Does 1 John 1:9 mean we have to repent more than once?

1 John 1:9

King James Version



9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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I believe this scripture Is talking about salvation and not continuously asking for forgiveness.

It’s about repentance and forgiveness of sin

“If we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Some people try to remove the “ if you do this “ part because someone told them “ you don’t need to do anything your already saved and forgiven “

It’s there to correct our thinking and lead us to a place where we’re forgiven and the word backs that up. So we can understand “ when I realize I have done something wrong , I need to acknolwedge it and not pretend I didn’t do it or I’m better than others and don’t need to repent

a repentance is a life long idea that when you realize you have sinned you can deal with the guilt by confessing to God and knowing he’s faithful and will forgive you when you acknolwedge what you’ve done

its about a Christian having thier conscience cleaned en we do something that’s wrong and we realize “ I did something wrong “ it should cause repentance in our heart a sorrow formoir transgression this leads to acknolwedging it to God at the throne of grace and we have that sure promise that results this part

“he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Remember the gospel is based upon the mercies of David

“Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬

david sinned after Godbhas chosen him he committed adultery with uriah the Hittites wife then he lord and deceived him , to cover his sin and then he had Uriah killed to cover his own sins

david was crushed by what he did and for a while he tried to hide it and not confess and it ruined his mind and heart with guilt

“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old Through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

( eventually he confessed his sin )

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, And mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD;

( when he got real with God and confessed this happened )


And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭32:3-5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

If we won’t acknolwedge when we’ve done something wrong we cant ask forgivness for it from the heart. It’s like we see ourselves as justified even when we do wrong like Jesus died so we can keep sinning and pretend it’s not an important matter

awe should try to do always good and right inevitably if we’re honest with ourself and examine our own lives we still do things wrong sometimes maybe we loose our temper and say things to someone that are hurtful as a simple example

that should return to us as a regret , something we really wish we hadn’t said it should cause a manner of sorrow to us and a desire to make it right

We confess when something we did bothers us or “ repents us in our heart “ the. We confess from the heart because we truly repent for what we did that’s the condition of forgivness in Christ

just be honest and real about our own deeds in our life even when we have made a mistake or hurt someone in some way of we pretend we didn’t it’s an issue in us that’s never going to lead to repentance and remission of sins

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 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.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭1:6-10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

It keeps going

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭

It’s not a shame for a Christian to acknolwedge they did something wrong it’s a shame for them to pretend th y didn’t when they did , the reason they don’t confess is they don’t recognize thier own sin ot doesn’t bother them if they hurt someone else thier mknd is only about thier own self” thier saved “ already so why should they confess thier sin ?

airs just where the modern gospel of grace leads a mind no condition means we have to ignore everything the word teaches us to do like “ if you confess your sins he is faithful and will forgive them “

because of “ modern twisting of grace “ we say “ no one needs to confess thier sin to be forgiven were saved by grace “ and that effect is to erase what we just learned the simple act of acknolwedging sin has become meaningless because “ grace grace we’re all saved regardless “

we’re supposed to learn and believe and follow

a self righteous person will never confess and acknowledge thier own sins they will point out others sin but thoer own , they are oblivious to they are like David hiding thier sins in silence pretending it didn’t happen and like David when repentance comes and they speak up and confess forgiveness is the response

While you may be right, I’m inclined to believe it’s along the lines of repentance since much of 1 John is about walking in darkness or light. John is basically telling people how to come back to the light. Probably goes beyond just verbally confessing sins with no intention to forsake the sin completely. John’s basic message is walk in the light and avoid sin.

Hello Seed_Time_Harvest, I don't think that can be true, since the elder Apostle John directs his 1st Epistle (incl 1 John 1:9) to Christians specifically, to those, in fact, at all levels of maturity in the faith, INCLUDING himself (IOW, he includes himself in the mix with the rest of us/believers).

God provided us with an ongoing remedy for the sins we continue to commit at times as believers so that we may be forgiven and cleansed of them, so that we may have full fellowship with Him restored and know the ~joy~ of His salvation again (as King David put it .. Psalm 51:12). This does NOT mean that He restores salvation itself to us, because our salvation cannot be lost by sinning.

Please take note of the words in bold below.


God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy

We;; the thing is in the end it is a debt owed and forgiven. People don't realize the massive debt that was owed from adam. Imagine having to pay of one trillion dollars because of one offense .

It is exactly that serious that is how severe that one act of disobedience was his holiness is not to be questioned or there are severe consequences

All throughout the old testament sacrifices had to be to be clean from sin basically making down payments for the trillion dollar debt yet he knew we could never hope to pay it off so Jesus came to set us free from that debt.

If people actually understood exactly how screwed we were and how severe the debt was they would actually appreciate what salvation is and what Jesus did.

If you have been cleared of a debt like that you can finally breath and live without that looming debt hanging over your head you don't keep asking for forgiuveness of a debt you no longer have

But don;t forget everyone is under this debt until they come to Christ and eventually if you can't pay up your going to really see what hell is God is generous and offered a free ticket out but he also wants his deposit and will collect what is due

Maybe it is, maybe not. I have a feeling there's more to it; we'll see.

