Absolutely! All the Epistles were written to churches. If they had been written to the lost there would have been no place to mail them and no one who would have received them!
Those who reject I John 1:9 do so from a false premise. They think since Jesus has already died for our sin there is no need for us to confess or repent of sin. While it’s true that Jesus has already died and paid for our sins that, in no way, means we don’t have to deal with sin.
Even though we have been forgiven the New Testament is full of warning about the negative effects of sin in the life of the believer. It hardens the heart, takes us into darkness and, as Paul said, the wages of sin is death. This wasn’t spoken to the lost; it was spoken to believers!
Sin is when we fall short of the glory of God. In the Greek the word “fall” means “to have lesser worth.” “Glory” means many things, among which is “the view, opinion and reality of God!” For the believer all sin starts from an un-renewed mind and unscriptural beliefs about who we are in Christ. God has forgiven our sin, i.e. sent them away; but until we renew our mind and begin to walk in the light we have not sent them away from how we think and see ourselves.
Failure to see ourselves as God sees us in Christ reflects a disbelief or ignorance of how Jesus interpreted God’s Word and a lack of intimate involvement with Jesus. The whole goal of I John was to get us back into fellowship with Jesus, our Source of light and life. Until we return to the light (His interpretation) we can’t enter into fellowship with Him.
I want to help you to live in the life God has freely given you in Jesus. God hasn’t taken anything away from you because of your sin; you have simply left the realm where all His blessings abide. CLICK HERE to join me this week and discover the secret of Light, Fellowship, Faith and Life.
We don’t have to confess our sins in order to be forgiven. We confess our sins because we are already forgiven. When I say “confess our sins”, I’m talking about being open with God. I don’t go before Him begging for forgiveness. No, I talk to Him because I know that I have already been forgiven. I know that I can come to Him freely —He is my God, my Daddy God. Forgiveness is not dependent on what I do, but what Jesus has done. So confession in the new covenant is just being honest about your failures and your humanity.
When one studies the Gnostics which were no believers of the resurrection of Jesus physically I found that yes John was addressing the Gnostics also notice In 1 John 2:1, John addressed the believers as “My little children” (he never addressed the unbelievers whom he was writing to in chapter 1 as “My little children”) and went on to say, “These things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.” Notice that John did not tell the believers, “If anyone sins, make sure that he confesses his sins.” No, his solution for a believer who sins is to point him to the finished work of Jesus. Jesus is our Advocate before God and it is because of His blood that we have forgiveness of all our sins.