Acknowledgment: the term rebound came from R. B. Thieme, Jr., who made several excellent contributions to theology, one of them being an updated vocabulary.

Preface: Churches teach a lot of things, but when it comes to mechanics, this is where the local church generally falls down on the job. Your minister might ask you to stand up and tell the person behind you that you love them; they might ask you to come forward at the end of a service to rededicate your life to Christ; you might have a group surround you while you lean your head back, let your mind go blank, and you are encouraged to make noises until you get the Holy Spirit and start speaking in tongues. The problem with these mechanics is, they are not found in the Bible—not by example and not by specific doctrine. People just made this stuff up to serve their own beliefs.

However, the most important mechanic for the new believer is either never taught or distorted greatly by emotionalism and/or legalism. What is important is, how are you filled with the Spirit and how do you quench the Spirit? How do you get into fellowship and how do you get out of fellowship? How do you walk in the light and how do you walk in darkness? If you cannot answer these questions quickly and with a simple mechanic, then you ought to reevaluate your Christian life and your growth. If being in or out of fellowship has profound meaning in the New Testament epistles; if being filled with the Spirit or avoiding quenching the Spirit is important, then why don’t you know how do to these things?

Let me explain a mechanic: it is simply what you do to achieve a result. For instance, let’s say that kicking a piece of furniture got you out of fellowship, the act of kicking would be a mechanic. Let’s say that the Bible told you that, looking over your left shoulder and shouting “Hooyah” got you back into fellowship; then the act of looking over your left shoulder and shouting “Hooyah” is a mechanic.

We were all saved by grace. We believed in Jesus Christ and God put us into Christ; God gave us eternal life; God imputed Christ’s righteousness to us (these are 3 of the 40 things which God does for us at the moment of salvation). If this has gone to a person who has not believed in Jesus Christ, then what I have written here is not for you. You need the gospel (good news). The gospel is, you are separated from God because you have sinned, because you have Adam’s imputed sin, and because you have a sin nature. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins on the cross, and when you believe in Him, these 3 barriers are removed and you are saved forever and you have an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, a relationship which cannot be broken, nullified, or destroyed by you, by any person you know, or even by angels. That part of the Christian life takes only a few seconds.

The correct mechanic in order to be saved is putting faith in Jesus Christ. You may have gone to some evangelistic meeting; you may have raised your hand in a church service; you may have gotten baptized, you may have joined a church. All of these things are mechanics. However, the only mechanic which saves you is faith in Jesus Christ. For a very long list of verses about salvation, see http://kukis.org/salvation/Salvation.htm

Just as there are a plethora of false mechanics out there when it comes to being saved, there are a plethora of false mechanics out there when it comes to being filled with the Spirit. Since we were saved by grace, one might reasonably suppose our Christian life to consist of grace actions (or grace mechanics).

The church I go to calls the mechanic to be filled with the Spirit, to restore fellowship with God rebound. You quench the Spirit, you rebound, and you are filled with the Spirit. You get out of fellowship and you rebound, and you are back in fellowship. It is simply a word which describes the grace mechanics; like the word Trinity, it is not found in the Bible, but it stands for an accurate, Biblical doctrine.

I should note that I will cover this doctrine in only a few pages (16); and the bulk of this is addendum (over 40 pages).

I. Brief overview: Christians do a lot of goofy things in order to fix, spice up or enhance their spiritual lives. They will gather with a group of believers who want them to get the ghost and who apply psychological pressure for them to do so. They might assume various positions, lean their heads back, and make noises, hoping to get some sort of experience. The pastor may amble on by, touch their forehead, and, bam!, they are slain in the Spirit. These mechanics are never proffered by Scripture. However, after a few people read through the book of Acts, they have attempted to duplicate what they read there, and usually by doing things which have absolutely no Biblical basis (leaning the head back, letting your mind go blank, making noises). There are others who do more innocuous things, like, they raise their hands in a church service or they walk forward in some kind of a rededication event at their church. Again, these mechanics are never found in Scripture. In the Bible, no one walks forward, no one raises their hand, no one leans their head back and starts making noise, hoping there will be some kind of experience which approximates that of those in that particular church. The Bible does offer one very specific (and easy) mechanic: If we acknowledge our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9). That is what this rebound is all about.

II. God’s mandates: throughout the New Testament, there are a number of mandates which God lays out through the human authors of Scripture. As I list these commands, bear in mind, God does not command us to do something without giving us the mechanics or the ability to obey His command. Furthermore, the method should be grace; we were saved by grace, so we ought to live by grace.

1. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).

2. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). Similar to this, we have 1Thess. 5:19: Do not quench the Spirit.

3. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25).

4. These are all commands. In the Greek, they are in the imperative mood, which means, that God, through Paul, was giving us an order. So, obviously, there is something or some things which we need to do which are related to God the Holy Spirit. Somewhere, in the Bible, we should be able to find the mechanics.

5. This is the second most discouraging topic to talk to Christians about. Ask a Christian who has been going to a Bible-believing church about the Holy Spirit, about quenching, grieving, walking by or being filled with the Holy Spirit, and most of the time, you will get a blank stare, or a list of things that we ought to do which are not found in the Bible.

However, before I go into any explanation here, let me cover things which the Bible does not command us to do:

1. We are never commanded to be indwelt by the Spirit: By the Holy Spirit Who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you (1Tim. 1:14). Notice, this is not a command, but given as an accomplished fact.

2. To be baptized by the Holy Spirit. For by means of one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1Cor. 12:13). Again, this is not an imperative; this is given in this letter to very carnal believers as an accomplished fact.

3. To somehow go out and get the Spirit. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (1John 3:24b). By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (1John 4:13). Like the writers of the epistles, John wrote to believers. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, Who gives His Holy Spirit to you (1Tim. 4:8). Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? (1Cor. 6:19a; see also 1Cor. 3:16). And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2Cor. 1:21–22). Bear in mind, in these last few verses, Paul is writing to the most carnal group of believers in the New Testament: the Corinthians; yet, they all clearly have the Holy Spirit.

4. See also Rom. 5:5 8:9–11 1Cor. 2:12 12:7 2Cor. 5:5 Gal. 3:2 4:6 Eph. 2:28 James 4:5 1Peter 4:14. The short explanation is, we do not have to do something in order to get God’s Spirit.

5. It is important to note that, once we get out of the book of Acts, there is not a single reference to some set of steps that we must follow in order to somehow get the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, there is never a set of steps given by which various believers got the Holy Spirit; simply that, during that time period, there were certain groups of believers who did not get the Holy Spirit at salvation (these are believers who were saved prior to the ascension of Jesus Christ). In the epistles, which is where Church Age doctrine is to be found, at no time does Paul, John, James or Peter say, “Look, you have this really pathetic group of believers in your church and I think what they are lacking is the Holy Spirit; so, here is how you can get the Spirit...” Jesus, when discussing the various churches in Revelation also makes no such command. The most carnal believers in the New Testament—the Corinthians—are said to have God the Holy Spirit, they are said to be baptized by the Spirit, and they are said to have their spiritual gifts. However, possession of the Spirit obviously does not guarantee that a person is going to live some sort of victorious Christian life.

6. It is important to note that there are mechanics in the New Testament, but that none of these mechanics include walking down an aisle, raising one’s hand, or doing odd things in order to get the Spirit.

IV. The mechanics: when God gives us a command, then we should expect that He will give us clear mechanics in order to fulfill this command. What follows is a brief exegetical study of 1John 1:4–10. At the end of this doctrine, I will exegete this passage word-by-word, so that there is no confusion about the meaning of this passage (the Complete Exegesis of 1John 1:4–10).

1. 1John 1:4: And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. John says we are writing these things; there were several Apostles who regularly kept in touch with congregations which they helped to found or taught at some point. The purpose here was to complete our joy, which would reasonably be the joy of those who write and those who read these letters (epistles).

2. 1John 1:5: This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. It is important to recognize that there are absolutes, and Christians do recognize these absolutes, for the most part, as they apply to others. However, absolutes apply to believers as well. We will either be in the light or in darkness; we will not wander around in the twilight.

3. 1John 1:6: If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. John amplifies the concept of absolutes: You cannot claim to have fellowship with God while walking in darkness. So, the topic of this particular chapter is, walking in the light versus walking in darkness; having fellowship with God

or not having fellowship with Him.

4. 1John 1:7: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. Here, walking in the light is closely identified with having fellowship with one another. Notice that all this talk about fellowship is all related to being cleansed from all sin.

5. 1John 1:8: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Here, sin is found in the singular, and it is often used this way to refer to the sin nature. If we claim to now lack the sin nature for any reason, we have deceived ourselves.

6. 1John 1:9: If we cite [acknowledge, name, confess] our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the mechanic; this is what we call rebound. All believers sin. I have a cousin who used to send me web-linked articles about this or that believer who sinned, thinking that, somehow, this would destroy my faith because not only did some Christian sin, but he sinned big and, oh my gosh, it was in the news. To any Christian who is not self-deceived (v. 8), we know we have a sin nature and we know that we sin. Now, since this is the thrust of this doctrine, let me go through this mechanic phrase by phrase.

1) If we cite [acknowledge, name, confess] our sins,... The Greek word found here is used when you cite a fact in a court case.

You may or may not be emotional—that is not really important—but you cite whatever sins you have committed. For some, this might be once or twice a day; for others, it might be once or twice every few minutes. We sin, we name our sin to God (not to a priest, not to some other person), and those are the grace mechanics. Note, there is no work here. We do not have to drum up some kind of an emotional state in order to rebound. We simply name our sins. We might be happy about what we just did; we might be mortified by what we just did; however, this is a grace mechanic—we name our sin or sins to God. What follows in this verse is what God does as a result of naming our sins to Him.

2) ...He is faithful... The word faithful means that God does this each and every time. You may think that you have discovered some sin too great even for God to forgive, but that is not what is written here. Every time we name our sins to God, He will do the same thing. This could launch us into a whole new topic—Gd’s faithfulness—but there are promises which God makes in the Bible, there are things that He says that He will do, and we can depend upon these words because, God is faithful.

3) ...and just to forgive us our sins... God’s character is perfect. He is perfect justice and perfect righteousness. At best, as unbelievers, we have relative righteousness. We are able to find someone else that most people can agree is much worse than we are. God, however, is perfect justice and perfect righteousness, and everything that He does must comport with His own righteousness and justice. God cannot just say, “What the hell, I like Charlie Brown, so I am going to forgive him for his sins.” God must act in accordance with His perfect character, and His justice is perfect and His righteousness is perfect. Therefore, when He forgives us our sins, He does so within the confines of His justice. All of our sins, past present and future, were poured out on Jesus Christ at the cross, and He took the penalty for these sins. God is therefore just to forgive us the sins that we have committed, because these sins have been paid for. However, what is occurring here is different from salvation. At salvation, we are forgiven all of our sins—past, present, and future—and given Christ’s righteousness (2 of the 40 things which God does for us at salvation). However, all of us remain alive and on this earth after God saves us. Our relationship with God comes to us in 3 parts: (1) phase I: salvation—we believe in Jesus Christ and we are saved; (2) phase II: our life on this earth; and (3) phase III, eternity—what happens to us after death. Most of the Bible is all about phase II, our life on this earth after salvation. At the moment of salvation, we are both given God the Holy Spirit and we are filled with God the Holy Spirit (2 of the 40 things that we receive at salvation). The first time that we sin, we quench the Spirit; we lose our fellowship with God; we begin to walk in darkness. For most believers, this occurs approximately 47.5 seconds after we are saved. We get back into fellowship by naming that sin (or sins) to God.

