Praying recently and this familiar verse came to mind, I’m sure many of you have also memorized it and quoted it: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:9)

Wait... what ?? He is faithful and just. In my mind, somehow I had translated this in my thought processes to say “If we confess our sins, He is merciful”—which He is, but in this skewed translation, it seems to be more dependent on me—if I confess, then He is merciful. But no. Scripture says here that He forgives because He is faithful and just. Faithful and just to what? He is faithful to His character (yes, His character of mercy and grace) and His promises.

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His forgiveness is not about being merciful simply because I have confessed my sin (even though certainly we do need to confess our sin). Rather, it is about forgiving because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sin. For every single, stinkin’, ugly, last one of my sins. Because “we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” and “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin”  (1 Jn 2:2 and 1:7). And so God, in His faithfulness and justice, forgives. Because of what Jesus did for us. 

Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EVco7eba0

Did I know this? Of course I knew this. I knew that Jesus paid it all. But 1 John 1:9 became precious to me in a new way. Because He is faithful and just.