EXEGESIS AND EXPOSITION OF FIRST JOHN 1:9-10 Pastor William E. Wenstrom Jr. WENSTROM BIBLE MINISTRIES Marion, Iowa 2017 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries Exegesis and Exposition of First John 1:9-10 First John 1:9 Confession of Sins 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NASB95) “If we confess our sins” is composed of the following: (1) conditional particle ean (ἐάν), “if” (2) first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb homologeō (ὁμολογέω), “we confess” (3) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun hamartia (ἁμαρτία), “sins” (4) genitive first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “our.” The apostle John employs the figure of asyndeton in 1 John 1:9 in order to emphasize the solemn nature of the fifth class conditional statement which is contained in this verse. He is being solemn because the content of the fifth class conditional statement contained in this verse will ensure the fact that the recipients of this epistle will continue to experience fellowship with God. The purpose of this figure is to ultimately persuade the Christian community reading this letter to make personal application of this fifth class conditional statement which will ensure that they will continue to experience fellowship with the Trinity. In 1 John 1:9, the apostle John employs once again the conditional particle ean. However, this time he is using it with the subjunctive mood of the verb homologeō, “we confess” in order to introduce the protasis of a third class condition which offers a condition, the fulfillment of which is realized in the present time which is also called a fifth class condition. The idea with this fifth class condition is to communicate a spiritual principle related to fellowship with God. The protasis contains the conditional particle ean (ἐάν), “if” with the subjunctive mood of the verb eipon (εἶπον), “we say.” The apodosis contains the present indicative form of the verb pseudomai (ψεύδομαι), “we lie.” The protasis is “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness” and the apodosis is “we lie and do not practice the truth.” John is offering no indication about the likelihood of the protasis being fulfilled and there is no hint of uncertainty about this event not occurring nor some eventuality being presented. Rather, the fifth class condition is expressing an eternal spiritual principle or spiritual axiom with regards to fellowship with God. The subjunctive mood is employed because the subject is undefined and not because the time is future. It is undefined because this spiritual principle who is applicable for each and every believer including himself. Thus, he is not speaking 2017 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1 of any one individual in particular. This is because John and all his readers, as well as all believers have an indwelling sin nature (cf. 1 Jn. 1:8; Rm. 6:6; Rm. 7:24). Thus, an unidentified hypothetical individual in the Christian community is being referred to in the protasis since John is not speaking of a specific individual but rather he is communicating an eternal spiritual principle with regards to fellowship with God. The relationship between the protasis and the apodosis is “cause-effect.” The cause: “If we confess our sins.” The effect: “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The verb homologeō appears from Sophocles onwards. It is a compound word composed of the verb lego, “to say,” and homos, “the same thing,” thus it literally means, “to say the same thing, to agree in statement.” Therefore, the basic meaning of this compound verb is to agree with someone or something, or to agree to something. However, the word does have a wide range of meanings. The legal connotation of the word is dominant in classical literature according to Furst.1 A man agrees with another man’s statement, concedes or confesses something such as guilt before a judge. He agrees to something such as another’s wish and thus promises. This agreement expresses itself in an act of commitment, promise, or confession in a court or legal contract. Homologeō appears often from the fifth century B.C. and onwards where it is used to indicate that a person “confessed” or “admitted to” a crime or “openly acknowledged” his guilt. Sometimes the word means, “to agree” with someone else’s testimony in a court of law, or to the terms of a contract in business and even to “consent” to the terms of surrender in a war. This compound verb is used in the context of war meaning, “to