4) ...and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As a new believer (and even as an old believer), we do not know about each and every sin that we can commit. All of us do things which are sin, but we do not recognize these things as sin. When we name to God the sins that we know, those sins are forgiven but, also, all of our sins are forgiven. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. We may commit 3 known sins and 28 unknown sins over the space of say, 30 minutes, and we decide, I might as well get back into fellowship. We name the 3 known sins which we committed; God temporally forgives us for committing these sins, but then He also cleanses us from all unrighteousness, which includes the 28 unknown sins which we committed. A common unknown sin which people commit is guilt; they feel guilty about doing this or that. Once we name our sins, no matter how horrendous they were and no matter how much we shocked ourselves by our own debauchery, those sins are forgiven—and if we begin to feel guilty about having committed those sins, then we need to tell God “I feel guilty” and He forgives us that sin as well. However, for most believers, guilt is not recognized as a sin, so they do not confess it. However, God cleanses us from all unrighteousness, including each and every sin that we do not know is a sin.

7. 1John 1:10: If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. The final verse in this chapter makes it clear that, everyone sins. No person believes in Jesus Christ and then they never commit another sin. Those of us who claim to lead sinless lives make God out to be a liar and His word (doctrine) is not in us.

V. Synonyms for being out of fellowship, for being in fellowship and for the restoration of fellowship:

1. Walking in the light: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1John 1:7). Walking in light as opposed to walking in darkness, could also refer to salvation (John 11:10) or to spiritual growth (Eph. 5:8).

2. Walking in the Spirit: By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit(Rom. 8:3b–4).

3. Being in the Spirit: Eph. 6:18a (praying at all times in the Spirit). In fact, this is a little tricky: when we believe in Jesus Christ, 1 of the 40 things we receive at this moment is God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is in us. However, when the Bible speaks of us being in the Spirit, this refers to temporal fellowship with God.

4. Being in fellowship with other believers and with Jesus Christ. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth (1John 1:6). See also 2Cor. 13:14.

5. Drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner. This is being out of fellowship. The Corinthians were urged to judge themselves so that they would not be judged (which is rebound) 1Cor. 11:27–31

VI. Parallel passages. One of the greatest problems which I have seen in Christian doctrine is, someone finds a passage, interprets that passage in a particular way, and then elevates this passage above every other. Rebound is probably the single most important mechanic found in Scripture (after believing in Jesus Christ for salvation, of course); therefore, it is reasonable that we should expect to find it elsewhere in the Bible.

1. Jesus illustrates rebound to Peter, and this is often lost in the English translation. Washing the entire body refers to salvation; washing the feet only refers to the restoration of temporal fellowship (they are, again, walking in the light, or walking in fellowship with Him, or walking in the Spirit). Jesus was going to wash Peter’s feet, which, of course, Peter refused. Then Jesus told him, “If I don’t wash your feet, then you have no part with Me.” Then Peter, always misreading the situation, asked the Lord to wash him completely, and Jesus tells him that he has been completely washed already. The reason that Jesus washed Peter’s feet was to indicate that his temporal forgiveness was based upon what Jesus would do for Peter on the cross (die for his sins). John 13:5–11

2. “Remain [stay, abide] in Me” is a mandate (imperative mood) spoken by Jesus Christ to the Apostles, and this is related to the production of divine good in John 15:1–7.

3. One of the man problems in the Corinthian church was their practice of communion. The problem was, many of them were out of fellowship when taking communion, and, as a result, some became ill and some even died (divine discipline and the sin unto death). Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves correctly, we will not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world (1Cor. 11:27–32). Although, it is important for us to be in fellowship as often as possible, it is particularly important when taking communion. When we are out of fellowship, we are subject to divine discipline, which, for the Corinthians so impacted them that, some died. Paul urged each person to examine himself and to judge himself correctly (i.e., name whatever sins we have committed). If God needs to judge us for these sins, the result would be discipline.

4. Lifting holy hands in 1Tim. 2:8. It is not the physical gesture which is being emphasized here, but the lack of mental attitude and verbal sins (without anger and without quarreling).

5. In many cases, rebound is combined with spiritual growth (which occurs through the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ). Even some of the passages which are offered here are synonyms for being in fellowship and growing by means of the Spirit and grace. An example of this is Eph. 4:17–24: Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the vacuum of their minds. The word translated vacuum (also rendered futility, moral depravity, vanity) is the technical term mataiotês (ματαιότης). Paul is speaking to believers in this epistle, and obviously to believers who were walking as Gentiles did. Paul uses the word gentile to refer to a heathen unbeliever. When a person rejects Jesus Christ as Savior, their minds will suck in human viewpoint (that is the vacuum) and they will behave in depraved ways (walking as Gentiles). This means that they will operate in systems which are contrary to God’s plan for the human race. Because Paul is speaking to believers, this means that believers can also vacuum in human viewpoint and they can live in such a way as to be indistinguishable from unbelievers. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. As a believer’s soul goes negative, it rejects the truth and pulls in human viewpoint. This covers the soul in darkness so that such a person become alienated from the life of God, which means both being in fellowship and having a productive life. Paul is speaking of believers here, and this is actually very technical here. They have become callous [scar tissue buildup on the soul] and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity [they act like unbelievers]. But that is not the way you learned Christ—assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self [to put off your old self means to lay aside your sin nature; this is they synonym for rebound], which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires [this is spiritual growth through being in fellowship and learning doctrine, which will certainly have an effect on your actions], and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Being renewed in the spirit of your minds means to both be back in fellowship, but to experience spiritual growth as well.

6. David spoke of being out of fellowship and being sick because of sinning against God. Psalm 41:3–4

7. In a passage which we will cover in more depth, David committed adultery, he had the woman’s husband killed, and then, in a later psalm, said to God, “Against You and You only have I sinned.” See Psalm 51:1–4

8. Laying aside every weight. Heb. 12:1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [we are in the midst of the Angelic Conflict], let us also lay aside every weight [rebound], and sin which clings so closely [through rebound, we lay aside the sin nature, which clings so closely], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The final phrase is off point for our topic of rebound, but we are given a specific amount of time on this earth, and this refers to the time constraints.

9. The Jews were under the Law of God, but we are under the law of the Spirit of life (which is the principle of rebound).

1) The Law handed down through Moses was much more than the Ten Commandments. The Law of Moses can be broken down into 3 parts:

(2) Codex #2: A complete Christology in shadow form. Jesus Christ and His death on the cross is taught over and over again in the Law of Moses, from the Feast Days to the sacrifices offered up by the priests; the priesthood itself, the Tabernacle and the articles of furniture all spoke of Jesus Christ to come. God the Holy Spirit communicated the gospel through these various things to the people of Israel (and those who came to Israel) and they were saved through faith in Jehovah Elohim.

(3) Codex #3: The social law. Given the time and place of Israel, and the social mores of that day, God delineated laws to govern Israel and the relationships between the people of Israel to one another and to those around them.

3) We are under a new law, which includes rebound, and the principles of which are laid out in Rom. 7:14–25 and 8:1–14

(1) The basic principle of the continued indwelling of the old sin nature and its conflict with the Holy Spirit is laid out in Rom. 7:14–26: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Paul has already explained that we have been released from the Law of Moses, but this does not means that the Law itself was wrong or weak. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! The Law revealed to Paul that he was a sinner. It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. All believers have the indwelling of the sin nature. In fact, it is inherent in every cell of our being. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. Sin in the singular often refers to the sin nature. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being [this is the human spirit], but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. The Holy Spirit within us controls us or our sin nature controls us. As long as we are in this body of sin, we will be subject to this inner conflict.

(2) Paul deals with this subject matter in a very large context, which is our relationship to the Law of God. He is explaining that we are not under the Law of Moses, but we are under a different law, which begins with rebound, which restores the filling of the Holy Spirit. Rom. 8:1–14: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. The Law of Moses condemns us. If we are under the Law of Moses, then we sin and we are deserving of death. We are now under the law of the Spirit of life, which means that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone—the foundation of our faith—and then we operate in the Christian life by means of God the Holy Spirit. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh [this is salvation by faith in Christ], in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit [this is being in fellowship as opposed to being our of fellowship]. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. When you are filled with the Spirit, you operate in one way; when you are controlled by the sin nature, you operate in a different way. From the outside, we may not be able to easily judge what is occurring, as believers whose sin nature has a trend toward asceticism, can appear to be very religious when out of fellowship. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh [the person controlled by the sin nature] is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot [you cannot, in any way, do that which is divine good when controlled by your sin nature; the best you can do is to act moral and/or religious]. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him [you are either a believer or an unbeliever; you have the Holy Spirit or you do not]. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you [this is living by means of the Spirit]. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Being led by the Spirit of God is another synonym for being in fellowship, for being filled with the Spirit, for walking in the light.

10. Eph. 5:14b: Arise, sleeping ones and stand up out of the dead ones, and Christ will shine on you. The context of this passage is fellowship (v. 11) and not unbelievers believing in Christ and being raised from the dead. When we are out of fellowship, it is as if we are sleeping or as if we were dead, as we have no function in the spiritual life.

11. Eph. 5:18 (Prov. 23:31): And "do not be drunk with wine," in which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit. In the same context is this passage, where we are exhorted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The mechanics are not given, just the principle. The mention of being drunk with wine simply sets up a contrast between being controlled by wine or being controlled by the Holy Spirit.

1) Lev. 26:40–42: "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies--if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”

2) 1Kings 8:47–50: Yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and turn back and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, “We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,” if they turn back with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, the city that You have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions that they have committed against You, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.

3) Psalm 32:3–5: When I kept silence, then my bones became old, through my howling all day. For by day and by night Your hand was heavy on me; my sap was turned into the droughts of summer. Selah. I confessed my sin to You, and I have not hidden my iniquity; I said, I will confess over my transgression to Jehovah; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

4) Psalm 51:1–4: Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies; blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done evil in Your eyes; that You might be justified in Your speaking and be clear when You judge. See also Psalm 51:5–14.

5) Prov. 28:13: Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

6) Jer. 3:12–13: Go and cry these words toward the north, and say, Return, O apostate Israel, says Jehovah. I will not cause My face to fall on you, for I am merciful, says Jehovah; I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah.

2. Trespass offerings in the Old Testament were about known sins; sin offerings were about unknown (or unrecognized) sins. Lev. 4–5

1) The bronze laver was a large bronze basin designed to hold water for the priests to wash their hands and feet. It was made of bronze hand mirrors which had been melted down.

4) Thus the bronze hand mirrors pictures the self examination aspect of Rebound; in order to confess our sins, we must examine ourselves to determine which, if any, sins we have committed.

5) In actual practice, the Word of God is the mirror through which we are able to correctly examine ourselves.

4. Rebound was also taught through the daily trimming of the wicks on the golden lampstand (Ex. 30:7).

1) The lampstand symbolized the Word of God which gives the spiritual light necessary for us to please God (compare Psalm 119:105).

3) The cleaning of the wicks on the lampstand pictured our cleansing through rebound (as it relates to our understanding the Word of God.

(1) We must be filled with God the Holy Spirit in order to correctly understand and appreciate Bible doctrine.

1) There are times when we sin that God does not discipline us before or after we rebound.

2) In some cases, God brings divine discipline upon us to move us toward rebound.

3) If we rebound, and this divine discipline continues, then it continues for our blessing.

4) There are also natural results of sin which can continue, even if we are back in fellowship.

(1) We might, for instance, gossip about Charlie Brown and his bad taste in shoes; and then, realizing that this is wrong, rebound. However, if this gets back to Charlie Brown, he may feel resentment and act upon it.

(2) When you break the law, you can name this sin to God and be forgiven, but you may still be arrested and serve a sentence for breaking this law.

(3) There are sins which build up scar tissue on our souls which make it easier to commit the same sin again. One common example is drug use—if we never use drugs, then our level of temptation is going to be nil. However, for some, if we use drugs, then the temptation to use them again is stronger. A common example of this is alcoholism—some people take themselves to a point with alcohol so that they cannot even have one drink, or it sets them off.

