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FAQ over het Christelijke Geloof

Onderwerp 4 : Veelgestelde vragen van de lezers van onze boeken

4-2. You wrote, "We can become perfectly sinless when we believe the gospel of the water and the Spirit in our heart." But, the Bible says, "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 1:8-10). How do you interpret this passage? Doesn`t this passage mean that we are sinners until we die, and we should give the prayers of repentance to be forgiven of our sins everyday?

1 John 1:8-10 states, "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."
"If we say that we have no sin," means that "if we do not confess that we are born sinful and cannot help sinning all our lives in front of the law." As we know everyone should confess his sin. However it does not mean that we should confess our daily sins in order to be forgiven of those sins everyday, but means that we should confess that we are too weak to avoid sinning by ourselves without believing in Jesus. Therefore, if one says that he has no sin even if he is in the darkness with sin in his heart, the truth is not in him.
"If we confess our sins" means "if we confess that we always sin from the time of our birth to the day we die, and that we cannot live without sinning even if we want to avoid sinning." It does not mean that we have to repent and ask the Lord`s forgiveness every time we sin. The Lord had already blotted out all the sins of the world with His baptism and the Cross about 2,000 years ago. So all we have to do now is to confess that we ourselves cannot but be sinners without Him, and that His gospel has blotted out all our sins once for all.
"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us" means the following. The law gives us the knowledge of sin and reveals our sins that are hidden in our hearts.
 

So we have to confess we have sinned in front of the law. However, those who do not accept the law will not confess that they have sinned.

The law makes us confess our sins and leads us to Jesus Christ who washed away all the sins of the world through His baptism and the Cross.