capitulate” to another army. It is used in the context of money meaning, “to accept one’s debt.” The Stoics used the word as well in their system of philosophy where it meant, “living according to one’s own common sense.” Homologeō was used in a religious sense of a worshipper “confession” of sin to his god but also it was used of one’s “profession” of the god. Often the worshipper would bind himself or herself to an oath to the god in a contract. Lydian and Phrygian inscriptions indicate that homologeō was used for confessing one’s sins to a priest who was representing the deity in the hope that the individual would be delivered from sicknesses and disasters. The compound verb appears often in Hellenistic papyri in the legal sense, especially, in regards to agreeing to the terms of a contract and the acknowledging of a debt or receipt of property. 1 The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, volume 1, page 344 2017 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2 Josephus and Philo who were contemporaries of the apostles used this word for the public acknowledgement of something, and the confession of God and sins. Liddell and Scott: (1) Agree with, say the same thing as (2) Correspond, agree with, whether of persons or things (3) To be coordinated (4) To be suitable for (5) Agree to a thing, grant, concede (6) Avow (7) Acknowledge (8) Admit (9) Allow (10) Confesses that (11) Agree or promise to do (12) Make an agreement, come to terms (13) To be agreed upon, allowed or granted by common consent.2 The verb homologeō appears 11 times in the Septuagint, however it occurs only 3 times in the canonical texts. It is used in Job 40:14 where it is used to translate the Hebrew hiphil form of the verb yadhah, “to confess, admit, acknowledge.” The word is used sarcastically in Job 40:8-14 where God challenges to perform a number of things that are impossible for man to accomplish and God states that He would “praise” Job if he were able. The verb homologeō appears in Jeremiah 44:25 (LXX 51:25) where it translates the Hebrew nadhar, “vow,” and in this passage in Jeremiah members of Judah in captivity in Egypt had “vowed” to perform sacrificial rites to the “queen of heaven.” Just as they were determined to fulfill these vows so the Lord was determined to fulfill His vow He has sworn by His name that these idolatrous individuals would never again invoke His name in the land of Egypt (Jer. 44:25-26). The verb homologeō appears 26 times in the Greek New Testament. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature-Third Edition: (1) to commit oneself to do someth. for someone, promise, assure (Hdt., Pla. et al.; IGR IV, 542, 6f [Phryg.] εὐχὴν … , ἣν ὡμολόγησεν ἐν Ῥώμη; Jos., Ant. 6, 40 ‘consent’) ἐπαγγελίας ἧς (by attr. of the rel. for ἥν) ὡμολόγησεν ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραάμ promise that God had made to Abraham Ac 7:17; μεθʼ ὅρκου ὁμ. w. aor. inf. foll. (B-D-F §350; Rob. 1031f) promise with an oath Mt 14:7. Solemnly promise, vow ὁ … ὁμολογήσας μὴ γῆμαι ἄγαμος διαμενέτω Agr 18. (2) to share a common view or be of common mind about a matter, agree (Hdt. 2, 81 of similarity in cultic rites; Pla., Sym. 202b ὁμολογεῖταί γε παρὰ πάντων μέγας θεὸς εἶναι=there is general agreement that [Love] is a great god; prob. Cleanthes in his definition of τὸ ἀγαθόν: Coll. Alex. p. 229, no. 3, 7; 4 Macc 13:5 reach a conclusion together; pap; Sext. Emp., Adv. Eth. 218 agreement on a subject; Iren. 1, 26, 2 [Harv. I 212, 5] οἱ … Ἐβιωναῖοι ὁμ. μὲν τον κόσμον ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ γεγονέναι; Theoph. Ant. 2, 4 [p. 102, 10]) ὁμολογοῦσιν τὰ ἀμφότερα they agree (with one another) on all of them Ac 23:8 (but s. 3a below). This meaning readily shades into (3) to concede that something is factual or true, grant, admit, confess (Just., D. 80, 1 admission of someth. in an argument; sim. 110, 1) (a) gener., to admit the truth of someth. (Pla., Prot. 317b ὁμολογῶ 2 Greek-English Lexicon, New Edition, page 1226 2017 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3 σοφιστὴς εἶναι; Jos., Ant. 3, 322 an admission of factuality by enemies; Just., D. 2, 5 ὡμολόγησα μὴ εἰδέναι admission of ignorance) agree, admit καθάπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὡμολόγησας Dg 2:1. ὁμολογήσαντες ὅτι ξένοι εἰσίν admitting that they were (only) foreigners Hb 11:13. ὁμολογοῦμεν χάριν μὴ εἰληφέναι we admit that we have not received grace IMg 8:1. For Ac 23:8 s. 2 above. (b) w. a judicial connotation: make a confession, confess abs.