(4) Sexual sins, such as homosexual acts or adultery, can be more easily avoided if never done in the first place (this is assuming either of these to be among one’s proclivities in the first place).

IX. Rebound is not victory over sin or carnality, but recovery from same. Obviously, if we sin 15 seconds later (and some of us will), we do not have victory over that sin or group of sins.

X. Rebound, like salvation, must be a grace operation; that is, there are no works involved or allowed.

1. Salvation is faith alone in Christ alone. When Jesus was asked “What should we do, in order to do the works of God?” He answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:28–29. There are many passages of Scripture which tell us that no works are involved in salvation; one of them is Rom. 4:2–8: For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but they are owed to him. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." (also Gen. 15:6 Psalm 32:1–2).

2. This is a logical conclusion when it comes to rebound. If, when we are unbelievers, can only come to God through faith, without any works; then logically, when we are temporally out of fellowship, we also have nothing to offer God in that state. Guilt, regret, penance, and promises logically have no place in restoring our fellowship with God. That means that there is something we can do, some work which we can perform, from a state of carnality, which impresses God so much that He just has to forgive us. God saves us on the basis of Christ’s death on the cross; God forgives us in time on he basis of Christ’s death on the cross; it is not logical for works to be excluded from salvation but not from rebound.

3. The key in salvation is faith, in and of itself, has no merit. The merit is what we have faith in. Every person has faith; about 90% of everything that we know is based upon faith. Even those things which we determine rationally and/or empirically have some basis in faith. A scientist knows that, when we add Hydrochloric acid to Sodium Hydroxide, we get salt water.

This experiment has been performed over and over again millions of times in science classrooms all over the world; and every teacher expects the same result, because he believes that we live in an ordered universe, and universe which obeys a set of laws.

4. In rebound, there is also no credit or merit which we can take in the process. We simply name our sins and God forgives all of our sins, including the ones we did not know were sins. Our forgiveness in time is based upon what our Lord did for us on the cross; it is not based upon our promises, penance, or emotion.

2. God allows natural results to play out, which are not necessarily discipline, but can be just as harsh.

3. If a person does not rebound, this discipline is intensified. Heb. 12:5–6 (Prov. 3:11–12): And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? We are disciplined because we are sons of God. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline [the principle and act of discipline] of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines [warning discipline] the one he loves, and chastises [intensive discipline] every son whom he receives."

1) Allow me a tangent here: we may not like discipline very much when it is happening (that is sort of the point of discipline); but, to draw an analogy, I was spanked several times as a child. At the time, I did not care for it too much. However, in retrospect, knowing my proclivities as a child, I probably did not receive a tenth of the discipline which I deserved.

2) When my parents disciplined me, it was for my good, because simply talking to me did not always work (did it ever?), being the hard-headed child that I was.

3) Therefore, in retrospect, I appreciate the discipline that I received, understanding full-well that it was meant for my benefit, and that it was difficult for my parents to do.

4) Similarly, knowing this, and knowing God’s character, the writer of Hebrews tells us not to despise the act or principle of divine discipline, as God does this for our benefit. Since God is always just and fair, we know that discipline from Him will not be arbitrary or abusive. God’s discipline is a manifestation of His love for us as sons, even while in a state of carnality.

4. There are a lot of believers, when under maximum discipline for being out of fellowship, who, even not knowing this doctrine, try a number of things, including naming their sins to God.

1) I have listed these things already: walking down an aisle in a rededication call, crying out to God in pain; and, somewhere along the line, this same believer might actually name these sins to God.

2) The Colonel

makes a big deal out of the fact that faith does not play a significant part here.

That is, the believer who confesses his sins does not have to also trust God to forgive him his sins. God will forgive these sins if they are named to Him. Some believers, when under strong discipline, almost instinctively name their sins to God. They may not necessarily be thinking of 1John 1:9—and they may not even know that verse—but, when they name their sins to God, even without the expectation (faith) that this will result in their forgiveness, God still forgives them.

3) Forgiveness of sins must be a result of grace. A believer may do a half-dozen things, and also name his sins to God. As long as rebound is not done specifically in conjunction with these other things—which are works—a person is forgiven. Bear in mind, as I have pointed out several times: salvation is a grace operation and rebound is a grace operation. As an unbeliever, there is nothing meritorious that we bring to the table. We are forgiven on the basis of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us, never because of some good thing we have done or plan to do. Rebound is similarly a grace operation. When we are out of fellowship, there is no good thing which we can do which impresses God enough to restore fellowship to us. The naming of our sins to Him is a nonmeritorious act which is what we do on our ends to gain fellowship with Him; what God has done on His end is all of the work to secure our temporal fellowship with Him (our Lord’s death on the cross).

4) FInally, what about a Catholic going to a priest and confessing his sins to the priest? We have several problems here, even if we are dealing with a saved Catholic (some Catholics are undoubtedly saved—those who place their trust in Jesus Christ alone rather than place their trust in the precepts of their church). There are several problems here.

(1) There is no specialized priesthood in the Church Age. In the Old Testament, a priest represented the man-ward side of Jesus Christ, and a priest in the Old Testament represented man to God. Now that Jesus Christ has come, we do not need someone else to perform His function as our mediator. We are all priests in the Church Age and we represent ourselves directly to God.

(2) Some form of penance is often proscribed by the priest. So, God is not forgiving you your sins because of what Christ did on the cross; He is forgiving your sins because of something that you will do to earn forgiveness of sins. That means, your sins are not temporally forgiven and you remain out of fellowship.

5. Finally, if we remain out of fellowship, the end result is the sin unto death. This helps to explain a lot of things:

1) There are a number of believers who never rebound, and God takes them out of this life tragically, while people ask, “Why did Charlie Brown have to die so young?” However, this does not mean that all believers taken at a young age are dying the sin unto death. Sometimes, this is their testimony to the world, part of what God have saved them to do.

(1) Some of them are not believers, and therefore not subject to God’s discipline. A person can go to a Christian church and not be saved. It’s happened.

(2) God keeps some believers around to trip up other believers and to test and to discipline other believers. Many of the problems which I have had in the past were with people I am pretty sure were believers in Jesus Christ.

1) This is the main objection of legalism to rebound that state if simple confession of sins effects forgiveness by God, then there is no reason not to sin. See Rom. 3:8

2) That some believers will so abuse the doctrine in no way detracts from its validity. Rom. 6:1,15

3) A believer must deny the lusts of the sin nature if he/she is to make the maturity adjustment to the justice of God as we are commanded to do. 1Pet. 2:11

4) John's stated purpose in writing is that we may not sin, but he teaches that rebound is the answer to sin. 1John 2:1-2

6) The very fact that rebound is not effective if the sin of unforgiveness towards others remains present denotes that it is not a license to sin.

2. Confession is not the sole requirement for forgiveness (bear in mind that we are still under the heading, false views of rebound).

2) They confuse the terms of confession and repent (change of mind) with the concept of penitence or overt expression of feeling sorry.

3) The question in their subjective view must become, "How sorry is sorry enough???"

4) You may or may not feel bad about your failure, but the issue is not how you feel, it is a legal issue about the just demands of God that sins be judged.

1) This view is popular among those that do not want to accept any consequences for their personal sinning.

2) Their argument is that since Jesus has already been judged for this sin, then God will not judge me if I confess it.

(2) Their parents forgive their indiscretions, but they may or may not employ discipline as they see fit. Heb. 12:9-10

(3) They are still functioning members of the family in good standing, albeit sometimes under discipline.

4) King David is a case history that rebound does not eliminate divine discipline. 2Sam. 11–12 Psalm 51

1) This is taught by the Catholic church among others that have developed a non-Biblical hierarchy of priests, etc.

2) They teach that the priest must intercede for the believer in order for the believer to gain God's forgiveness.

3) This is an affront to the fact that all believers are priests. 1Peter 2:4-5 Rev.1:4-6

4) Others take legitimate verses out of context and distort them to mean things they do not mean in terms of public confession.

1. You need to tell God you are sorry for your sins. The problems with this approach are as follows:

2) How can you be forgiven for sins that you can't remember, since you can never be sorry for those sins?

3) How can you be sorry for sins that you don't realize are sins when you commit them?

6) If you commit that sin again, were you really sorry last time you confessed it and said you were?

2. Ask God to forgive you. Problems with this approach is the Bible tells us that forgiveness is the faithful and the just response of God to our confession. It is instant and sure. We do not need to ask God to forgive us, and we insult Him by doing so, since God has already promised to forgive us if we merely confess our sins to Him. He doesn't require that we cry, beg, crawl, or in some other way grovel for forgiveness.

3. Promise God and yourself to turn away from that sin. Problems with this approach are as follows:

1) How can you KNOW that you will not commit that sin again, especially if you have repeatedly done so in the past?

2) If you promise God that you won't commit a sin again but then do, you've now lied to God, to yourself, and have added even more sin and guilt to yourself.

4. Another false teaching is, if you sin against another person, then you need to go to that person, confess your sin to them, and ask them to forgive you Problems with this approach:

1) The Bible tells us that sin is against God alone, as David's confession shows in Psalms 51:3-4.

2) It's not always possible to straighten things out on your own, so leave it to God to handle the other people and circumstances involved.

3) By going to others, you may inadvertently lead them to set in motion a chain of mental attitude sins: hatred, bitterness, gossip, judging, unforgiveness.

5. Summary: there is no Biblical requirements that we do these things. Forgiveness is a free gift of God by grace. If we feel sorry about our sins when we confess them, that's fine, but God doesn't require it or base His forgiveness of us on it. If we commit that sin again, we need to confess it again, to restore the filling of the Spirit and our fellowship with God. We need to confess our sins as soon as we are aware we have committed them, as often as we remember or think about it.

XIV. Failure to rebound will have serious consequences in our spiritual lives, both now and in eternity. This is because we are out of fellowship with God through unconfessed sin:

1. We are carnal, not spiritual, having lost the filling of the Holy Spirit and returning control of our lives to our old sin nature (1 Cor. 3:1-3 1 John 1:8,10).

3. Our Prayers are not heard by God, no matter how "sincere" they may be (Psalm 66:18-19; Eph. 6:18; Jude 1:20).

4. We will lose many rewards in eternity. The good deeds we perform are human good done through our own power and not by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible calls such works "wood, hay, and stubble" that will be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Only good deeds done while controlled by the Holy Spirit will survive and be rewarded by God as Divine Good (1Cor. 3:11-15 2 Cor. 5:10 Eph. 6:7-8 2John 1:8 Rev. 11:18, 22:12).

5. Bible doctrine does not renew our minds, nor can it conform us to the image of christ. The control of the Holy Spirit is essential to learning the Word of God. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible can only be learned academically, and will soon be forgotten like other academic subjects, with no permanent change to our souls (1Cor. 2 2Cor. 3:18 Rom. 12:1-2 Col. 3:16 Eph. 3:16 5:18 1Pet. 2:2-3 1Tim. 4:15 2Tim. 2:15).

6. God will continually discipline us, even ultimately unto death, until such time as we confess our sins and return to fellowship with Him (1Cor. 11:28-32 Heb. 12:5-11 1John 5:16-17).

7. Physical weakness, illness, and death can result from regular participation in the Communion table by any believers in carnality. The Bible tells us to examine ourselves before taking part in the Communion table (1Cor. 11:28-32).

4. Rebound, in and of itself, will not remove scar tissue which has already accumulated on your soul.

5. Rebound is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth and for the removal of scar tissue, but rebound is not spiritual growth. It is the first step in these two areas.

6. As Peter tells us, believers grow in grace and in knowledge (of Bible doctrine).

2) Knowledge refers to learning Bible doctrine, believing Bible doctrine, and living by the Word of God.