Hello,
I believe there is a sincere difference in REPENTANCE UNTO SALVATION, and confession of sin to your savior... repentance is the turning of direction in your life as a whole.....GOD knows we will sin, the atonement PAID IT ALL rather a sin of COMMISSION OR OMISSION....
Gods word is full of family analogies.....and just as a Human Father wont abandon a child do to a wrong doing or should i say that the BLOOD TIE to the father can never be broken....so it is with God....
I seek forgiveness from my brothers but CONFESS to the ALREADY knowing God I serve.....
True Grace (salvation) covers...PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE SINS ...
THE BATTLE RAGES TIL THE LION ROARS!!
Clarence

That verse is with in a larger passage that gives context. Ots clear when reading the entire passage in context, that it is in reference to when ever a christian sins, that it.is neccessary for the christian to repent of that sin, by confessing the sin to God.
Now being that we sin all the time, its becomes a life style of living a repentant life and regularly confessing our sin and guilt to God.

Look at the passage, it says confess. It does not say repent.

You repent when you come to christ. After you repented. You confess when you fall and get up and don;t hold it in darkness. Scripture tells us nt only to confess to God but each other. So we may be healed..

salvation is not in context here. These people are already saved by the blood of the lamb

.
Not long after I became a believer, that passage in 1John 1:5-10 began to
haunt me as I was led to believe that my peril as a sinner was over; based
upon the passage below.

• John 5:24 . . I tell you the truth: whoever hears my word, and believes Him
who sent me, has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed
over from death to life.

It was later explained to me that prior to conversion, my sins were legal
matters but afterwards they became family matters; which is quite an
advantage; for example:

When my brother and I were kids back in the decade of the 1950s, my dad
had an old Hudson automobile that he parked in the yard and seldom drove.
I'm not even sure it actually ran. Anyway, one day while he was out, we
pelted it with eggs.

When dad came home and saw what we did, he first made us wash the car
and then spanked us. Had we not been family, dad would've called the cops
and had us prosecuted for vandalism. But we weren't merely boys; we were his
boys.

John's first epistle wasn't written to the world at large, it was specifically
written to the Father's little children. His association with them is different
than His association with the world just as my dad's association with me and
my brother was different than it was with other boys. They would've been
criminals whereas my brother and I were only naughty.

I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God,
I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family,
The family of God.
(Bill & Gloria Gaither)
_

Do you believe that If a Christian after they have been saved doesn't confess their sin that they will lose their salvation?

“Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭51:4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:19-21‬ ‭KJV‬‬


“Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
‭‭John‬ ‭18:37‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭5:32‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭8:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬



“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 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.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭1:6-10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
‭‭John‬ ‭8:31-32‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:25-26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I hate the lose your salvation discussion. Salvation simply is not a car or a hotdog.

We shall see on judgment day. People have come up with many different tricks and explanations and cultic understandings on what it takes to "be saved" or whether or not it can be lost, few examples here:

There is the church of Christ way, where you have to be baptized with the understanding that its for the remission of sins or it "doesnt count" for some reason (God is not smart enough to figure out you did it out of obedience to the Scriptures?) and lots of times it has to be their deacon who does the baptizing.

There is the "full gospel" pentecostal way, where you have be believe and be baptized AND speak in tongues as evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost or you are not saved. You gotta just babble something and they'll convince you it was the real thing. (Once again a cultic understanding to get rid of as many Christians as possible and to explain away why others are so messed up. PS: Not all pentecostals believe this, most I believe think other Christians are saved despite not speaking in tongues, this is the oneness position usually im describing)


There is the easy believism (the KJVonly side of this is even more wacky) way where you just have to believe, thats it. Just believe these facts about Jesus and His blood and you are saved eternally, doesn't matter if you end up a muslim and die a muslim, you will be saved. Oh and at every turn make sure to remember its NOT OF WORKS ok. (Another understanding that gets rid of other Christians cause of "works salvation" because these people fail to realize Paul is talking about works of the law of Moses, not faith that works by love or a faith that is alive.)

There is the YouTube preacher "God told me" gospel, where you have to hear from God personally ALL THE TIME and do what He says, if He tells you to walk backwards you better do it, or else you are not saved. These folks also often teach that the Bible has errors in it and you gotta "know Jesus" to be saved, not the Bible. (finalcall07 was a good example of this, the man has passed away but he has his minions do his preaching for him. Notice yet again, this gets rid of a lot of Christians)

There is the "torah observant" gospel where you DONT have to keep the law of Moses to be saved, of course not, you are saved by grace.......... however if you don't start keeping the Torah then are you really a Christian at all? Shouldn't you be sanctified and want to live by God's law if you are saved? (This is a tricky one, because it mixes obedience to Christ with obedience to the law of Moses. We have to obey the law of Christ, not the law of Moses, they are different. This is just a mind trick and really it will only work on the biblically ignorant, this is dealt with in Galatians extensively)

Safe to say, God is not an idiot and will make a righteous judgment, He cannot be fooled.

