Tonight's Bible Study

Tonight's Bible study is on 1 John 1:9:

ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας.

If regularly confess our sins, then he, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all injustice.

Study Notes: God is 100% against sin. The atonement happened because sin is utterly destructive, but God loves people who deserve the same destruction they have wrought upon his creation. God is so loving, that even people who have received grace upon grace from him can continually receive his forgiveness merely by asking. This is a great comfort to me, because I really am very good at sinning. For all my talk of discipleship, I'm a great sinner. It is so serious a matter, but right here, in God's inspired writ, is a statement that speaks for people such as myself. The comfort is very real to me because I see in the teachings of Jesus a simultaneous love for sinners and a complete no tolerance policy for back sliding. But then, in the book of the New Testament that is the most harsh on sinners, I find this passage. What wondrous love is this?

Confession of sin to God is the process by which we can experientially come to know that we are forgiven and counted righteous and by which God cleanses us to become effectively righteous over time.

Translation Notes: HT to Mike Aubrey for giving an evidence table to the habitual use of the imperfective aspect, I always just assumed it without actually checking the evidence.