7. You remove scar tissue of the soul and you grow spiritual by the inhale and exhale of Bible doctrine. The inhale is taking in doctrine and the exhale is your thinking and your application of doctrine to life. In between is the believing the doctrine which you are taught.

XVI. Being out of fellowship does not cancel God’s logistical grace in our lives.

1. We can approach this logically: if God just cast us out to the 4 winds every time we sinned, Satan (or his demon minions) would destroy us. Jesus warned Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat.

2. We can approach this Biblically. When Elijah the prophet is fleeing from Ahab, he gets out of fellowship in his fear and lack of trust in God. He even says a number of things which are downright silly. However, Jehovah, in a Christophany, guided Elijah to food and water. God provided Elijah with sustenance, even though he was out of fellowship.

1. In the upper room discourse, Jesus explains Church Age doctrine

to the Apostles (see the Doctrine of Dispensations).

2. He explains that the key to producing divine good is to abide in Him in John 15:1–8.

3. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Removing a branch means the sin unto death; pruning a branch means that God takes care of those producing divine good (which can include momentum testing and evidence testing

). Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. The Apostles are believers in Jesus Christ and in fellowship. Abide in Me, and I in you. Abide means to remain and it can refer to a state or condition. It is in the aorist active imperative, meaning that this will occur at various points of time and this is a mandate from Jesus Christ. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. You must remain in Jesus Christ in order to produce fruit; this means, you must be in fellowship with Him. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. You cannot produce divine good apart from abiding in Jesus Christ. If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers [the sin unto death; notice that Jesus taught by repetition]; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Being in fellowship also results in a very productive prayer life. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. God is glorified when we produce divine good. John 15:1–8

1) Anything can be abused, including God’s grace. However, the believer is under God’s care, observation and discipline. God does not let us get away with anything, although He is much more gracious to us than we can imagine.

1) Most believers in Jesus Christ, no matter how poorly they have been taught, use rebound now and again—usually after they have been out of fellowship for awhile, and commit a couple of heinous sins and shock themselves. They may or may not have been inspired to do so by knowing the doctrine of rebound or knowing 1John 1:9; however, their sins or the consequences of their sins weigh so heavily upon them that they just naturally begin naming their sins to God.

2) It is legitimately frustrating to be involved in a plethora of Christian works, and then realizing that you may have been wasting much of your time. However, a legalist who has suppressed sin as much as possible is better off for not having sinned; they are not better off, however, if they reject rebound.

2) Believers and unbelievers hate grace. We are brought up to believe that we earn what we have; we are brought up to be good. When God simply gives us something without working for it, it goes against how we have been brought up.

3) Rebound, like salvation, is easy for us. We cannot earn or deserve anything from God. There is nothing meritorious that we can do as an unbeliever to impress God enough to save us; and there is nothing meritorious that we can do while out of fellowship which impresses God so much as to restore our fellowship.

4) Rebound, like salvation, is based upon what Christ did for us on the cross. It is free to us, but it was not free to Him.

1) They have not been using rebound regularly, so this calls into question their Christian lives. As already stated, many believers use rebound, not even realizing that it is a Biblical mechanic.

2) Many believers tend to be legalistic—especially about other believers. I have had other believers who have sinned against me, and I must admit, I don’t like the idea that they can just confess that sin and it is taken care of. I would much rather that God kick their butts around the block for the next few months, and to let me watch. However, if they name their sins to God, they are forgiven. It applies to me and it applies to them.

And so that you don’t walk around with a lot of bitterness toward other believers who have wronged you: I have been cheated by believers to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars; however, God has also blessed me financially far more than I ever could have imagined. My point being, you do not have to worry about God’s justice, what another believer does to you, and will you get your proper revenge.

What you do need to do is, if you’re mad or upset, then get back into fellowship by rebound. Then let God sort the rest out. God knows all the facts and He has all of the resources. And just so there is no misunderstanding, no matter how someone else has sinned against you, you must forgive them (Matt. 6:15 Mark 11:26). This does not mean that you track them down, list all of the sins they committed against you and forgive them one by one. You simply name whatever mental attitude sins that you are carrying around against them, and put the matter in God’s capable hands.

The origin of the term rebound. R. B. Thieme Jr.’s ministry emphasized a number of things: the importance of the study of the Word of God, the importance of the mechanics of the Christian life; and Bob developed a unique vocabulary which helped to classify, explain or clarify certain Christian doctrines and mechanics. Bob likened the Christian life to a basketball game; some shots go into the basket, but others miss, and the key to making the shot is catching the ball off the rim or backboard, and rebounding the shot. The ability to rebound is the difference between being a winner or a loser in the Christian life. This particular book, and Bob’s more lengthy explanation for this term, is found at: http://www.rbthieme.org/Rebound_and_Keep_Moving!.pdf (p. 7). This is, by the way, a 56 page online publication, which goes into this subject in even greater detail than I have. This particular publication also goes into much greater detail about the sin nature, the lust pattern of the soul, the classifications of sin, chain-sinning, etc. I primarily wanted to cover the mechanics.

Latin Vulgate And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice and your joy may be full. I am using the Rheims New Testament, which is a Catholic translation from the Latin. The actual Latin may be slightly different.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito And these things we write to you, that our joy in you may be complete.

Literal Greek And these we are writing [even] we, that the joy of ours might be filled.

Significant differences: The Vulgate adds a few additional words, which do not affect the meaning of this verse.

The Message Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

New Century Version We write this to you so we may be full of joy. Some Greek copies read "so you may be full of joy."

New Living Testament We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. Or so that our joy may be complete; some manuscripts read your joy.

God’s Word™ We are writing this so that we can be completely filled with joy.

The Scriptures 1998 And we write this to you in order that your joy might be complete.

The Amplified Bible And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy (many ancient manuscripts read your joy) may be complete].

A Conservative Version And we write these things to you, so that our joy may be made full.

English Standard Version And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

New King James Version And these things we write to you that your [NU-Text and M-Text read our] joy may be full.

Young's Literal Translation ...and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.

What is the gist of this verse? John composes this letter so that those who receive it might have a more happy Christian life.

Translation: We write these things so that our joy might be made complete. John writes this near the end of his life. It is possible that God brought John to the Isle of Patmos, where he was banished to, in order to complete his writings. By this time, Paul, James and Peter had all written epistles and these epistles were circulating throughout the churches; and the authority of these men had been clearly established. John is either using the word we to indicate himself along with other Apostles; or he is dictating to a secretary, who is not named, or he is simply using the editorial we. Given that John sticks with the 1^st person plural throughout 1John 1, but switches to the 1^st person singular in chapter 2, makes me think that John is going over a familiar doctrine which he and the other Apostles had taught many times. Another, even more likely explanation is, throughout this first chapter, John speaks of things which are true of him and his readers. He stays with the 1^st person plural throughout this chapter simply to be consistent.

This final explanation also helps to explain the phrase our joy. It is unlikely that John is hanging out with a plethora of believers where he is writing. If he is writing from the Isle of Patmos, it is unclear if there are any other believers with authority with him. However, if we understand his continual use of the 1^st person plural to refer to himself and to his audience, then what he is about to explain affects the happiness of both John and his readers.

What John is writing covers a great deal more than simply rebound. He speaks of being an eyewitness to the Word of Life (Jesus Christ) in the first two verses, and he speaks of having fellowship with same in v. 3. So, the idea is, John’s readers receive joy when learning the Bible doctrine which he is teaching in this epistle. John himself receives joy in the function of his spiritual gift (Apostleship) and by helping to bring joy to the recipients of this letter.

The Bible speaks of joy and happiness quite often. Now, a man might sleep around, and even father a few children while doing so. During the act of sleeping around, this man experiences some pleasure and some stimulation. However, after the fact, when it is over, he is not particularly happy or joyous. In fact, I had a roommate at one time, who shared the fact that, once he was done, he could hardly wait for the woman to leave. If such a one fathers some children in these casual relationships, he is not going to develop much of a relationship with them. Even if he does, there is going to be bitterness between himself and the woman (or women) involved. So, he has pleasure, he is stimulated, and, at some point, it comes to an end. People get drunk or use drugs, and, for a certain amount of time, they enjoy a little pleasure and stimulation; but, this comes to an end. Furthermore, each time the pleasure is pursued, it is often not quite as fun as the first time. There is often this law of diminishing returns with drunkenness or with getting high.

The Bible, on the other hand, speaks of joy and happiness which is longer lasting. If you marry a woman that you love, not only is there going to be pleasurable sex, but it will bring you closer together. Prior to sex, you have developed a bond and a commitment to one another, and the sex has more meaning beyond simple gratification. When you wake up the next day, and your wife is next to you, that is a good experience. You are glad that she is there. When you have children, this is a shared experience of happiness which continues for a long time.

I know one guy who spent much of his life chasing after pleasure, but, at some point, did get married. He had mellowed out somewhat in marriage, and seemed to like it alright. And then they had kids. Suddenly, this aspect of marriage was even more fun; he could enjoy his children for long periods of time. God is not against happiness and God did not set up a variety of laws and mandates in order to keep us from having fun; God sets up these boundaries that, when we stay within the boundaries, our joy is fulfilled.

Sports, for some, provide great entertainment. However, there are a set of rules, and we like to see the rules applied equally to both teams and to all team members. If during a play in a football game, the quarterback ran out of bounds, into the stands, eluding those who pursued him, and then made his way across the goal line, we would not be very happy to see this scored as a valid touchdown. If the quarterback, on the 4^th down, suddenly jumped into a monster truck and drove to the goal line, we might get a little less enthusiastic about the game. If the locals carried guns and shot the players of the opposing team, there would be less enjoyment in the game for the spectator. The key to enjoying a sporting event is, there are specific rules that the players must adhere to. In fact, in this past year, the uproar in the sport world has been various players using enhancement drugs to increase their size, strength and coordination. Most people are none too happy about this, and few have any idea as to how to record their accomplishments in the record books now.

My point in this is, there are rules and boundaries—all of which God is fully aware—and He knows what is going to make our lives more joyful and more fulfilling. The Apostle John conveys some of these rules to us, with the intent that our joy might be fulfilled.

Before I proceed to the next verse, let me point out the Christians today have become sloppy in their thinking and casual in their actions. God has a protocol system designed for us, and the intent is, that our joy might be fulfilled.

God’s protocol plan is a rigid, long-established code and procedure, prescribing complete deference to superior rank and authority, followed by strict adherence to due order and precedence, coupled with precisely correct procedure.

A lot of believers do not like this, but they may not realize why they don’t like it. It is in our nature to be against God, so we may read something like this and think, well, that’s just legalism. It actually has nothing to do with legalism; but it does have to do with God’s procedures, which He has clearly outlined in His Word and it has to do with authority orientation, something which we believers often lack.

John, in this chapter, is going to give us some precisely correct procedure which all believers need to adhere to. You may or may not like it, but that says something about you, not about John.

Latin Vulgate And this is the declaration which we have heard from him and declare unto you: That God is light and in him there is no darkness. Since I am not looking at the Latin directly, it is unclear whether the final two words of the Greek are not found in the Latin or perhaps the translators simply left them out.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito And this is the announcement, which we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light, and no darkness at all is in him..

Literal Greek And is this the message which we have heard from [the ultimate source of] Him and we announce to you that the God light is and darkness not is in Him not is none.

CEV Jesus told us that God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.

The Message This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him.

New Living Testament This is the message we heard from Jesus [literally, from him] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

Complete Apostles’ Bible And this is the message which we have heard from Him and we announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

Easy English Bible Jesus Christ gave us a message and this is the message: God is good and clean like light. There is nothing dark about him.

God’s Word™ This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn't any darkness in him.

Weymouth This is the Message which we have heard from the Lord Jesus and now deliver to you--God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.

Williams And this is the message that we have heard from Him and now announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him.

The Amplified Bible And this is the message [Vincent’s Word Studies: the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [literal translation: no, not in any way].

