Surrender Control – BT10: Confession brings sin “into the light” for forgiveness, cleansing, & power
Surrender Control – BT10: Confession brings sin “into the light” for forgiveness, cleansing, & power
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The Greek verb exomologeo for “confess” literally means “wholly/fully-out-from-yourself-agreeing, thus to “whole-heartedly agree and openly declare without reservation, literally from the words ek out from + homou of persons assembled together + logos message which emphasizes content.” Thus confessing/confession was often done publicly at one’s water-baptism in order to be saved, also done at John the Baptist’s water-baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (a). This was standard practice in rabbinic water-baptism but only for Gentile proselytes. That’s why the Pharisees asked by what authority John was water-baptizing Jews, who were “right with God” by birth and circumcision. <Notes> a) Matthew 3:6; Mark 1:4-5.
Uniquely, Christian water-baptism with “confession of ‘Jesus as Lord,’ and also an announcement of praxis “practiced unrighteous activities/deeds’ ” was done by Jews and Gentiles alike (a), even though there will be a future time when every tongue will confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (b), and James 5:16 advises Christians to “confess your sins to one another and/coupled euchomai ‘offer a request’ to God for one another so that you may be healed. The deesis supplicating-prayer of a righteous person is actually, ongoingly powerfully-enabled-to-do (c) much.” <Notes> a) Romans 15:9; Acts 19:18, b) Philippians 2:11; Romans 14:11, c) ischuo: often translated “avails.”
A corresponding Greek noun homologia is used in Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for faithful is He who promised.” Jesus is “the apostle and high priest of our confession” (a), and “since we have a great high priest . . . Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession” (b). Paul reminds Timothy of his own confession: “Compete in the competition of The Trusting-Relying-Faith (c) and lay hold of that eternal life [prize] that you were called for and that you made your confession for in the presence of many witnesses” (d). Clearly, public confession was standard practice! Paul reminds the Corinthians that their service of giving gifts, directly related to koinonia intimate-fellowship, to other churches in need “will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ” (e). <Notes> a) Hebrews 3:1, b) Hebrew 4:14, c) like the Olympic Games, d) 1 Timothy 6:12-13, e) 2 Corinthians 9:13.
The corresponding Greek verb homologeo is used in Matthew 10:32, “Whoever than confesses Me before people, I will confess before My Father in heaven” – now you can see why water-baptism and confession were public events! Again, “Whoever confesses Me before people, the Son of Man will also confess before God’s angels” (a). “Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also” (b). “If anyone confesses that ‘Jesus is the Son of God,’ God lives in him and he in God” (c). Notes> a) Luke 12:8, b) 1 John 2:23, c) 1 John 4:15.
Again, there is that “earliest known creed of The Faith” as Paul also declares: “If we confess with your mouth that ‘Jesus is Lord’ and/coupled have trusting-relying-faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person has trusting-relying-faith unto righteousness, moreover with the mouth confesses unto salvation” (a). You can’t get around it – the early Church taught that public confession at water-baptism was saving! Hebrews 13:13-15 says “We must go out to Him (Jesus), then, outside the camp (b), bearing His reproach . . . Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips confessing His name.” The test of a false prophet was simple: “Every spirit that does not confess ‘Jesus’ is not from God, for this is the spirit of the antichrist” (c), “for many deceivers/antichrists . . . people who do not confess ‘Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh’ . . . ” (d). <Notes> a) Romans 10:9-10, b) the city dump where trash and bodies were burned, c) 1 John 4:3, d) 2 John 1:7.
