1 John 1.9-Is the Confession of Sin Related to the Filling of the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 16, 2017
First John: 1 John 1:9-Is the Confession of Sin Related to the Filling of the Spirit?
Lesson # 44
Some believers today argue that the confession of sin is not related to the filling of the Spirit.
As we have noted, 1 John 1:9 teaches the Christian to confess their sins to the Father in order to be restored to fellowship with God but if you notice, there is no explicit mention of the filling of the Spirit in this verse since 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 and 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.
So the question arises, “Does the confession of sins to God the Father by the Christian restore the filling of the Spirit?” but 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 and 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.
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, it is directly related to the Word of God since 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.
The commands, “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18 and “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you,” in Colossians 3:16 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.
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.
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.
One must realize that experiencing fellowship with God is in effect experiencing one’s eternal relationship with the Triune God and one’s union and identification with Jesus Christ.
One must not blur the distinction between our eternal relationship with God and fellowship with God though both are obviously related and one also must not blur the distinction between one’s position in Christ and one’s experience.
When I say one must not blur the distinction between one’s eternal relationship with God and fellowship with God I mean that though they are related, they are different.
They are related because fellowship with God is experiencing one’s eternal relationship with God and they are different in that sin does not cause one to lose one’s eternal relationship with God but it does cause one to lose fellowship with God.
Let me use an analogy. I entered the Wenstrom family at physical birth.
When I disobeyed my parents, I lost fellowship with them and I was sent to my room but they didn’t disown me but they refused to have fellowship with me until I did two things.
First, I confessed I was wrong to them and then, I had to do what I was told.
The same is true in God’s family, if we sin, God will not have fellowship with us in that He doesn’t disown us when we sin but rather He disciplines us because He loves us (Hebrews 12:4-11; Revelation 3:19) and so we are still in His family.
When we confess our sins to our heavenly Father we are restored to fellowship with Him and when we obey Him we maintain that fellowship with Him.
When I say, we must not blur the distinction between one’s position in Christ and one’s experience, mean that committing sin (mental, verbal, or overt) prevents us from experiencing our position in Christ as well as sanctification and yet it does not cause us to lose our position in Christ.
In fact, to experience fellowship with God is to experience one’s union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
Now, lastly, there are many metaphors in Scripture which speak of experiencing fellowship with God from different perspectives.
For instance, experiencing sanctification speaks of fellowship with God from the perspective that it is experiencing being set apart to serve God exclusively and fellowship with God speaks of experiencing one’s relationship with God from the perspective that we are communing with God.
John uses the term “abide” in his writings (1 John 2:6, 10) which is a reference to the Lord’s Vine and the Branches Metaphor.
Our Lord taught His disciples that He is the Vine and they are the Branches and that like a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine so they cannot produce fruit apart from Him (John 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10).
This term “abide” is a reference to fellowship with God.
John also uses the term “walking in the light” (1 John 1:7) which speaks of fellowship with God from the perspective that it is living according to God’s holy standards.
In 1 John 1:5 he says that “God is light” which is a reference to the fact that as to His character and nature, God is holy.
So, the believer is living according to God’s holy standards when they are in fellowship with God and God’s holy standards are found in the Word of God.
So, the filling of the Spirit and fellowship with God are not mutually exclusive and they are inextricably related and in fact, experiencing one’s sanctification, and walking in the light and abiding in Christ or His Word are also inextricably tied to each other.
They all speak of experiencing fellowship with God from different perspectives.
Thus, when a believer confesses their sins, they are not only restored to fellowship with God but they are filled with the Spirit since to be in fellowship with God demands obedience to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit inspired God’s Word and speaks actively to the believer through the Word.
They are also experiencing sanctification and are walking in the light, i.e. living according to God’s holy standards.