LTHB And this is the message which we have heard from Him, and we proclaim to you: God is light, and no darkness is in Him, none!.

MKJV And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

Young's Updated LT And this is the message that we have heard from Him, and announce to you, that God is light, and [there] is no darkness in Him at all.

What is the gist of this verse? God is an absolute; light has absolutely no darkness within it. The nature of God being absolute will resonate throughout this entire epistle.

Translation: And this is the message which we have heard from Him, [which message] we communicate to you, that God is light and [there] is no darkness in Him; [there is] no [darkness in Him]—none. John is emphatic in this point, using 3 negatives at the end of this verse. Therefore, we ought to determine what he is so emphatic about. The positive side is, God is light. The word light (φς) is also used to mean perfection, truth; a dispenser of truth; splendor, glory; purity. God being associated with light is a fascinating thing for an old religious guy from the 1^st century to say. Today, we know that light contains all of the colors, and that when light is put upon an object, that object will absorb some colors and the colors which it reflects is the color we see. We don’t see the light, per se, but the light reveals the colors of the object the light shines upon.

The crux of the Angelic Conflict is the indivisible, consistent essence of God. Is God really just and righteous, without sacrificing His essence of love? When you shine God’s light upon any person or situation, different things are reflected. We do not see all that God is in each and every circumstance. Sometimes, it is His justice and righteousness that we see reflected; sometimes, we see His love reflected (God is also eternal life, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, but we won’t deal with His entire essence here). Now, interestingly enough, sometimes His light reveals a number of His attributes, although we may not recognize all of them. For instance, when God calls for the death of this or that group of people in the Old Testament, we may perceive a vengeful God, even though this actually reflects His justice, righteousness and love. For instance, today, there are a significant number of Muslims whose hatred is so great that, they would sacrifice the lives of their own sons and daughters in order to make a political statement. We are not talking about a handful of people here, we are talking about possibly millions of Muslims whose lives are consumed by outrage and hatred. On their television stations, they broadcast hatred and violence, intentionally making these things palatable for their own children in cartoons and children’s entertainment. God’s love, justice and righteousness would be revealed if he wiped these types out. When this happens, some of us might view it as a tragedy or as some act of inhumanity; however, such an act will reveal God’s love for the rest of the human race.

Application: God requires the execution of certain types of criminals, and He does this out of love. We may only see the justice and righteousness here, but execution of criminals not only acts as a deterrent, but guarantees beyond a shadow of a doubt that the executed criminal will never commit another crime.

Back to the topic at hand: Since God is light, and because there is no darkness—none whatsoever—in Him, then there are no half-way measures. God does not approve of things which are just pretty good. God does not even have contact with people or actions which are mostly good or even overwhelmingly good. In Him is no darkness; none whatsoever. Zero. Zilch. I don’t know about you, but I don’t measure up to this. Well, as a matter of fact, I do know about you—you don’t measure up to this either.

Latin Vulgate If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito And if we say that we have fellowship with him, and we walk in the darkness, we are liars, and walk not in the truth.

Literal Greek If we say that fellowship we have with Him and in the darkness we walk, we lie and we do not the truth.

Significant differences: None. Murdock renders the verb from the Hebrew as to be and a predicate nominative. I don’t know if the Peshito reads that way. There is no apparent difference in meaning, however.

CEV If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth.

The Message If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we're obviously lying through our teeth--we're not living what we claim.

New Life Version If we say we are joined together with Him but live in darkness, we are telling a lie. We are not living the truth.

New Living Testament So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

Complete Apostles’ Bible If we claim that we have fellowship with Him, and we are walking in the darkness, we are lying, and are not practicing the truth.

Easy English Bible Now, someone may say that he is united to God. But he may still do things that do not please God. Then what he says is not true. He is living as if he were in the dark. What he does shows that he does not want to obey God's rules.

God’s Word™ If we say, "We have a relationship with God" and yet live in the dark, we're lying. We aren't being truthful.

NIRV Suppose we say that we share life with God but still walk in the darkness. Then we are lying. We are not living by the truth.

New International Version If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

The Amplified Bible [So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents].

LTHB If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we walk in darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.

WEB If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don't tell the truth.

Young’s Updated LT If we may say—“we have fellowship with Him,” and in the darkness may walk—we lie, and do not the truth;...

What is the gist of this verse? Some people claim to be in fellowship with God, and yet, they are walking in darkness (which is in stark contrast to God, Who is light).

Translation: If we say that we have fellowship [or, close, personal interaction] with Him and [yet] we walk in darkness [ignorance, ungodliness], [then] we are lying and we are not practicing truth. We continue with the theme of absolutes. In the previous verse, God is light and in Him in no darkness—none; so we cannot claim to have a close, personal relationship with Him if we walk in darkness. At this point, you have to be clear as to what John is saying: he is not talking about sinless perfection throughout your entire life; but he is speaking of sinless perfection for periods of your life. Now, this is no time to work up some concept of active self righteousness, and try to organize your life so that everyone else can see what a self righteous prig you are. Sinless perfection is not a facade and it is not an act. It is something which we achieve for limited periods of time: sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for a few minutes, and sometimes for several hours (as long as we are not interacting with people).

We first introduce in this verse, the concept of fellowship with God (Who is the closest masculine singular noun to the pronoun Him).

This refers to an intimate, close personal relationship or interaction with God. Again, this is not the time to try to figure out what looks really holy and then imitate that. I once went to a church where the pastor and his wife had strong personalities, and several of the females of the church practiced the vocal mannerisms and vocabulary of the wife. At the church where I go, Berachah, when R. B. Thieme Jr. was the pastor, there were rumors that some people attempted to imitate his gruff, military personality. I did not meet any of these people, but guaranteed, had Bob run into one of these people thinking that imitating him was some sort of a spiritual breakthrough, he would have said, “Now what kind of a jackass are you?” Well, actually, he wouldn’t; but he would have doubled up on teaching that personality transformation and icon imitation are not valid methods of spirituality. At best, they represent ignorance of the Christian life; at worst, such actions can indicate some form of psychosis or identity dissociation. Or, the Apostle John would call it, walking in darkness.

The word darkness is used metaphorically here, and we find metaphorical uses of words throughout Scripture. Interpreting the Bible literally does not mean that we hold to the literal rendering of each and every word. When recounting my visit to the church of spirituality by imitation, I might have said to someone, “And I could not believe it; all these women in the church were talking exactly like the pastor’s wife.” Now, in fact, I saw it with my own eyes, and I did believe it; but I say I could not believe it to emphatically point out their goofiness. And, if I said those words to most people with an IQ over room temperature, they would understand that I am speaking in hyperbole and not being literal about not being able to believe what I saw, as if it were some sort of grand hallucination. We speak this way all the time. We get caught up in rush hour traffic and there is an accident, and we walk through the door of our home, hours later, and say, “I thought I would never get home!” Hell, if we thought that, we would have pulled over and pitched a tent, rented a room, lived in our car. The Bible is written by normal men. They use figures of speech. Bullinger wrote a great 1000 page book about all of the figures of speech which are found in the Bible. There is nothing mysterious about these figures of speech; you do not need to learn some secret handshake to get into a secret classroom to learn these figures of speech; they are just words used in such a way that we know instinctively not to take them literally. This is one of the reasons we learn under a pastor-teacher and this is one of the reasons a pastor-teacher ought to have some familiarity with the original languages. When we come to a passage which refers to walking in darkness, that we do not think that a person is literally walking around outside after dark without a flashlight. In fact, John is not even referring to literally walking around, even though that is the literal meaning of this verb. Peripateô refers to conducting one’s life; it refers to what we do day-in and day-out; it is a chunk out of our lives.

So, what John is saying is, we are conducting our lives in spiritual darkness. You cannot lay claim to having an intimate relationship with God and, at the same time, conduct your life in spiritual darkness. The verses which follow will more carefully define what it means to walk in darkness, but to give you a basic preview, God is perfect and as long as we are perfect, we enjoy fellowship with Him. We lose this perfection by sin (which could be anything, even something which is not observable, like a moment of doubt, fear or anger). Suddenly, we are walking in darkness. This doesn’t mean that we have become drug dealers and we drive around shooting people. There does not have to be this great transformation of life. In Him is no darkness; none. John is speaking in absolutes: we walk in darkness or we walk in light; God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. We cannot claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness; when we do that, we are lying and not living the truth.

As we will find out, the key to all of this is sin and the confession of sin. If John simply stopped writing at this point, we might be uncertain as to exactly what he was trying to tell us. However, he continues to explain himself in this epistle, so that we will fully understand what he is saying to us.

It is important to note that we have several absolutes in this passage, both stated and implied: walking in the light vs. walking in darkness; having fellowship with God vs. not having fellowship with God; fellowship with other believers vs. not having fellowship with other believers; telling the truth and living the truth vs. lying and not practicing the truth; being cleansed from sin vs. not being cleansed from sin. Although this passage does not mention being filled with the Holy Spirit (nor does it mention quenching the Spirit), given all of these absolutes, it makes little sense to walk in the light and to have fellowship with God, and, at the same time, not being filled with the Spirit. It makes little sense to say that we are lying and walking in darkness, and yet, filled with the Holy Spirit.

Latin Vulgate But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another: And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. I quote from the Rheims New Testament, which is a Catholic translation from the Latin. The actual Latin may be slightly different.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all our sins. This is a Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version made by James Murdock made in 1852.

Literal Greek But if in the light we walk, as He [even] He is in the light, fellowship we have with one another and the blood of Jesus of the Son of Him cleanses us from all sin.

Significant differences: None, except the Murdock puts sin in the plural at the end. My own English version of the Peshitta has sin in the singular as well, which indicates to me that Murdock was simply putting his own spin on the translation.

CEV But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.

Good News Bible (TEV) But if we live in the light—-just as he is in the light—-then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.

The Message But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God's Son, purges all our sin.

New Life Version If we live in the light as He is in the light, we share what we have in God with each other. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, makes our lives clean from all sin.

Bible in Basic English But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, we are all united with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son makes us clean from all sin.

Easy English Bible But when we do right things, it is like living in the light. God is always in the light. (He always does what is good and right.) When we live like this we are really united together. The death of Jesus, the Son of God makes us clean. He removes sin from us and he makes us clean in front of God.

God’s Word™ But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin.

NIRV But suppose we walk in the light, just as he is in the light. Then we share life with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, makes us pure from all sin.

The Amplified Bible But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

LTHB But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

Young’s Updated LT And if in the light we may walk, as He is in the light—we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin.

What is the gist of this verse? If we walk in the light, then we have fellowship with God and we are temporally cleansed from all of our sins.

Translation: However, if we walk in the light, just as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Again, we observe the absolute of walking in the light, just as He is in the light. Having fellowship with one another refers to legitimate interaction, free from sin. Let me see if I can explain this: you are interacting with someone, but you want something from them: you want their business, you want some of their money, you want them to agree with you on this or that topic, you want to have sex with them, and much of your conversation is manipulation to get them to give you whatever you want. That is not fellowship. You hand out your real estate card to people you just meet; that is not fellowship. You ask a gal out on a date, but you have no real interest in her thoughts; that is not fellowship. You take someone out for drinks in order to get them to hire your firm; that is not fellowship. Fellowship with another person means, you do not have any mental attitude sins toward them (you are not envious, mad, plotting revenge) and you do not want something from them.

Application: Let’s just take this a step further. You are on a job interview. Isn’t it legitimate to manipulate them into hiring you? No. You state the facts. You are relaxed. You don’t have to lie; you don’t have to beef up your resume, you do not have to be someone whom you are not. This doesn’t mean that you cannot be enthusiastic, this does not mean that you cannot state your good points, and this does not mean that you cannot want the job; but, you do not sin in order to get the job. You are honest and you put this in the Lord’s hands.