Now for the ongoing Christian life, this may the most important homologeo confession: 1 John 1:5-10 “This is the announcement (a) we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is absolutely in fact no darkness at all. 1) If we say we have koinonia intimate-fellowship with Him while we presently/ongoingly walk/live in darkness, we lie and do not practice The Truth. A) However, if we presently/ongoingly walk/live in the light as He is in the light, then we actually have koinonia intimate-fellowship with one another, and/coupled the blood of Jesus His Son actually, presently/ongoingly cleanses (b) us from all sin.” <Notes> a) logos gospel message of The Truth, b) katharizo: purify us from all admixture, filth, c) violation of God’s justice that brings divine disapproval,
John continues: 2) If we say we presently/ongoingly have no sin, we deceive (lie to) ourselves and The Truth is absolutely in fact not in us. B) If we presently/ongoingly confess our sins, then He is actually, presently/ongoingly trustworthy-faithfulness and/coupled righteously–just/equitable in order to definitively/wholly forgive us our sins (our unfaithfulness) and/coupled definitively/wholly cleanse (a) us from ALL (b) unrighteous-injustice/inequity (c). 3) If we say we have already [with lasting results] absolutely in fact not sinned, we make Him a liar and His [gospel] logos message is absolutely in fact not in you.” There are 3 “If we say” lies or deceptions going on, but 2 parts A & B of 1 truth that will be discussed below. <Notes> a) katharizo: purify us from all admixture, filth, b) this is one of the fewer times pas like means “the whole of” instead of “every of a kind/class of” as in 2 Timothy 3:15-16, “pas scripture [the kind that is] God-breathed is profitable for instruction” in the context of v. 15 is referring to Messianic prophetic “oracles of God” [as in Hebrews 5:12 and 1 Peter 4:11] that were able to make Timothy and others “wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” In no way would Paul permit the reading of the 5 books of Moses per 2 Corinthians 13:4-18, c) violation of God’s justice that brings divine disapproval.
Concerning part A of the Truth: “Holier than thou” legalistic Christians tell us that living ‘pure and clean’ or holy by being sinless is the only way we can “ongoingly walk/live in the light” in order to have intimate koinonia fellowship with Christ. And if you aren’t, shame on you, and you might be going to hell! But that’s not what the Apostle John is teaching here in parts A and B, and it is not what the [gospel] logos message of The Truth says.
It is true that “God is light and in Him is absolutely in fact no darkness at all.” But John doesn’t deal with the practice of sin until 2 chapters later in 1 John 3:2-10, although it seems obvious that it’s impossible to be habitually walking/living in the dark and the light simultaneously. However, the context here of “ongoingly walking/living in darkness” is specifically referring to 1 John 2:11 “But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and ongoingly walks/lives in the darkness” because it’s the exact same phrase! John is laying the foundation here in Chapter 1 for his specific teaching in Chapter 2. And even the context of Chapter 3 “practice of sin” is still hating your brother. This certainly can’t be walking/living in the light of The Truth because it breaks “the Law of Christ” (a), the only “completely different-in-kind New Commandment” (b) given by Christ in John 15:12, one of only 2 NT commandments (c), which is to unconditionally-love one another. <Notes> a) 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2, b) John 13:34, c) 1 John 3:23.
But for now these 3 “If you say . . . ” phrases are certainly part of “ongoingly walking/living in the darkness” because these lies are not “in the light of The Truth!” In fact, 2 of those lies is believing that you are “holy” because you have not sinned in the past and are therefore currently sinless (3) or presently/ongoingly don’t have sin (2). And that’s exactly what some “Holier than thou” Christians were saying then and even now, but they are actually the ones deceived and lying, and thus ongoingly walking/living in the darkness! Pride and denial of The Truth is only “opposed by God, but God gives grace to the lowly/humble” per James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5.
None of these 3 extremes is walking/living in the light of The Truth in the presence of God. The Truth is that we ALL have had sin when we come to Jesus for salvation from our sin and that it still ongoing affects us, and we ALL presently/ongoingly have sin as saved Christians. Walking/living in this Truth is part of walking/living in the light and having fellowship with the Lord! Denying either is definitely walking/living a lie and thus walking/living in darkness and definitely not the gospel Truth!
Now the Part A and Part B solution to “presently/ongoingly walk/live in the light where Jesus is in order to have intimate fellowship and be presently/ongoingly cleansed from ALL sin or definitively/wholly cleansed from ALL unrighteous-injustice/inequity is to presently/ongoingly confess our sins.” This implies ALL Christians will presently/ongoingly have “unrighteous-injustice/inequity and sins,” and to deny this is self-deception or lying and walking/living in darkness. Paul admits in Romans 7:25 that even as a Christians he is still stuck with a present/ongoing slavery to sin in his corruptible flesh.
