iii. 6; Mark i. 5; Jas. v.16. See on Matt. iii.6; xi.25; Luke xxii. 6; Acts xix. 18; Jas. v. 16.
Sins. Note the plural, as compared with the singular, sen, in the previous verse. See note. The plural indicates that the confession is to be specific as well as general. Augustine’s words are exactly to the point, but his play upon pardon and confess cannot be reproduced in English. “Vis ut ille ignoscat ? Tu agnosce.” Do you wish Him to forgwe? Do you confess.
Faithful (avords). True to His own nature and promises; keeping faith with Himself and with man. The word is ap- plied to God as fulfilling His own promises (Heb. x. 23; xi. 11); as fulfilling the purpose for which He has called men (1 Thess. v. 24; 1 Cor. i. 9); as responding with guardianship to the trust reposed in Him by men (1 Cor. x. 13; 1 Pet. iv. 19). “He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. ii. 18). The same term is applied to Christ (2 Thess. iii. 3; Heb. iii. 2; ii. 17). God’s faithfulness is here spoken of not only as essen- tial to His own being, but as faithfulness toward us; “fidelity to that nature of truth and light, related to His own essence, which rules in us as far as we confess our sins” (Ebrard). The essence of the message of life is fellowship with God and with His children (ver. 3). God is Uight (ver. 5). Walking in the light we have fellowship, and the blood of Jesus is constantly ap- plied to cleanse us from sin, which is darkness and which inter- rupts fellowship. If we walk in darkness we do not the truth. If we deny our sin the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, “God, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” (1 Cor. i. 9) to forgive our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and thus to re- store and maintain the interrupted fellowship.
Just (Sixavos). Rev., righteous. From dimen right. The term is applied both to God and to Christ. See Apoc. xvi. 5; John xvii. 25; 1 John ii. 1; iii. 7; 1 Pet. in. 18. The two words, faithful and righteous, imply each other. They unite in a true conception of God’s character. God, who is absolute
Vou. IL.—21