The Bible mentions two kinds of forgiveness: judicial forgiveness, which removes the eternal penalty of sin at salvation (Eph 1:7), and parental forgiveness, which restores fellowship with God when believers confess their sins (1 John 1:9). At the moment of faith in Christ (John 3:16), the benefits of the cross are applied to us, and we receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Scripture affirms that “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43b; cf. Eph 1:7). This forgiveness is judicial in nature, granted by God as Judge. It is through the work of the cross that all our sins—past, present, and future—are completely forgiven at the moment of salvation (Col 2:13-14; Heb 10:10, 14). As a result, the threat of eternal separation from God in hell is forever removed, as Paul declares, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). This judicial forgiveness secures our eternal standing before God and establishes an unbreakable relationship with Him as His children (John 1:12; 10:28; Rom 8:15-17).
Though Christians possess eternal life and are never in danger of the lake of fire, we continue to have a sin nature (1 John 1:8) and commit personal acts of sin (1 John 1:10). There are no sinless saints, for “there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl 7:20), and “we all stumble in many ways” (Jam 3:2). While our eternal standing before God as Judge is secure, our daily fellowship with Him as Father can be disrupted by sin. When this occurs, we are directed to seek forgiveness—not to regain salvation, but to restore fellowship. The apostle John instructs believers, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Fruchtenbaum correctly states, “This is not a salvation verse; it is simply a verse which deals with the sins committed by people who already are believers.”[1] This is a familial forgiveness, rooted in our relationship with God as our loving Father (Matt 6:9). Just as a misbehaving child may strain their relationship with a parent without dissolving it, so too sin hinders our communion with God without altering our secure position in His family. The confession of sin and the subsequent forgiveness granted by God are mentioned throughout the Bible (Psa 32:5; 51:1-4; Neh 1:6; Dan 9:4-5; Matt 3:6).
When Christians sin—and we all sin—we step outside of God’s will and grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30). In that moment, we are in a state of carnality, operating according to our sin nature (Rom 7:14-25; Gal 5:16-17). As disobedient children of God, we become subject to His loving discipline if we remain in that state (Heb 12:6; Rev 3:19). Restoration to fellowship with God requires His forgiveness, granted as a Father to His child, which brings us back into His will. It is never God’s will that we sin (1 John 2:1), but when we sin, it is always His will that we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9), receive His forgiveness and be restored to fellowship.
1 John 1:9 begins with the conditional particle “if” (ean, ἐάν), indicating that confession is not automatic but requires the believer’s volitional participation. In other words, each Christian must choose to come to God and confess their sin directly to Him. The Greek word for “confess” (homologeō, ὁμολογέω) means “to say the same thing” or “to agree.” Confession involves agreeing with God about the nature of one’s sin, acknowledging it for what it is without excuse or evasion. It is a personal admission to God of specific sins. The plural “sins” (hamartias, ἁμαρτίας) means individual acts of sin are in view and not the Christian’s sin nature.
The phrase “He is faithful and righteous” highlights God’s character as the basis for forgiveness. God’s faithfulness means He will act consistently with His promises. God cannot lie (Heb 6:18). He always keeps His Word. He is true to His relationship with believers, which ensures that He will forgive when confession occurs. God’s righteousness refers to His moral integrity and justice. Forgiving sin is not an act of compromise for God; rather, it is consistent with His righteous nature because Christ has already borne the penalty for all sin on the cross (Rom 3:24-26; 1 John 2:2). His forgiveness is legally and morally just. God always forgives our sins. The verb “to forgive” (aphiēmi, ἀφίημι) means to send away or release. This forgiveness does not pertain to eternal salvation, as justification before God is a once-for-all act (Rom 3:28; 5:1; Eph 2:8-9). Instead, it refers to the restoration of fellowship with God. Sin disrupts fellowship, and forgiveness restores the believer to intimate communion with Him (1 John 1:6-7).
And John tells us He will “cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The term “cleanse” (katharizō, καθαρίζω) speaks of purification. This purification pertains to “all unrighteousness” (adikia, ἀδικία), which includes sins that may not have been explicitly confessed, for “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17a). This demonstrates God’s comprehensive work of restoration when the believer comes to Him in humility and confession. While confession focuses on known sins, God’s grace extends to cleansing the believer of any unnamed sins or lingering unrighteousness. That is, when Christians confess their known sins to God, He forgives the specific sins that are named, and cleanses His child from all other sins that were not confessed. According to MacDonald:
“The forgiveness John speaks about here is parental, not judicial. Judicial forgiveness means forgiveness from the penalty of sins, which the sinner receives when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is called judicial because it is granted by God acting as Judge. But what about sins which a person commits after conversion? As far as the penalty is concerned, the price has already been paid by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. But as far as fellowship in the family of God is concerned, the sinning saint needs parental forgiveness, that is, the forgiveness of His Father. He obtains it by confessing his sin. We need judicial forgiveness only once; that takes care of the penalty of all our sins—past, present, and future. But we need parental forgiveness throughout our Christian life.”[2]
1 John 1:9 encourages believers to maintain transparency with God by regularly confessing sins. This practice keeps the believer in close fellowship with the Lord and provides ongoing assurance of His forgiveness and cleansing. It also fosters humility and reliance on God’s grace. As believers walk in the light (1 John 1:7), they can trust that God’s faithfulness and righteousness will sustain them in their relationship with Him.
