Also.... about this verse:If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. yet to have received his view on this, unless i missed it
Please consider this Blain.
1 John 1:8 If <G1437> we say <G2036> that <G3754> we have <G2192>
no <G3756> sin <G0266>, we deceive <G4105> ourselves <G1438>, and <G2532> the <G3588> truth <G0225> is <G1510> not <G3756> in <G1722> us <G2254>.
9 If <G1437> we confess <G3670> our <G2257> sins <G0266>, he is <G2076> faithful <G4103> and <G2532> just <G1342> to <G2443> forgive <G0863> us <G2254> our <G9999> sins <G0266>, and <G2532> to cleanse <G2511> us <G2248> from <G0575> all <G3956> unrighteousness <G0093>.
10 If <G1437> we say <G2036> that <G3754> we have <G0264>
not <G3756> sinned <G0264>, we make <G4160> him <G0846> a liar <G5583>, and <G2532> his <G0846> word <G3056> is <G2076> not <G3756> in <G1722> us <G2254>.
Notice that the same Greek word is translated the first time as "no" and the second time as "not".
I am looking at the Greek text at this very moment and can see that the present tense is correct in verse 8 and the past tense is correct in verse 10.
If we simply grab the first idea of what John meant and then refuse to grow from there on what we think we know, then it remains only what we think we know. I tell you for a certainty understanding does not usually come without a bit of effort. It is our effort that God blesses by his spirit.
Always remember the context, and the context here is that John is speaking to a mixed group of both babes in Christ who have not yet come to be in full sync with God's Holy Spirit by the spirit of Christ regulating in their minds and hearts., and John also has mature ones there in the audience who are in full sync with God's Holy Spirit by the spirit of Christ regulating in their minds and hearts.
In verse 8 he says to the babes in Christ, 1 John 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
John could say "we" because the matured ones did not commit such denial of sin like that when they were babes in Christ.
And it is only those babes that needed that teaching. The mature ones had all they needed by their full sync to the holy spirit. It was to the mature ones that Paul said, 1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
In verse 10 John speaks as the mature ones are a group speaking with him and shows that they did not deny sin in their past as these new babes in Christ to whom he was talking, were doing, 1 John 1:10 "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." That is the only way what he said does not conflict with much scripture.
Verse 10 is clearly using the past tense in the Greek text. In other words, he is in effect saying 'We mature ones did not make such claim of never having sinned and so you ought not to be doing so as babes in Christ.'
That is why Paul pleads with those babes, 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
The congregations are about growing Christians and they do not all grow at the same pace. In any congregation of Gods people like in any annual wheat harvest there are the first fruits that mature ahead of the rest of the crop. And there was most definitely such a mix in the congregation to which John was speaking, just as in all of the congregations.
That makes it a bit difficult to discern between what applies only to the babes in a present tense and what applies to them all, both babes and mature in the past tense.
Please take time to ponder what I have told you.
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