Back to the focus of this verse: walking in the light indicates absolute purity. Now, you and I both know that, in the past hour or two, we probably sinned. That is not purity. Between the time that we became believers in Jesus Christ and now, we have not been pure. So, how do we achieve that status? That is what this chapter is all about. That is how we can walk in the light; and it is how we can have fellowship with one another. John, although he has not yet stated the mechanics, states the principle: ...the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all (guilt from) sin.

Let’s deal with the word sin. Unfortunately, it is becoming rapidly an old world term, and, in our society, we have associated sin with judgment, and there are many in our society who know one thing out of the Bible: it is wrong to judge; it is wrong to pass judgment on someone. And they will hang on to that like a terrier will hang on to his favorite toy. In this ongoing election (I write this in 2007), I have seen commentators bring up religious issues and ask things like, “Well, I don’t believe in Jesus; am I going to hell? Is God going ot send me to hell?” They are trying to set up the other person to either violate society’s rules or to violate the doctrines of your own faith, which they already know. If you tell them, “Yes, you are going to spend eternity in hell” then, all of a sudden, you are mean, judgmental, narrow-minded, a religious bigot, and intolerant...societal norms carefully set up by Satan to denigrate God’s plan.

Sin does not always refer to the actual transgression which we commit; sin can also refer to the sin nature which we all have; and it can refer to the guilt from violating God’s laws. In fact, very often when we find sin in the singular, it does not refer to a particular act of sin, but to a related concept, as we have here—the guilt for sin. When we are saved, we are forgiven of all of our sins, past, present and future. So, after salvation, does this mean that we can go out and sin to our heart’s delight? Of course not! (I am stealing a few lines from the book of Romans). God has a just system in place to deal with these things. For the unbeliever, faith in Christ results in eternal salvation and the forgiveness of all sin—past, present and future. However, once we become believers in Jesus Christ, then we face the issue of sin every single day—for some of us, every single minute. Now, can God just simply ignore sin, because He has forgiven us for these sins? That would be incompatible with His essence. Therefore, we have a system in time, for believers, by which we can deal with sin. It is at this point where people go awry. You commit a sin, and you need to feel just how bad it was. We do not have a clue as to how awful and ugly sin is; and we will never feel as badly as sin would reasonably require. Furthermore, that is a system of works, and for the person who is an unbeliever or for the person who is not in fellowship, a system of works is incompatible with grace. Just like the unbeliever cannot become a Christian through a system of works; the believer who is out of fellowship cannot get back into fellowship via a system of works. You may commit a sin and you feel terrible about it. I’ve done things in my past—way back in my past—and when I think about those things, I feel badly about them. However, those sins were all forgiven, and, by feeling badly about them, I am out of fellowship if I feel guilty, and I have to get back into fellowship (which is what this chapter is all about). Whatever is not of faith is sin.

Bear in mind, Satan’s plan works on several levels: he wants to keep men from being saved, and will do everything in his power to blind us to the gospel. He will do everything in his power to affect the doctrine of churches, so that salvation becomes a 2 or 3 or 4 or 10 step process. He will continually try to make you think that works are required in order to be saved; or to convince you that you have been just too bad to be saved; or convicne you that such a thing is not important (remember the Who song, with the lyrics “I don’t need to be forgiven, yeah yeah yeah yeah”). Satan does not just stop there. After we are saved, he does everything that he can do to impede our progress and to keep us out of fellowship.

This doctrine of rebound is simple, straightforward, and the basis for all Christian service and fellowship (with God and with man). Why is it not the first thing taught in every single church? For the new believer, this is the first thing that they need to learn. However, if you grab the nearest believer who has been going to church for 20 years, and ask him “How do you get out of fellowship and how do you get back into fellowship?” you are going to get the weirdest answers you have ever heard. Furthermore, when you explain rebound to a person who has been a believer for 10 years, many times they will reject it. Why? Because they have not been using this method regularly; because they don’t want to take in the clear teaching of the Word of God.

Let me go off on another tangent. When I first heard the Word of God being taught, and taught carefully and correctly, my interest was piqued. Now, the person I was listening to, R. B. Thieme Jr., pissed me off; I didn’t like him; I didn’t want to agree with him; but, I had to admit that what he was saying made sense and comported well with Scripture. Idiot that I was, I figured, all I need to do is turn other believers onto verse by verse, categorical teaching, and they will react like I did. They may not like the man, but they are certainly going to embrace the teaching, which was more than 3 points, a poem and a closing prayer. Wrong. I learned over and over again, the last thing that believers want after salvation is the Word of God taught carefully.

The same thing is true of doctrines like rebound. Believers will hear such doctrines and reject them out of hand, simply because, Satan (actually, his minions) do everything they can to throw believers off their game from the very beginning.

John uses extremely simple Greek. He rarely gets fancy. Even though he may have a general theme or point which he is trying to get across, and does so over several verses, he does not, like Paul, carry a carefully crafted, logical argument for a dozen verses. John is going to simply lay it out for us: Now, there will be some interpretation involved, as he will use the same word to mean slightly different things at time. Here, for instance, John uses the word sin to actually mean the guilt for sin. In v. 8, he will use this same word to refer to the old sin nature. In v. 9, he will use the same word in the plural to refer to transgressions which we have committed against God. However, the context is generally quite clear. Now, even if you want to go against the work of Zodhiates or Balz and Schneider or Thayer, which each expert in the field of Greek points out that this same word can refer to a number of different but related meanings; and even if you want to say, “A sin is a sin is a sin.” That’s fine. You want to be hard-headed, I have not problem with that. The mechanics will be the same: name your sins to God and God temporally forgives you (you have already been forgiven eternally for your sins). When I explain this verse and this passage, I simply endeavor to lay out some of the nuances of the Greek which have been recognized for hundreds of years by a multitude of scholars.

There is a clause found in many contracts called severable clauses. What this means is, let’s say one clause of your contract is found to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable; this does not nullify the entire contract, just that one clause. Along the same lines, you may occasionally come across something that you do not like, like the idea that the same word can mean sin, guilt for sin, sin nature. That’s fine. Just set that thought aside and go back to it later when you come to your senses. Meanwhile, you can proceed, being willing to take in what God wants us to know in this epistle. You can hold onto the notion a sin is a sin is a sin for as long as you need to, and still understand what John is saying here: when we walk in darkness, when we are out of fellowship, and when we have sinned, the way to get back into fellowship, the way to walk in the light, and the way to have that sin forgiven is, to name it to God. That is what rebound is and that is where John is taking us in this chapter.

Latin Vulgate If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I quote from the Rheims New Testament, which is a Catholic translation from the Latin. The actual Latin may be slightly different.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito And if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. This is a Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version made by James Murdock made in 1852.

Literal Greek If we say that sin we have not, ourselves we lead astray and the truth is not in us.

CEV If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn't in our hearts.

Good News Bible (TEV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.

The Message If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense.

NET Bible® If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

New Life Version If we say that we have no sin, we lie to ourselves and the truth is not in us.

New Living Testament If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

Bible in Basic English If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us.

Easy English Bible We may say that we never do wrong things. But then, we are making a mistake. We may really believe that we never sin. Then we do not understand that God's words are true.

God’s Word™ If we say, "We aren't sinful" we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

NIRV Suppose we claim we are without sin. Then we are fooling ourselves. The truth is not in us.

New International Version If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

The Scriptures 1998 If we say that we have no sin, we are misleading ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Weymouth If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.

Williams If we claim "We are already free from sin," we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in our hearts.

The Amplified Bible If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and lead ourselves astray, and the Truth [which the Gospel presents] is not in us [does not dwell in our hearts].

LTHB If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Young’s Updated LT If we may say—“we have not sin,” we lead ourselves astray, and the truth is not in us.

What is the gist of this verse? There are believers who claim that they no longer have a sin nature; or that they have permanently overcome the sin nature within them. Such people deceive themselves.

Translation: If we say that we have no sin, [then] we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Notice that we have the same word sin in this verse, but it is used in a slightly different way. It is in the singular accusative, meaning that it is the object for the verb. However, we do not have the verb to do, to practice; we have instead the very common verb to have (with the negative). So, in this case, sin is treated as a possession rather than as something that we do. For this reason, sin here refers to the sin nature, sometimes call the old sin nature. The sin nature is something which we possess. Our sin nature tempts us to sin and to perform acts of human good. This does not mean that we are at the mercy of our sin natures; but simply that it is an enemy within. In the 1950's and 1960's, we have Communists within the state department, in very high level jobs. These were not simply Communist sympathizers or armchair Communists, but real Communists who saw our democracy and free enterprise economy as evil, and as something which needed to be brought down. Having these Communists within our state department did not automatically mean that the United States would be toppled by Communism; but, things did occur and secrets were given out, which were detrimental to us. The sin nature acts in much the same way. The sin nature seeks to betray us. The sin nature seeks to lure us into doing wrong; the sin nature seeks to justify all that we do. The sin nature also has an area of strength from which human good is produced.

What John is about to do is to explain how we can walk in the light; he is going to tell us how we can enjoy fellowship with His Son and with one another. However, he has to dispense with a false doctrine which had apparently been making the rounds in Christian circles: the idea that, after salvation, someone no longer sins because they no longer have a sin nature. The reasoning might be, if we really believe in Jesus Christ, then we will not sin; and God will cleanse us completely of sin, which includes our sin nature. There is no Biblical basis for this. The best examples are the Corinthians, who are probably the most carnal of all the churches that Paul wrote to, and yet he called them sanctified and indicated that they had been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. However, in 1Cor. 11, Paul also speaks of the Corinthians getting out of fellowship and needing to judge themselves (1Cor. 11:31). If these are sanctified believers with the Holy Spirit, then it should be obvious that they possess sin natures, given all the things which they do.

So, in preparation for teaching the rebound technique, John points out that, If we say we do not possess a sin nature, then we are simply deceiving ourselves (or leading ourselves astray) and that the truth (Bible doctrine) is not in us. Therefore, you cannot object to the mechanic of rebound on the basis that, you no longer have a sin nature after salvation.

Latin Vulgate If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. I quote from the Rheims New Testament, which is a Catholic translation from the Latin. The actual Latin may be slightly different.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all our iniquity. This is a Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version made by James Murdock made in 1852.

Literal Greek If we acknowledge the sins of ours faithful He is and just that He sent away for us sins and He made clean from all guile.

CEV But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

Good News Bible (TEV) But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.

The Message On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won”t let us down; he”ll be true to himself. He”ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing.

NET Bible® But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness..

New Century Version But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.

New Life Version If we tell Him our sins, He is faithful and we can depend on Him to forgive us of our sins. He will make our lives clean from all sin.

New Living Testament But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Bible in Basic English If we say openly that we have done wrong, he is upright and true to his word, giving us forgiveness of sins and making us clean from all evil.

Easy English Bible But if we tell God about our sins then he will forgive us. He will take away from us all our sins. God is true and fair. So, he will do what he promised. And he will do what is right.

God’s Word™ God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we've done wrong.

NIRV But God is faithful and fair. If we admit that we have sinned, he will forgive us our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure..

NIV – UK If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Williams If we confess our sins, He is to be depended on, since He is just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrong.

The Amplified Bible If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

A Conservative Version If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so that he will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from every unrighteousness.

MKJV If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Thieme If we name our sins He is faith [He always does it—never gets exasperated] and absolute righteousness to forgive us the sins we name and to purify us from all wrongdoing.

Young's Updated LT If we may confess our sins, He is steadfast and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness.

What is the gist of this verse? If we name our sins, then God is faithful (He does the same thing every time) and just (God’s forgiveness does not violate His justice and righteousness) to forgive us our sins (those which we name to Him) and, in addition, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness (sins that we forgot to name or did not know were sins).

