Prayer: Create in me today a pure heart, O God, and renew a determined spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or sever our relationship today. Restore in me the joy that come to me at the point of my salvation and grant to me a willing heart, to sustain me through this day (adapted from Psalms 51:10-12). Amen
Main Scripture:
Purifies us from all sin (1John 7e).
Associated Scriptures:
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23).
If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water (Job 15:14-16)!
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 1:3).
Correlative Quotes:
The true believer walks in the light of God fully revealed. The light has searched him of course. It could not be otherwise. But he walks happily in the light because he has learned in that light that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”[1] – F. B. Hole
…men are apt to say that they have not sinned. Though they have fallen below their own standard, they do not like to admit it, and cling tenaciously to their position of having got beyond the range of sinning.[2] – F. B. Meyer
The meritorious efficacy of his passion and death has purged our consciences from dead works, and cleanses us, continues to cleanse us, i.e., to keep clean what it has made clean… [3]– Adam Clark
Study:
I will not detain the Reader longer than is absolutely necessary, in observations on what follows. But the verses are too important to be hastily passed by. John, under the authority of the HOLY GHOST, having told the Church, that the blood of CHRIST cleanses from all sin; though he knew the Church is thereby cleansed from all sin, so that its guilt and filth shall no longer condemn; yet, by what he immediately adds, he plainly shews us, that the bodies of the saints are still the subjects of sin; neither will they be ever free from sin, until they drop into the grave, and return to corruption. If we say (saith John) that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.[4] – Robert Hawker
There are two ways that 1John 1:7e can be interpreted. The first is found in Romans 3:24-26 where it says, “and (we) are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice. In his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” We are redeemed, made holy, and made righteous at the instant of our salvation; an action of the shedding of blood at Christ’s death (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Our salvation is a result of the death of Jesus on the cross represented by the shedding of His blood. He gave His life for ours. The sacrificial death and the shedding of His blood met the requirement of the price that had to be paid for the penalty of sin. Romans 3:26 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ.” Jesus gave His life as a “ransom,” or payment for our sinful lives and opened the door for our redemption and justification. Blood was God’s requirement for that payment
While the first interpretation of 1John 7e refers to the salvation of the believer, the second identifies the ongoing forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus. Continual forgiveness is the primary meaning of this verse. We can only have spiritual fellowship with God and with others when we have confessed the sin in our lives. As we repent of our sin before God, the blood of Jesus Christ our savior continually cleanses or purifies us from that sin.
Brethren, the death of Jesus is a cleansing from sin which will bear the light; it is no hole and corner business, no winking at evil, no suspension of law, no making out that sin is no sin. No, the debt is acknowledged, and what is better far, it is paid. The guilty are punished in their substitute, and in Him are thus justly set free. We shall all appear before the judgment seat, and I am glad it is so, for the stain of our sin is so effectually removed by the blood of Jesus that we are clean every whit, and even the eye of divine justice will see no spot in us. We rejoice in perfect whiteness, for the Lord has made us whiter than snow. Yes, we have fellowship with God in this cleansing, for God accepts us in the Beloved. God that made Him to be the Lord our Righteousness, God Himself justifies us in His Son. He will in the last great day make the whole universe a witness to the righteousness of the salvation of believers. All intelligences shall see that in Christ all who are in Him are truly justified, and most justly saved. How the Lord God and His people will have fellowship in their common joy in the work and person of Jesus, as they see the perfection of it, and the way in which all sin is removed by it![5] – Charles Spurgeon
Summary Statement:
In sum, then, the on-going cleansing of the blood of Jesus in our lives refers to two things. First, it refers to the experience of having all our sins forgiven, so that God does not hold any of them against us. It is the experience of being acquitted or justified, as Paul says in Romans 5:9, "Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." And Ephesians 1:7, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses." To be cleansed by the blood of Jesus means, first, to have all our sins forgiven (past, present, and future)!
Lesson within the Lesson:
What is the initial impact of the blood of Jesus on the believer?
How was your life changed when you reacted to His initial cleansing?
What is the ongoing impact of the blood of Jesus?
Why do we continue to sin after we are saved and what should be our reaction to that sin?
[1] Frank Binford Hole, F. B. Holes Old and New Testament Commentary, Public Domain, "http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fbh/view.cgi?bk=61&ch=1". 1947.
[2] Meyer, Fredrick Brotherton, Our Daily Homily, Public Domain, Grand Rapids, 1899, MI: Christian Fleming H. Revell Company, enduringword.com/downloads/our-daily-homily/, P. 231
[3] Adam Clarke, The Adam Clarke Commentary on Revelation, Volume 6, Public Domain, © 1836, Thomas Tegg and Son, 73 Cheapside, London. godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkegen1.htm, P. 865.
[4] Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s New Testament Commentary, Volume 9, 1805, Public Domain, Printed by W. Nicholson, Warner Street, London, P. 687-8.
[5] Charles Spurgeon, The Child Walking in the Light, Public Domain, Ibid, P. 7.
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