In summary, judicial forgiveness is a once-for-all act accomplished at salvation, while familial forgiveness is ongoing and necessary for maintaining intimacy with God. Both stem from God’s grace, mediated through the person and work of Christ. Recognizing these distinctions enables believers to rest in the security of eternal life while actively pursuing restored fellowship with God through confession (Psa 32:2-5; 1 John 1:9). Thus, the believer can rejoice in the promise of eternal forgiveness while humbly seeking daily cleansing to walk in close fellowship with the Lord.
Dr. Steven R. Cook
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[1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Faith Alone: The Condition of Our Salvation: An Exposition of the Book of Galatians and Other Relevant Topics, ed. Christiane Jurik, Second Edition (San Antonio, TX: Ariel Ministries, 2016), 95.
[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 2310–2311.
In our relationship with God, there are two kinds of forgiveness. One is judicial and the other is parental. Judicial forgiveness is the forgiveness we receive from God when we stand before Him as the Judge of all humanity. This forgiveness occurs at the moment of faith in Christ, where “everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43; cf. Eph 1:7; Col 1:14). This is a one-and-done event that is never repeated, as we are “forgiven us all our transgressions” (Col 2:13). Parental forgiveness is the ongoing forgiveness we receive from God as our Father and is repeated many times throughout a believer’s life. Judicial forgiveness brings us into a right relationship with Him at the moment of faith in Christ. Parental forgiveness restores our fellowship with Him. Joseph Dillow states, “There are two kinds of forgiveness in the New Testament. One pertains to our eternal salvation (justification by faith), and the other to our temporal fellowship with the Father.”
Judicial forgiveness relates to our eternal salvation and right relationship with God. Paul wrote, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph 1:7), and God has “forgiven us all our transgressions, having erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross” (Col 2:13b-14). God’s forgiveness is not arbitrary, as though He simply releases someone from their sin-debt without any payment for the offenses that were committed. The payment for sin was not made by us, but Christ. Peter states, “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:18-19). God’s judicial forgiveness was made possible by the blood of Christ, which refers to His sacrificial atoning death on the cross where He died in our place, where “Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). The blood of Christ is the only coin of the heavenly realm that the Father accepts as payment for our sin debt. This is the forgiveness we receive because Christ shed His blood on the cross and paid the penalty for our sins. Harold Hoehner notes, “The shedding of blood is necessary (Lev 17:11; Eph 2:13; 1 Pet 1:19) for without it there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb 9:22), and Paul makes it clear that God has been propitiated in Christ’s redemption, which was in connection with his blood (Rom 3:24–25), and that one is justified by means of Christ’s blood (Rom 5:9).”
The second kind of forgiveness is the parental forgiveness we receive as God’s children who have committed sin and broken fellowship with our Father. As Christians, we continue to live in a fallen world with all sorts of external temptations, and we continue to possess a sin nature that tempts us internally. The sin nature is what Paul referred to when he gave instruction to “make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom 13:14), and to “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (Eph 4:22). Paul, as a Christian, described his own struggle with ongoing sin (Rom 7:14-20), saying, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good” (Rom 7:21). As Christians, we constantly deal with internal struggles as along we live in this world, as we have two opposing natures. Paul wrote of this struggle, saying, “the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Gal 5:17). When we yield to temptation, whether internal or external, we sin, which means we are operating according to Satan’s world-system (1 John 2:15-16), have grieved the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30), and broken fellowship with God as we are walking in the darkness and not practicing the truth (1 John 1:6). At that moment we are sinning saints, and we are not in fellowship with God. Being honest with God and ourselves is important, for “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us…[and] If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). When we accept this truth, we can then be humble and honest with God and come before His throne of grace and find mercy (Heb 4:16).
What person can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin”? (Prov 20:9). No one is ever free from sin in this life, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl 7:20). Sin (from the Hebrew חָטָא chata or the Greek ἁμαρτία hamartia) means to fall away or miss the mark of God’s intended will. Sin is failure to do God’s will, and both unbelievers and believers commit sin. According to Unger, “The sinfulness of sin lies in the fact that it is against God, even when the wrong we do is to others or ourselves (Gen 39:9; Psa 51:4).”