1 John - Are we justified or not?

The common meaning of the word justified, is just as if I'd never sinned. Yet, do we believe that? If we stand justified before God, we are in right standing with Him. Christ's life and identity become our own. As Jesus said in John 8:46, "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?" (NKJV). In the same way, since Jesus' identity has become our own...He has imputed not just a righteousness, but His own righteousness to us...then Paul can say in Romans 8:33, "Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies" (NKJV). Paul says there is no one who can charge God's elect with sin. Why? Because God has justified them. He has made them and sees them as being  just as if they had never sinned.

          In 1 John 1, the apostle John first states what it is he is speaking of:

          "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—" (1 John 1:1 NKJV).

          John states that the one of whom he is speaking was "from the beginning." John states that "we," here the early disciples, esp. the apostles, had heard Him, had seen Him, and had touched Him. This is concerning not just any person, but the very "Word of life."

          "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—" (Vs. 2).

    

          The very life of God was manifested, or made visible, and John says that they have seen Him, that they are testifying and declaring to some group or person "that eternal life." Here, John speaks of eternal life as a person, rather than a gift. Jesus is the eternal life, or eternal living one, or eternal source of life. He was with the Father, and then was made visible to the early disciples.

          "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" (Vs. 3).

          John says, that which we, those who were with Jesus, who have seen and have heard Him, now are sharing what they heard Him teach. For what purpose? "That you also may have fellowship." Fellowship with whom? "Fellowship with us." With whom is their fellowship? "with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."

          So first John states that he was an eyewitness to Christ, and that he also heard the things that Christ taught. He now states that he is sharing the things that he had heard Jesus say. Why? So that in hearing the things that Jesus said, whomever John is writing to may also join in the group. If they join in the group, then they will have a relationship not only with the group, but with God Himself.

          "And these things we write to you that your[a] joy may be full" (Vs. 4).

          And, John says there is another reason. That in being included in the group, which is what fellowship means: inclusion--then their joy would be full. The text reads both "our" joy, and "your" joy. I think "your joy makes more sense. This is a benefit of being included in the group. By being included in the group, relationship with God will be obtained, and it makes sense then that only in that can a person find joy to the fullest.

          "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" (Vs. 5).

          John states that he and some others had saw God's gift made visible. They had touched Him. They had heard Him speak. He states the reasons for why he is going to share with those whom would read this letter the things that they heard from Jesus. Now, John states what they had heard from Jesus.

          

          Right here, people make the mistake of only taking Jesus' words to the end of the sentence. However, John doesn't finish at the end of the sentence. John says, "These are the things that we heard Jesus say..." The first, but not the only thing that they heard Jesus say to them was that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. When we think of light, we think of absolute purity; absolute holiness; absolute righteousness; and so on. In God, there is no darkness. Darkness would be the opposite of what the light stands for.

          "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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. 

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to 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" (Vs. 6-10).

          Now, if we understand that John is saying to whomever he was writing this letter that "Here are the things we heard Jesus say," then it makes sense why John uses the pronoun "we." The "we" was the "you" to whom Jesus was speaking. Let me say that again. The "we" was the "you" to whom Jesus was speaking when He said what He said. Observe...

          John says "This is what we heard Jesus say..." and then he begins to state the things that he and some others had heard Jesus say. The first thing "we" heard Jesus say was....

     

          Yet, when Jesus said these things. He would not have addressed them to "we" but to "you." So John is giving a rather verbatim account of "This is what Jesus was saying to us." The "US" that was being spoken to then becomes "we."

          John does not give an exact quote of Jesus' words here because this is not a Gospel account. His gospel account was another work to be written. In his gospel account, John would quote Jesus directly. Here he is paraphrasing what Jesus said to the people who He taught. "This is what He said to us..." Therefore, if we put Jesus' words given by John in quotations, it would look like this:

          "If you say that you have fellowship with God, and walk in darkness, you lie and do not practice the truth. But if you walk in the light as He is in the light, you have fellowship with one another, and my blood cleanses you from all sin. 

If you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourselves, and the truth is not in you. If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If you say that you have not sinned, you make Him a liar, and His word is not in you" (Vs. 6-10).

          Now, obviously, Jesus was speaking this to them before they were converted. If they had already been converted, they would have already understood these things, and would never have said that they had no sin. How could they have been converted and say they had no sin? Why would John be sharing theological truths for believers with unbelievers? How do we know that John is speaking primarily with unbelievers here? Because the purpose he gave for sharing what Jesus taught was so that whomever heard it might also have fellowship with Christians and with God. Why would John say that if he was only writing to those who were believers already?

          Phrased another way then, John is saying this:

          "This is what He said to us, and we are sharing it with you so that you might also become a Christian. He said that if we say we have fellowship with God, but our lifestyle doesn't reflect it, then we are lying. But, He said that if we truly walked in the light, which is the nature of God, then He said that His blood would cleanse us from every bit of our sin. However, He told us that if we were to say "I don't have any sin!" (like the Jews often did), then we were deceived and God's truth wasn't in us. But, He told us that if we would confess, or acknowledge our sinfulness to God, that God would forgive us our sins and would cleanse us from every bit of our unrighteousness (making us like Jesus, just as if I'd never sinned). He then told us that if we claimed that we had never committed any sinful acts then we were saying that God was a liar."

          When we put John's words into their original context it becomes clear, and in total harmony with the rest of the New Testament, that he is not saying to Christians that Christians must confess their sins. If that is true, it refutes and contradicts his other statements that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin, and that if we confess our sins He cleanses us from that sin and unrighteousness. Nowhere in the text does John add the qualifier "that is...until the next time you sin, then you have to do it all over again..." Not one scripture in the New Testament says that we have to continually be forgiven of our sins. In fact, the New Testament teaches exactly the opposite, that we have been justified and forgiven once and for all time, just as if we'd never sinned. That is how God sees us. It doesn't mean we don't sin, but it means that our sin doesn't "stick" to us. Hebrews states "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14 NKJV).

          

          If we are being sanctified, we are certainly born again, and if that is true, then we have been made perfect forever. Therefore, just because John says "we", it does not mean that he is speaking of himself then presently, nor that he is speaking to Christians. John's comments are a reflection of what Jesus had spoken to him and the other disciples. That is the "we" that John is speaking of. It is the "we" that Jesus was speaking to at the time, before they were converted. Thus, Jesus' words were directed to people in general then. John and the other disciples were among the people that He spoke to. Here, John's comments are also then directed toward those who did not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, or perhaps even those who professed to know Him, but they said and did things that proved they were not genuine converts. One thing is for sure. John was NOT directing these words toward those he was convinced were genuine Christians.