Cleansed Before Sin Is Charged to Us?
A brother recently made this comment and then affirmed that
the verses actually teach what he said:
"his sins are
cleansed by the blood before they are ever charged to him (1 John 1:9; Rom.
4:7-8.)" (RD).
I asked: - “Are you sure that these verses say what you say
they say?”
He affirmed that they did. So, let us examine whether these
two verses teach that a Christians’ sins are cleansed by the blood before they
are ever charged to him. On the very
surface this statement is false because if they are not charged to a person
then they do not need to be cleansed. Only when I have the dirt on me do I need
to be cleansed. One does not need to be
pardoned when there is no charge against us. The argument is not even
reasonable on the surface. But, let us
see if they are scriptural anyway.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. NKJV
This verse clearly does not teach that sins are cleansed
before they are ever charged to us. In fact, because they are charged to us we
need to confess them because we have a need for God to forgive us (He has not
already done so), and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Sins are charged to us and need to be removed
by forgiveness. We need to be cleansed because we are dirty with sins. We are not already cleansed and forgiven of
these sins. So, our brother has
misapplied this verse. It obviously teaches the opposite of what he said that
this verse teaches.
So, let us consider whether his second reference teaches
that the Christians’ sins are cleansed before they are ever charged to him.
Rom 4:7-8
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin." NKJV
This passage clearly teaches that a man is blessed because
his lawless deeds are forgiven, covered, and not imputed. They are not imputed because they are covered
and forgiven, but this verse does not teach that they are forgiven before they
are even charged to the person. David is
an example of a man that did not have sins imputed to him, but that was because
he confessed them (Psa.51). The Lord then (after sins were definitely charged
to him) were then forgiven, covered, and he then became a man to whom the Lord
would not impute those sins to him anymore.
The argument that our brother made is false. Neither verse teaches that
the Lord forgives something that it not first charged to our account. To teach
such is false doctrine.
The argument our brother made on these verses lead to the
conclusion that if God forgives sins before and without repentance and
confession, then it is the doctrine of “once-saved-always-saved”. At the very least it is an argument used to
give people a false assurance of salvation even as they practice sin. The Bible
nowhere teaches that sins we commit are not charged to us and need not be
confessed and repented of. Now, God may
consider age of accountability in physical and spiritual realms, but he expects
all to grow into grace and knowledge. To whom much is given, much is
required. But, that is a different
picture than teaching that the above two verses show across the board that all
Christians are cleansed before sin is even charged to them. We do not have power to judge who all is
fully accountable, and therefore we do not have power to tell people they need
not deal with issues of God’s law and make proper application as long as we
have no reason to believe they are not accountable. Beware of the misuse and
misapplication of God’s word. God will
not hold us guiltless who pervert the scriptures. We can surely to so to our
own destruction (2 Pet.3:18f).
Terry W. Benton
