Filling of the Spirit-1 John 1.9-Does the Confession of Sin Restore the Filling of the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday August 18, 2013
Filling of the Spirit: Does the Confession of Sin Restore the Filling of the Spirit?
Lesson # 3
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 John 1:1.
Does the confession of sin restore the filling of the Spirit or not?
1 John 1:9 teaches the Christian to confess their sins to the Father in order to be restored to fellowship with God.
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 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 you notice, there is no explicit mention of the filling of the Spirit in this verse.
There is only the mention of the Christian confessing their sins to the Father.
Since 1 John 1:9 is a part of a discussion found in 1 John 1:5-2:2 concerning sin in relation to fellowship, John is teaching that if the Christian confesses their sins to the Father, they will be restored to fellowship with God.
Therefore, this has caused some to argue that the confession of sin does not restore the filling of the Spirit since there is no explicit reference to the Spirit in 1 John 1:9 or anywhere in that context.
However, this is an argument from silence and very dangerous since there are many truths in the Bible which are revealed through a comparison of Scripture with Scripture, but are not revealed in one particular verse explicitly.
Take for example the doctrines of the Trinity and the Rapture.
No orthodox or evangelic Christian today would deny the doctrine of the “Trinity” even though the term appears nowhere in the Bible.
They also would not deny the rapture of the church even though the word “rapture” is not in the Bible.
So we can say that even though there is no explicit reference to the term “Trinity” in the Bible, this does not mean that the doctrine of the Trinity is false since if we can compare Scripture with Scripture it is clear that this term accurately describes the teaching of Scripture.
In the same way, even though the word “rapture” does not appear in Scripture, it is clearly one of the great truths in the Bible when we compare Scripture with Scripture.
Just as the doctrines of the rapture and the Trinity are known through a comparison of Scripture with Scripture (as every doctrine of the Bible is) so too is the doctrine of the confession of sin to restore the filling of the Spirit is revealed through a comparison of Scripture with Scripture.
So the question arises, “Does the confession of sins to God the Father by the Christian restore the filling of the Spirit?”
To answer this, we need to answer the question, “Is the filling of the Spirit related to fellowship with God?”
The answer to that question is, it must, since to have fellowship with God the Father and the Son one would also be experiencing fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
If one is experiencing fellowship with the Father, one is also experiencing it with the Son and the Spirit.
Furthermore, Paul taught in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “all Scripture is God-breathed!”
Peter taught in 2 Peter 1:20-21 that the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible.
Thus, obviously 1 John 1:9 was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
The doctrine of inspiration contends that, God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture, that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, their vocabulary, and God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.
The original languages of Scripture contain the very words of God, and therefore, bear the “authority” of divine authorship.
2 Peter 1:20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (NASB95)
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (Author’s translation)
Therefore, after confessing our sins, we are to obey the Word of God and, in particular, we are commanded to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ, which constitutes obeying the commands to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) and to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in our souls (Col 3:16).
Both will result in us experiencing fellowship with God.
Now, if the believer applies 1 John 1:9 and confesses their sin to the Father, they have just obeyed the Holy Spirit since He is the member of the Trinity teaching the Christian to apply this verse.
So if the Christian does what 1 John 1:9 says to do and confesses their sin, they are filled with Spirit since they are in effect, being influenced by the Holy Spirit since He is the one speaking through John in 1 John 1:9.
This leads us to another question, “What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?”
Well, first of all, it is directly related to the Word of God.
To obey the Word of God is to obey the Holy Spirit since He inspired the Word of God and He speaks actively to the believer through the Bible regarding the Father’s will for their lives.
The commands to be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18 and letting the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul in Colossians 3:16 are synonymous since each bears the same results: fellowship with the Father.
This makes sense because we already established that the Spirit inspired the Word of God and thus speaks to the Christian through the Word.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not permit yourselves to get into the habit of being drunk with wine because that is non-sensical behavior, but rather permit yourselves on a habitual basis to be fully influenced by means of the Spirit. (Author’s translation)
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (NASB95)
The commands, “be fully influenced by means of the Spirit” and “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you,” are synonymous because the Holy Spirit speaks to the believer through the communication of the Word of God regarding the Father’s character and nature, will, provision for doing His will, and consequences for not doing His will (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29).
The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, (2 Ti 3:16) makes them understandable to the believer, (John 16:13-16) guides the believer in the correct application of the Word of God, and reproduces the character of Christ in the believer who obeys the Word of God (Gal 5:22-23).
Therefore, by obeying the Word of God, you are obeying the voice of the Spirit.
This obedience enables the Spirit to reproduce the character of Christ in the believer (Galatians 5:22-23).
None of this is possible if we have sin upon our soul.
That is why the first step towards all of these things is to confess your sins for forgiveness and the purification of the soul from sin, getting back in line with the holy character and nature of God.
Now if one looks carefully at the results of obeying both of these commands, one can see that they are synonymous since they both produce psalms and hymns, spiritual songs, singing and thanksgiving to God.
Therefore, if the believer obeys the teaching of the Holy Spirit in 1 John 1:9 and confesses their sins to the Father, they will be filled with the Spirit since obedience to the Word of God is equivalent to obeying the Spirit.
The latter inspired the former.
In other words, if the believer obeys the teaching of the Holy Spirit in 1 John 1:9 and confesses their sins to the Father, they will be obeying the commands to be filled with the Spirit and letting the Word of Christ richly dwell in your soul since both commands are synonymous.
This leads to another question, “Why did Paul in Colossians 3:16 not mention the Holy Spirit in that verse but does so in Ephesians 5:18?”
The answer is simply that Paul wanted to emphasize the Holy Spirit’s relationship to fellowship in Ephesians 5:18 whereas in Colossians 3:16 he wanted to emphasize the importance of the Word of God in relation to fellowship.
So if you look at both passages, Paul is emphasizing that the Bible is a living book in that the Spirit inspired it and is speaking actively to us in it.
Therefore in comparison of Scripture with Scripture we get the whole doctrine.
Not just by one verse.