ACC ~ 1 John 1 v9

IF WE CONFESS. CYPRIAN: In his epistle John has combined the fact that we should entreat God for our sins and that we should obtain mercy when we do so. THE LORD’S PRAYER 22.

HE WILL FORGIVE AND CLEANSE US. ANDREAS: If we acknowledge our sin and confess it, he will forgive it, and not only that one but all our sins. For when a person repents and is baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, God forgives all his sins which he has committed both against himself and against heaven. CATENA.

CONFESSION AND LOVE. BEDE: Since we cannot live in this world without sin, the first hope we have of salvation is through confession, nor should anyone be proud enough to claim that he is righteous in God’s sight. The next step is love, which John often commends to us in this letter, because love covers a multi-tude of sins.Each of these things encourages us to pray for our sins and to ask God’s forgiveness when we do so. This is why John says that God is faithful and will forgive our sins, pointing to the reliability of his promise, for he who has taught us to pray for our sins and trespasses has also promised the Father’s mercy and the forgiveness which flows from that. John also says that God is just, because he will rightly forgive anyone who truly confesses his sins. In this life God forgives the everyday, trivial sins of the elect, which we cannot avoid as long as we are here on earth, and after our death he cleanses us from all sin and brings us into that life in which no one wants or is able to sin. Now he forgives those who pray their greater temptations, so that they will not be overcome by them, and he forgives the least as well, so that they will not suffer any harm. But in the life to come he will cleanse us from every sin, so that there will no longer be any sign of wickedness in the eternal kingdom of the blessed. ON 1 JOHN.

GOD IS FAITHFUL AND JUST. OECUMENIUS: To say that God is faithful means that he is reliable, for faithful is a word which is not just applied to those who believe but also to those who can be relied upon. It is in this second sense that it is applied to God. He is also just in that he does not refuse anyone who comes to him, however seriously they may have sinned. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

1 Jn