I believe what we SHOULD do is, not single out a bible verse like John 3:16 and call it a day, see there it is you guys, just believe in Jesus. When the same chapter verse 36, talks about obedience to the son.
There are verses that say baptism saves, there are verses that say belief saves, there are verses that say confession saves, there are verses that say repentance saves. Lets not just pick one, there is no laundry list of salvation. This is just a problem in the modern americanized world. How did this work in the early church? Simple: Someone comes to faith, and after that they get baptized, they live a Christian life and grow in grace, thats all there is, it comes naturally thats what you do, no need to worry about a laundry list or things like "WEll, if they die on the way to the baptism, are they just lost???" and other ridicilous questions like "Well if you didnt repent of that one sin are you just lost forever?".......... GOD IS NOT AN IDIOT is what im saying. If we can make judgment calls, how much more can God? All powerful all wise, knows all circumstances.

Sorry for the long rant. Dare you to read it

Actually at Acts3:19 says--Repent( stop doing the sin) and turn around( stop doing the sin) to get sin blotted out. ----Thus its not asking forgiveness, doing the sin, asking forgiveness, doing the sin, etc--that is a farse. that one is not repentant.
1Cor 6:9-11 as well makes the statement( about this list of unacceptable sins) -- That is what some of you were= past tense. They stopped doing the sin.

The question remains,If a Christian sins and doesn't confess their sin will they lose their salvation?

Its always wise to confess ones sin. Everyone sins, some practice the sin and keep asking forgiveness, that one does not have salvation-Hebrews 10: 26-- There is no sacrifice left for those who willfully practice a sin and know it is sin. And Gods written word is there for all to learn what God does not like. So there is no excuse to not know.

I disagree.I believe that If a Christian keeps sinning and that CAN happen by the way and that that doesn't mean that they were never saved.

GOD does chastise a person and If that person were to die then their soul would be saved

One thing to keep in mind when reading the Bible is that when it was translated into English the punctuation was added afterwards; it didn't exist in the Greek like how we understand it.

The periods, commas, colons, semicolons, and such actually affect the way we understand what is written. When we use periods in English, it's used to close off a sentence and form a complete thought.

Further dividing sections of the Bible into chapters and verses, gives us the impression of conclusion, but in the original texts the context is the entire manuscript where there was no grammar, verses, or chapters. They used big scrolls of parchment or animal skin, not only because that's what they thought was best at the time, but because the scripture has a very broad context and an unbroken narrative.

So when we read "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," the perception in English is that it's a complete thought and nothing more can be added to it to change it. Well, the entire book of 1 John is the context and all of the information must be read as a whole.

The main idea is to avoid sin. If you don't avoid sin you're a child of the devil, walking in darkness, and not saved. If you confess your sins, forsake the sin, you can return to walking in light, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

“willfully practice a sin”

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:12-13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

willful sin is different from someone struggling with sin and failing

Willful sin is when your able to overcome and willfully choose to continue in sin because you desire it more than righteousness

It is a willful act , it’s not the same as someone who is struggling with sin

This takes time alot of time and it’s capacity grows as we learn more from Jesus

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
‭‭John‬ ‭8:31-32, 34, 36‬ ‭KJV‬‬

you have to first be set free in order to willfully sin is my point a free man who serves a slave master is doing it willfully , a servant or captive isn’t serving sin willfully they are in this boat

“in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:25-26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

I’ve known people in my life who struggles half thier life with particular sins eventually thoer faith led then to repentance those sins are now behind them though they had repeatedly continued in those things because they were not willing to don them but they were serving the human nature of lust as all of us have not understanding and truly not being capable

awe have to come to this place to be free and when your free your Will has been changed by the gospel from sin to righteousness

What I’m saying is

“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin,( not willful but bondage )


but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.



For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:17-18, 20-22‬ ‭KJV‬‬

say that point if a person returns back to those things God has freed them from it becomes willful they’ve been set free but are choosing freely to return tonthe bondage

awe have to let Jesus alone with each other when it comes to judgement and work on our own selves

as one know a little bit of the gospel some know a lot others know every word it is thier own undersrsnding they are held to not another persons

babes and adults aren’t the same and aren’t able to accomplish the same things nor live up to the accountability ofnthe other

a grown up can’t sit on mamas lap and be bottle fed , but a babe can’t be expected to go earn a living either the babes belong to God as well as the full grown people each has thoer own level of understsnding and therefore thier own standard of judgement based on what they understand themselves from the gospel

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Think of it this way of your beloved brother did something wrong would it matter if they knew it was wrong before they did it to you ? It matters if we are aware to God

willful sin is a free man who willfully chooses to live in opposition to Gods Will which is the gospel

The one that suffered and died gets to decide who’s saved and who’s not

True.

Not true. We all sin, sometimes intentionally, oftentimes not.

Your paraphrase is not accurate.

1 John 1:
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.