Q: Is forgiveness of sin predicated upon our confession?
A: No.
Exegetic answer
- 1. Understanding who it is we offend
- 2. Understanding hate.
- 3. Understanding love.
- 4. Understanding forgiveness.
- 5. Understanding 1Jo 1:9
We only offend God.
- Ps 51:4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.
David had stolen a man's wife, then had him killed. When he repented he prayed the prayer above. He had not sinned against the woman or the man. He had sinned against God alone. The man and woman belonged to God.
When you take offense, you are making yourself equal to God.
An accident is considered an act of hate.
De 19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; ... inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.
The one using the axe did not put his neighbor first. He did not consider his safety first. Hate is simply not loving.
Love is putting someone else first. This is the primary meaning.
- Ro 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
- Mt 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Though someone placed in second position may be the recipient of your wrath; simply by not being in first position, they are hated.
Original sin is when you put yourself first by declaring good and evil for yourself. You usurp God's position. You defend, feed, and clothe yourself first. The Golden rule reverses this. We are to put others first.
Love absorbs sin.
When someone steals your phone, you give it to them. If it is a gift, they did not sin. You have absorbed their sin. This is what Christ did on the cross. He chose to not take offense saying, "Forgive them, they know not what they do."
Forgiveness is an act of your repentance for not having loved to begin with. You realize that you have hated another, and made yourself equal to God, by taking offense. You repent of your hate, by placing them first, and ensuring they know that they are loved.
- 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We have two natures; the old man and the new. Jesus called them the goats and the sheep. We have an instinctive nature that puts us first and chooses good and evil for ourselves. The goat nature is an enemy of God; it is the carnal mind. The sheep nature is of the spirit; by it we desire to know and love God.
Because our goat nature is instinctive, it drives us subconsciously. When our sheep recognizes goat behaviors, we can train our flesh. This is the 'training in righteousness' that the scriptures are good for.
John is speaking to this training. We are already loved and he has already chosen to not take offense. Confession is the act of someone loved. When we realize we have been offending him, we have grief, the confession is an act for our benefit so that we are practicing the actions of someone in relationship, and it is, like baptism, an appeal to God for a clean conscience.