you are still beloved, you are forgiven. There is no greater gift.

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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Tuesday as we continue through First John together. This first chapter is only ten verses, so today we’re finishing it out — verses 5 through 10. And I’ll just say upfront: this passage contains one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture, and honestly one of the more important ones to know. Let’s read it:

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 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. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Yesterday I mentioned the similarities between First John and the Gospel of John — and right here is a perfect example. One of the most beautiful things about John’s Gospel is the constant imagery of light and darkness. Throughout it, light and darkness aren’t just poetic — they’re theological. Darkness is synonymous with being lost, with sin, with not yet knowing who Jesus is.

Two of my favorite examples: Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night in John 3. For John, that detail isn’t just about the time of day — it’s saying something about where Nicodemus is spiritually. He’s still in the dark; he doesn’t fully understand who Jesus is yet. But then, at the end of the Gospel, we meet Nicodemus again — this time coming to help bury Jesus. And John notes that he is the one who formerly came to Jesus at night. He’s not coming at night anymore. That’s the growth of Nicodemus, told entirely through the imagery of light and dark. You also see it at the tomb — while it was still dark, they came. Light and darkness run all the way through John’s Gospel, and that same current runs right into this letter.

So: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we’re still walking in darkness, we’re lying. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

Now here’s where it gets interesting — because then John says: if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So which is it? Can we walk with Jesus and still sin? And the answer is yes — because that’s not actually the tension John is setting up. The distinction he’s making is between walking in darkness and remaining in darkness. We’re going to sin. If we say we haven’t, we’re lying, and we’re making God out to be a liar too. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God — that’s just the human condition. We are imperfect creatures. We mess up. We fall.

The question for John isn’t whether we’re going to sin. The question is: is it a struggle? Because if we’re genuinely walking with Jesus, his light is going to keep calling us out of the dark. We won’t be content to just stay there. And that’s actually a good diagnostic for our spiritual lives — we should never be comfortable with our sin. When our sin stops bothering us, when we stop feeling the pull toward confession and repentance, something’s off. As long as we’re bothered by it, as long as we’re still wrestling with it, that’s a sign the Spirit is alive and working in us.

And here’s the good news — verse 9, my favorite: if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That’s why I love the communion liturgy of the United Methodist Church so much. We open with confession — together, out loud, as a community. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us, we pray. Free us for joyful obedience. And then I pronounce to the congregation: in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. And they pronounce it back to me: in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. I’m not forgiving them and they’re not forgiving me — we’re both just announcing to each other what is already true.

Now here’s something I really want you to hear: confession doesn’t trigger God’s forgiveness. God is not sitting in heaven saying, I’ll forgive them, but they have to ask first — and if they don’t ask, I’m just going to dangle it out there. No. That’s not how it works. If we have to do something to make God forgive us, then it’s our actions causing the forgiveness — and that’s not grace anymore. Our walk with God is not transactional. We don’t bargain with him. We don’t say “if I do A, you’ll do B.” He’s God. There’s no leverage there.

We confess our sins not to make God forgive us — but because when we say it out loud, when we come before him and say, God, I have failed you, I have not done as I should, I have fallen short — and then we hear back, you are still my beloved, you are forgiven — there is nothing more beautiful than that. There is nothing the soul needs more than to hear those words when we know we’ve fallen short.

There’s a line from Doctor Who that’s always stuck with me. The Doctor is running off to do something reckless and his companion says, “You just want to be forgiven.” And he turns and says, “Don’t we all?” Yes. That’s exactly right. Don’t we all.

If we say we have no sin, we’re deceiving ourselves. But if we confess — he who is faithful and just will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You can be forgiven, friends. There is no greater gift than that.

So today, know this: if we confess, he forgives. And when we confess, we get to hear the words our souls most need to hear. You are loved. You are forgiven. Have a great day!