Translation: If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just so that He forgives us [our] sins and He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. This verse should jump right out at you. 1John 1:6, 8, 10 all begin with, “If we say...” We have another speaking verb, so to speak, but it means something else entirely. The key word here is the first verb, which is homologeô (ὁμολογέω) [pronounced hoh-moh-loh-GEH-oh]. Although I have given the definition above, let me give a summary of the doctrine of this word:

Homologeô is in the present active subjunctive. The present tense is the iterative present, where we name our sins on a regular basis. It does not occur once, but many times, and, from a distance, for some people, it may even seem to be a continuous process. The active voice means that this is something which we must do ourselves. These are grace mechanics, but mechanics which require our volition. The subjunctive mood means, maybe we will and maybe we won’t. This goes along with the 3^rd class condition for a conditional, which is the condition of options—maybe we will and maybe we won’t.

What we are to name or acknowledge or to agree to are our sins. This word is in the plural, so the implication is, we may commit several sins before rebounding. David’s case history will be an example of just how far a believer can go and just how far he can sink. In David’s case, if he were ruling over the United States, the Senate would demand that he resign from office.

Then John tells us about God: He is faithful (dependable, trustworthy) and just (righteous, faultless, perfect). When John tells us that God is faithful and dependable and trustworthy, it means that we may claim this promise here and depend upon Him each and every time to do the same thing. Believers and unbelievers at this point both rise up and revolt and say, “No no no, there is just so much we can do. If we keep sinning, God is going to stop forgiving us.” Not true. Here, we are told that God can be depended upon to do what He promises to do, and that is to forgive us of our sins, no matter what they are, no matter how horrendous they might be, no matter how many times we commit them, no matter how much we are shocked and no matter how much those we know are shocked. This is grace, and it makes religious believers grind their teeth and it makes unbelievers angry. We’ll come back to this.

The second thing we are told about God is, He is righteous; He is just. God is perfect justice and righteousness; and He cannot act outside of these characteristics. We can. There are people who witness a long-time friend of theirs commit some crime (even a murder), and they will forgive them and even not tell anyone about it. There is no reason for the forgiveness other than a personal association with the criminal. However, God can forgive us, and He can forgive us for whatever we do, and He can maintain His righteousness and justice while doing so. Why? Because Jesus Christ died for every sin that we have committed and for every sin that we will commit. God, in eternity past, before we existed and before our ancestors existed, knew each and every sin that we would commit; and, in time, He poured these sins out on Jesus Christ and He judged these sins in Christ, subjecting Jesus Christ to the greatest pain that any human being could be subjected to. In fact, on the cross, when our Lord was judged for our sins, no one will ever come close to feeling the pain which He felt, including those who spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. He took upon His Own body on the cross the sins of all mankind and paid the penalty for all of these sins. Therefore, since these sins are paid for, God can forgive us for committing them. God can forgive us and yet remain righteous and just.

We might run up a debt, so high, that we cannot ever imagine paying this debt off. Our creditors may be calling on the phone day and night demanding payment: and then, Donald Trump comes along and he pays off the debt entirely, and even puts a few million dollars aside for us. At this point, we are debt free. Everything we owe and then some has been paid off. Salvation is similar to this—in fact, throughout the Bible, we have accounting terms used to describe what has happened to us. Our sins were imputed to Jesus Christ on the cross and His righteousness is imputed to us. In this way, God’s justice and righteousness is satisfied.

This is why God can be depended upon to forgive us our sins each and every time, even if this is some sin which we have committed 5000 times. If you are legalistic, you are grinding your teeth right now. You don’t like the idea of some Christian sinning; and, even more of a concern to you, you may not like that some Christian you know might sin, he might enjoy it, and then rebound, and he is in fellowship and you are not, because of your sorry mental attitude (several of those who teach the doctrine of rebound use the parable of the prodigal son to illustrate rebound; and, at the very end, the good son is out of fellowship, pissed off because the bad son is not just cut a break, but lavished with attention).

Here’s the deal: there is a lot more to the Christian life than avoidance of sin. Now, you, or even some unbeliever, can spend your life avoiding sin as much as possible, and, for that reason, you are going to have a better life. Some Blacks who were ner-do-wells become Muslims; some directionless druggie joins Scientology, and, in both cases, their lives become noticeably better. The Black Muslim is exercising self-control and responsibility; the druggie is no longer using drugs, and their lives are better because of this. However, this is not the Christian way of life. Avoiding sin, is not spirituality. Stay with me on this. Spirituality is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is being in fellowship with God and with other believers. Spirituality is walking in the light. Spirituality is lifting up the hands that hang down (from exhaustion). You are going to sin, no matter what. If you name your sins to God—if you rebound—then you are back in fellowship and you are spiritual and your life has some impact. If all you do is try to avoid sinning, and you do not name your sins to God, then you stay out of fellowship the first time that you sin.

Let me break it down for you: Charlie Brown, over his lifetime, commits 50,000,000 sins, and he rebounds, say, 40,000,000 times (sometimes he had to rebound 2 or 3 sins; sometimes there were unknown sins). Let’s say that you commit only 50,000 sins over your lifetime, but you do not rebound. Who has the victorious Christian life? Charlie Brown does, not you. Let’s bump this up a notch: let’s say that among Charlie Brown’s sins, he commits adultery, he murders several people, he gets involved in the Satanic cult, but, at various points in time, he rebounds and he spends some time in fellowship. Let’s say that you only feel guilty, sometimes you get angry at someone, and, now and again, you gossip, telling it like it is. If you do not rebound and if Charlie Brown rebounds, his spiritual life is superior to yours. Our prisons are filled with people who are believers in Jesus Christ, who have named their sins to God, and who will spend the rest of their lives in prison—some to be executed. These people can have a greater testimony and a greater ministry than you can ever hope to have, if they regularly name their sins to God and if you choose not to.

Now, so that you don’t just get all a-twitter, are there consequences for sin? Of course there are! Don’t be an idiot. Someone who commits a variety of sins and then rebounds is not completely off the hook. You don’t get to murder your nagging wife, rebound, and figure that is the end of it. God forgives you, but, there may be legal repercussions. You don’t get to tie one on night after night, imbibing in huge quantities of alcohol and drugs, and then rebound the next morning, and all is okay. There will be repercussions, even though God has forgiven you. You may find it fun to gossip and malign other people, and, after doing so, you rebound, and you are forgiven by God. However, it does not end there. There are repercussions. Sin carries with it natural repercussions which can kick in, even if God forgives you. The easiest to understand is, the example of murdering your wife. You can be instantly and completely forgiven by God—but you might spend the rest of your life in jail; you might be executed; you might suffer a guilt complex for the rest of your life. However, with respect to that sin, once you name it to God, it is forgiven.

For some of you, that is not enough. When someone commits a sin that shocks you, you don’t want God to forgive them; you want God to come to the forefront and rain down hail and lightning on this person. Personally, I have been screwed so many times by other Christians that I have lost track of all of them. And, at the time, there are occasions when I have prayed imprecatory prayers against them (which prayers, as long as I am filled with the Spirit, are legitimate). In many cases, I have seen the results of these prayers. However, I recognize that, once these people rebound, they are restored by God to fellowship, and, if I retain anger or bitterness against them, then they are in fellowship and I am not. If you don’t like what has happened to you, you name whatever mental attitude sins that you are carrying around, and then you let God take care of it. You do not need to plan revenge, you do not need to be angry, you do not need to run all over town and run these people down. Hell, if you are lucky, they don’t know rebound, and God will heap discipline upon them. ☺ But, as soon as they name their sins to God, they are back in fellowship and that is the end of it, insofar as you are concerned. You may or may not like this, but God is faithful and just to forgiven anyone who names their sins to Him.

Now, what God does for us is, He sends away, He dismisses; He forgives a debt [lets go of a debt], He pardons, and He forgives our sins. We have named one or more sins to God; these sins He forgives (same word). But then, God does one more thing: He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. You are going to do things which are sins, and some of the things which you do, you may not realize are sins. No problem: when you commit a known sin and you name that sin to God, God cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

Now, let’s integrate with the entire passage: this is a passage about walking in the light or walking in darkness; this is about being in fellowship or not; this is a passage about absolutes. Do you see the absolute here? God forgives you your sins and He cleanses you from ALL unrighteousness. That is an absolute. It does not get any more absolute than that. You are cleansed from all of this: injustice [of a judge], fraud, deceit, guile; unrighteousness; a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness.

When you spend a great deal of time out of fellowship, various things happen—one of the chief things is, God disciplines you. When God disciplines you, you tend to be rather unhappy. As God increases the pressure, your unhappiness increases. Being out of fellowship can be quite the emotional experience. Therefore, you may feel badly, guilty, depressed, along with a veritable plethora of emotions; however, what gets you back into fellowship is naming your sins to God. When you do this, there might be emotion involved, both before and after. If you keep short accounts with God (rebound immediately after committing a sin), then you are less likely to have any sort of emotional response (unless, of course, you commit a sin which shocks you). However, your emotions are not the key here—what you actually do is the key. If you acknowledge your sins, then God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Latin Vulgate If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar: and his word is not in us. I quote from the Rheims New Testament, which is a Catholic translation from the Latin. The actual Latin may be slightly different.

Murdock’s Syriac Peshito If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not with us. This is a Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version made by James Murdock made in 1852.

Literal Greek If we say that we have not sinned, a liar we make Him and the word of His is not in us.

Significant differences: None; the preposition with is a valid, albeit less common, translation for ἐν.

CEV If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn't in our hearts.

The Message If we claim that we've never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God--make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.

New Century Version If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and we do not accept God's teaching.

New Life Version If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. And His Word is not in our hearts.

New Living Testament If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

Bible in Basic English If we say that we have no sin, we make him false and his word is not in us.

Complete Apostles’ Bible If we claim that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Easy English Bible God says that all people have sinned. But we may say that we have never sinned. Then we are saying that God is not telling the truth. We have not accepted his word at all.

God’s Word™ If we say, "We have never sinned," we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us.

NIRV If we say we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar. His word has no place in our lives.

New International Version If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

The Amplified Bible If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts].

MKJV If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.

Young’s Updated LT If we may say—“we have not sinned,” a liar we make Him, and His word is not in us.

What is the gist of this verse? Just as a person who says he has permanently overcome the sin nature deceives himself; so a person who claims to never sin—such a one is a liar.

Translation: If we say that we have not sinned, [then] we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. There are two false claims that a person might make: (1) that after salvation, he no longer has the sin nature (v. 8) and (2) after salvation, he no longer sins. John does not merely say, “Wrong; you do sin;” or “you are a liar.” He states his case much more forcefully: If we allege that we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar. That is quite a bit stronger. There are not a lot of people out there who make such a claim, but they are out there. Now and again, you come across people who think that they have achieved some sort of sinless perfection. If you think or say that, you are a liar. You have sinned. You will sin.

For many of us, this is reassuring. Once and awhile, we might commit a sin which shocks even us; and then we question our salvation, our place in God’s plan, etc. If we open our eyes and we are still alive, then God still has a plan for us and we are still in it. No matter how minor and no matter how vile the sin (from our viewpoint), we name that sin to God and He forgives us that sin.

The second thing which John points out is, if we claim that we have not sinned, not only do we make God out to be a liar, but His Word is not in us. One of the most important aspects of the Christian life is to have God’s Word in us. Now, you don’t get this by reading your Bible. I know that there are a million pastors out there and they tell you to read and study your Bible. This is their job. This is why they are in the pulpit. This is why we gather at some building periodically—to take in God’s Word. We need to have God’s truth in us.

