2 Samuel 11:1-5 says: “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem.  And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.  And David sent and enquired after the woman.  And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?  And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.  And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.”

David had been a faithful man who was walking in the light before God in the time which preceded the event just read about in 2 Samuel chapter 11.  After his adultery with Bathsheba, David would proceed to murder Uriah the Hittite by deliberately arranging to have him slain in battle in an attempt to cover up his adultery with Uriah’s wife.  David tried to hide his sin and hardened himself in justifying his actions.  

After not very long, David received a visit from a prophet named Nathan.  We read about that encounter in 2 Samuel chapter 12.

2 Samuel 12:1-12: “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David.  And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.  The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save (except) one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.  And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.  And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.  Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.  Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight?  Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.  Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.  For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”

Before we look at how David responded to Nathan’s piercing rebuke, let’s consider the passage which this study is primarily about.

1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Now imagine if David had been faithful and never did the things which Nathan rebuked him for (and David had been a faithful man before God before his affair with Bathsheba).  

Would Nathan have been sent to rebuke him then?  Of course not.

Here is David’s response.

2 Samuel 12:13-14: “And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.  And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.  Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”

David didn’t cover his sin anymore.  He confessed that Nathan’s rebuke was true.  He also submitted to a long process of discipline afterwards in relation to what he did without complaining and without being otherwise stubborn against the Lord.

Look at 1 John 1:8 in a context which is a little bit broader.

1 John 1:5-10: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

We also read in Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

David had to forsake his darkness and walk in the light.  Since David had unrepentant sin which the Word of God testified against, he had to confess and forsake it in order to receive forgiveness and be restored to fellowship with the Lord and fellowship with faithful worshipers of the Lord.

If David had said that he had not sinned, or if he had admitted he sinned but continued to justify himself in some way and seek his own honor yet (like King Saul did when confronted by Samuel about his disobedience in regard to the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15), then David would have been deceiving himself, calling God a liar, and the truth would not have been in him as he so practiced deceit.

That is the meaning of 1 John 1:8 (and the parallel statement of 1 John 1:10).  These verses were never intended to be a statement that everyone, even the righteous who are abiding in Jesus Christ, must sin constantly nor were they intended to be a statement that there is no marked differentiation between the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked (and this is contrary to what is often taught in Bible colleges and taught by preachers now).  

John would say the complete several times on both counts as the Book of 1 John continues- including in the verses which immediately follow as the book continues.  

1 John 2:1-6: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (atonement) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

Unfortunately, many do use 1 John 1:8 to try to claim that everyone, even the righteous who are abiding in Jesus Christ, must sin constantly; and they claim that 1 John 1:8 is a statement that there is no marked differentiation between the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked.  

This is a lie that is dead wrong.

It is a good thing that David did not use their logic when Nathan confronted him.  If he had done so, instead of confessing his own with horror and grief directed at himself, he might have rather told Nathan that we all sin constantly anyways.  He then may very well have resorted to recrimination and told Nathan that there was surely sin in his own life.

And many do indeed operate on those principles to justify themselves in their sin while trying to put the righteous who are being faithful to the Lord in the same category as themselves.  

They have many erring preachers of lawlessness to arm them and help them too.

Jeremiah 23:21-22: “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.  But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.”

People will be emboldened to sin and no one will repent when they are led to believe that constant sinning is inevitable for everyone anyways.

There is no true repentance when someone says their sins were inevitable anyways, when they won’t acknowledge they could have and should have done right, and won’t submit to doing what they should have done before.  

Isaiah 1:15-18: “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

No one can be saved who does not actually turn to the Lord in a way where they forsake their sins from the heart and receive His discipline so that they faithfully resist temptation.

The grace of Christ does not eliminate the fact that sin leads to death.  It rather provides a remedy for sin’s guilt and power for those who identify with Christ in His death to sin and resurrection life unto the Father.

James 1:12-15: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

Again, 1 John 1:8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

What is the truth? 

John 17:17: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

We’re also told in Psalm 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

If the light of God’s Word testifies against you and you resist that conviction, then you are deceiving yourself and the truth is not in you.  Let God’s Word be the referee and keep in line with the Word.  Those who are saying that we must sin constantly and are trying to put the righteous and the wicked in the same category are surely not doing that.  

God’s Word does not put the righteous and the wicked in the same category- and it differentiates them by their deeds.  It does however frequently warn those who are walking in darkness to confess that is so AND flee the darkness to come into the light of Christ; to flee the darkness to walk in His righteous ways and thereby live in the realm of His dominion wherein His grace is obtained (see Colossians 1:12-14).

James 3:13-14: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  let him shew out of a good conversation (conduct) his works with meekness of wisdom.  But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”

Another pathetic as well as contradictory thing about those who use 1 John 1:8-10 to contend that everyone must sin constantly is that those who quote these verses to try to claim this almost inevitably believe in unconditional eternal security (Once Saved Always Saved) doctrine.  Those who believe in this doctrine believe that those in Christ are already forgiven of their future sins anyways.  

So even in the manifold major errors in their doctrine and their utter butchering of 1 John 1:8-10, they are still contradicting themselves.  

Simply using these verses is an acknowledgement that born-again Christians are not unconditionally forgiven for their sins after conversion to Christ and need to obtain forgiveness after conversion.

The unconditional eternal security teachers who twist 1 John 1:8 (and many other Scriptures) might attempt strange mental gymnastics to try to explain their contradiction.  All they do actually do though is prove that they are illogical, have gaping holes in their doctrines, and shouldn’t be trusted as a faithful guide for anyone’s soul.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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