The only way to continue living in the light of God’s Truth and presence and to be continually cleansed/purified of not only the sin we are conscious of but of ALL sin, even that which we aren’t aware of, is to presently/ongoingly confess our sins. Don’t hide or deny it, but bring it ALL out into the light, confess it ALL before God. Then God can be trustworthy/faithfulness in His promise to us to “never leave or forsake you” and at the same time be a Righteously-Just Judge, condemning our “unrighteous-injustice/inequity” and “sins” by the death of His Son and/coupled using Christ’s blood to presently/ongoingly and definitively/wholly cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness and injustice. Wow, the Lord covered all the bases! This is exactly what sacrificing an unblemished lamb did during the temple sacrifices, and especially on the Day of Atonement. This speaks to the divine exchange of our unrighteousness for His righteousness called “propitiation” or “atonement” we first began speaking of in Surrender-Control – BT2 and – BT3. This is ultimately where we surrender our control by confessing that we lost our self-control and sinned, and we exchange our lack of self-control for Christ’s perfect self-control and resultant righteousness.
Reflections:
As Christian musicians who desire to live in the light and have the Lord’s Spirit flow through us to partner-together for anointed, prophetic, even spontaneous worship music, we can’t fall into any of those 3 “if we say” traps above that hide or deny sin in our day-to-day lives. From the previous BLOG we found that by exposing our weaknesses to the Lord we can be strengthened by the anointing of the Lord! That was the “flipping/turning point” for Paul’s ministry – the more he turned his weaknesses over to the Lord, even boasting in them, the more unconditionally-loving-favor-of-grace and dynamite-like enabling-power he received from the Lord! God gives unconditionally-loving-favor-of-grace to the humble/lowly but opposes the proud!
Thus we need to regularly bring our sin into the light of The Truth through confession of our sins to the Lord. Only then can the darkness be regularly cleansed from us. Only then can we continue to be in the light where the Lord can flow through us as we receive more unconditionally-loving-favor-of-grace and dynamite-like enabling-power! And we certainly can’t go around pretending that “we have our act together” because that is simply not The Truth for any human being on this planet, thus making Jesus and His gospel logos message of The Truth both to be liars.
The Truth is that at the beginning of our walk: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (a). The Truth is during our walk: Paul says as a Jewish-Christian, “O, wretched man that I AM! . . . So then, I myself serve the Torah Law of conditional-favor of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law (f) of sin” (b) these are all present-ongoingly tense verbs. Paul is talking about a present/ongoing battle between his inner man/spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit and his flesh – his soul (c) and his body – see Identity. It is terrible biblical interpretation to break up the natural flow of his argument in Romans and try to say that Paul was talking about His pre-Christian days. No! ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (d), and ALL means him – not just then, but now for “None is presently/ongoingly righteous, not not one; no one routinely/habitually seeks for God . . . no one routinely/habitually is practicing good, not even one” (e). <Notes> a) Romans 5:6, b) Romans 7:24-25, c) mind, emotions, and will, d) Romans 3:23, e) Romans 3:10-12, f) nomos generically as “principles or instruction.”
That’s exactly why we ALL ongoingly, desperately need a savior! The “turning/flipping” point in our lives and ministry will also come when we realize what God said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My unconditional-loving-favor-of-grace is sufficiently-enough-for or to-satisfy you, for My dynamite-like enabling-power is made perfect/complete in/by/with [your] weakness.” Total surrender of our “might and power” efforts at holiness, ministry, or whatever through confession not only cleanses us, but also it empowers us! This will be our “turning/flipping” point, also!
Spiritual Education, Confession of sin and weakness is telling the truth and thus is living in the light, Confession brings forgiveness cleansing and Christ’s power, ongoing Confession of sin is like Confession of Jesus as Lord at water-baptism, Public Confession was at water-baptism for salvation, Confessing sins to another can heal you