Application: Just as we partake of food everyday, I believe that we need Bible doctrine every day. I would think that the minimum would be 30 minutes a day, although an hour or so each day is more reasonable. Bear in mind that you face human viewpoint every single moment of your day—you read it in the newspapers, it is taught in schools, you see it on tv and hear it in contemporary music. Out of a 24 hour period of time, you need some divine viewpoint in order to set you straight. There are a number of places where there are independent, doctrinal churches, whose focus is on teaching the Word of God. On my links page, I list these churches, as well as places on the internet where one can go to get audio lessons which can be quickly and easily downloaded.

Now, I have certainly heard the excuse that a person only has so much time to take the Word of God, and even getting to church each and every Sunday is quite difficult to do. I’ve worked 2 to 4 jobs at the same time, one of them being teaching, which required well over 40 hours a week. During that time period, I can count on the fingers of one hand when I was unable to take in doctrine on this or that day. Now, I must admit, now and again, I dozed off due to pure exhaustion—but I still managed to either make it to class or listened to a tape/MP3 file (depending upon where I lived at the time).

One of the things I hear more than anything else is, how do I know what God wants me to do? How do I get God to give me a clear outline of what I should do from day to day? It is the simplest thing in the world: you rebound regularly and you take in doctrine. God will guide you as you need to be guided. You do not have to listen for some still, quiet voice deep inside; you do not have to wait for a bolt of lightning to strike you on the left or right shoulder to tell you which way to turn; you need the filling of the Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine in your soul.

Although Berachah Church used to meet daily, that is no longer the case. As Bobby Thieme mentioned the other day, he had no idea how his father did it. On my off days, I listen to Bob’s old lessons, where he talks an hour and 15 minutes, and he talks fast, and he has a lot to say; and he did that, at one time, 9 or 10 times a week. I personally know how long I can study in a day and when I hit the wall so to speak (after 2–4 hours most of the time) and you cannot translate 2–4 hours of study into one lesson. There are times when I might spend 4 hours on one word; yet, if I was to teach that, I might spend 5 minutes on it.

In our passage and in 1Cor. 11:31, it is not clear exactly who (or Who) we name our sin to. However, that will be cleared up in the example below:

Unlike the study above, where we covered specifically the passage where rebound is taught, here, we are going to simply cover a few passages, most of which are narrative, just to get an idea about rebound in the Old Testament. Although I will exegete these passages word by word when I get to them in my study of the Old Testament, here I’ll just quote the passage and provide some short commentary.

2Sam. 11:1: And it happened at the turn of the year, at the time when kings go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the sons of Ammon, and lay siege to Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

What David is suppose to be doing is going out to war with his generals. We can reasonably suppose that he is out of the geographical will of God. Being out of God’s geographical will and being out of fellowship tend to go hand-in-hand. David’s initial sin was probably choosing not to go out to war with his men, as this verse seems to imply, as it takes place at a time when kings [typically] go out [to war].

2Sam. 11:2: And it happened at evening time, David rose up from his bed and walked up and down on the roof of the king's house. And he saw from the roof a woman bathing. And the woman was very good of form.

David is married to several very attractive women; however, since he is out of fellowship and out of God’s geographical will, he sees a woman bathing and his sexual lust kicks into high gear.

2Sam. 11:3: And David sent and asked about the woman. And one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

David is obviously interested in this woman, so when he asks about her, it turns out that she is married to one of his soldiers. Had David been in fellowship, this would have been the last of it. She is an attractive woman, but she is married. David might inquire, “Does she have an unmarried sister?” but he is interested in Bathsheba, married or not.

2Sam. 11:4: And David sent messengers and took her. And she came to him, and he lay with her. And she purified herself from uncleanness, and she returned to her house.

The Bible does not give us any details, apart from the fact that David called for Bathsheba and they had sex. How much coercion was involved, how much of his power as king played a part, we are not told. She seemed to know that it was wrong, and she purified herself from uncleanness, through what means, we are not told. However, she did the purification there at David’s palace. Whether this involved an animal sacrifice or a bathing, we do not know.

2Sam. 11:5: And the woman conceived, and sent, and told David. And she said, I am with child.

It does not appear that David and Bathsheba kept in close contact after that morning. We are not told. However, Bathsheba does not personally go to David and tell him hat she is pregnant; she sends a servant to do this. This would suggest that she and David did not continue this affair (otherwise, at some point in time, she would have told David directly).

Now, David knows this woman is pregnant, she is pregnant by him, and he needs to solve this problem. So, he will attempt to get her husband to have sex with her.

2Sam. 11:6–9: And David sent to Joab, Send Uriah the Hittite to me. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And Uriah came to him. And David asked the peace of Joab, and the peace of the people, and of the success of the war. And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a gift from the king went out after him. Uriah lay down at the entrance of the king's house, with all the servants of his lord. And he did not go down to his house.

Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s husband, has no idea what is going on. He assumes that David has called him to deliver an intelligence report, which makes perfect sense, as David is not out in the field. Then David tells Uriah to go home and spend the night before returning to field operations. When David suggests that he go to his house and wash his feet, that means David is telling him that he can go inside his own house.

What David did not count on is, Uriah has a sense of right and wrong. Reporting to David the conditions of the field is a normal military activity; however, returning to one’s wife midway through a military campaign, would be wrong. Recognize that Uriah the Hittite has a greater sense of duty than David does. David ought to be with his men in the field commanding them; but he is at home having an affair. Uriah is given the opportunity to go home before reporting back to the field, and he understands that he has no right to take this liberty, since his fellow soldiers are out fighting.

Ideally speaking, when David takes note of Uriah’s dedication and integrity, that should have caught his attention. Uriah is behaving with great personal integrity, a loyal soldier, and this should have made David recognize how far he had gone the other way. However, it did not. All David thought about was manipulating Uriah so that he, David, could get out of a jam.

2Sam. 11:10–11: And they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house. And David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house? And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah dwell in booths. And my lord Joab, and my lord's servants are camping on the face of the field. And I, will I go into my house to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.

So, David formulates a plan. Plan A, get Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife, did not work. Plan B goes into action. David is a brilliant man, and now all he has to do to fix this situation is to manipulate Uriah to go back home and spend the night. It should be easy to do, David is thinking.

2Sam. 11:12–13: And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you away. And Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day, and on the next day. And David called for him, and he ate and drank before him. And he made him drunk, and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord. And he did not go down to his house.

Plan B: get Uriah drunk and then let him choose what he wants to do. David assumes that, with his norms and standards dulled by alcohol, that Uriah might go back home. Given today’s day and time, we may not quite understand this, so let me see if I can explain it: if Uriah goes home, he knows he will have sex with his wife. He knows that, 9 months later, his wife will bear a child. All of his military buddies will be able to easily figure out that Uriah took advantage of being called in by David and spent time with his wife. Their military operations will probably last for a few more months, and it will be clear to everyone what Uriah did, while his buddies risked their lives in the field. Uriah, being a man of character, could not do this.

Maybe I can point out a more contemporary situation. Presidential hopeful John McCain was held in a prison camp for several years in Vietnam. Although when he was first brought into the camp, he was tortured and expected to die, his captors found out that he was the son of an admiral. When his father was made Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command, the North Vietnamese offered to let him be returned, knowing that this would gain them some good press. He refused to go. He would not leave fellows soldiers behind and he would not allow himself to be used for Communist propaganda.

This is true courage, and this may help to convey the sense of duty which Uriah had. So, even drunk, Uriah would not go down to his own house to be with his wife.

2Sam. 11:14–17: And it happened in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Place Uriah in the front of the strongest battle, and withdraw from him, that he may be struck, and die. And it happened, as Joab watched the city, that he sent Uriah to the place where he knew there would be mighty men. And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab, and some of the people fell of David's servants. And Uriah the Hittite also died.

David is a great man; David loved Bible doctrine. However, he got so far out of fellowship that, when he was unable to hide his sin, he killed a man of great courage and integrity. David ordered Joab to put Uriah out in front in the battle, and then to withdraw from him, so that he would die in battle. Just when it appeared that David could sink no lower, he does. What could be more despicable than to send an honorable man out intentionally to die, just to cover up a sin?

All of this took place in the space of perhaps a week. David had sex with Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite’s wife; he called for Uriah for a field report, hoping to get Uriah to go to his wife and spend the night with her. And when David failed to make that happen, he made certain that Uriah would be killed in battle.

2Sam. 11:26–27: And Uriah's wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead. And she mourned for her husband. And the mourning time passed by. And David sent and gathered her to his house; and she became his wife, and bore a son to him. And the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of Jehovah.

Bathsheba spend a month in mourning for her husband, and then she was brought to David’s home and she became his wife. David may have thought that this all worked out for the best. He figured out how to have adultery, kill the husband and then marry the husband’s wife. It may have been unfortunate what happened to Uriah, but David managed to manipulate the situation for his own benefit—or so he thinks.

You must realize that, when you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are under His authority. You may or may not like this, but it is a fact, just like the color of your eyes, just like your height—once you have believed in Jesus Christ, you are not only saved forever, but you are subject to God’s discipline, and David is about to get both barrels from God.

Please bear in mind that this is not all completely swept under the rug. David did not hide this from everyone. His servants told him about Bathsheba—who she was, his servants brought Bathsheba to David, and they knew that David spent some time with her. They knew that David brought her husband into his palace (they knew who he was, as they told David who her husband was); and they were aware that Uriah died in battle, after David spoke with Joab. So, there are at least a handful of people in the palace who know essentially what has happened and what David has done. Joab, getting this unusual request from David, also knowing that David first sent for Uriah, knew that something was up. Then men whom Joab commanded, who were to fall back when Uriah was in the front lines, also knew something was up. So, in David’s mind, this is some kind of a secret that 1 or 2 of his servants know; however, a huge number of people have some idea as to what has gone on. We do not know the full repercussions of this, but David no doubt lost a great deal of respect from those around him for behaving in this way. They may not have known the whole story, but a huge number of those intimately associated with David knew enough to be disgusted with him. For those of you who know the whole story here, this helps to explain how it was possible for Absalom to lead a revolt against his own father.

Secondly, immediately after the formal period of mourning, Bathsheba is made the wife of David. About 7 or 8 months later, a child is born. So David is in self-denial at this time, not realizing that a huge number of people know at least a portion of the story of this series of sins which he has committed.

Nathan the prophet, speaks to David, and tries to make David’s sin clear to him. Nathan is speaking for God.

2Sam. 12:1: And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor. The rich one had flocks and very many herds. But the poor one had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished. And it grew up with him, and with his sons together, and it ate of his morsel, and it drank from his cup, and it lay in his bosom. And it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich one, and he spared to take of his own flock, and of his own herd, to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. And he took the ewe lamb of the poor man, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

Throughout the Bible, God teaches through analogy and parallelisms. There are two reasons for this: (1) When presented with a parallel situation, we tend to look at it more objectively, if we are not directly involved. If God points out a particular sin or group of sins to us, we might immediately go into a justification mode. Have you ever had a rumor spread about you, and you run around and talk to several people and tell this, “This is not what happened; this is my side of the story.” When a parallel situation is given, we do not immediately jump to defending our own actions; we do not try to justify ourselves. We look at it more objectively, and come to a conclusion based upon the facts given. (2) This is how God teaches Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. He is presented over and over and over again in parallel situations. You examine Moses, or Joseph or Samuel; or you examine Psalm 22 or Isa. 53 or Gen. 22, and the number of parallels is striking (see Jesus in the Old and New Testaments or Messianic Prophecies). It becomes clear that God knows the end from the beginning, and that Jesus Christ is His Son, the Messiah, our only Savior. God teaches by analogy and by parallel situations because this is How He presents Jesus in the Old Testament.

2Sam. 12:5–6: And David's anger glowed greatly against the man. And he said to Nathan, As Jehovah lives, surely the man who did this is a son of death. And he will repay fourfold for the ewe lamb, because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity.

David sets up the punishment for himself. He examines the situation objectively and, as a king/judge would do, determines what is an appropriate punishment.

Nathan lays it out for David. David is feeling justified anger toward the person in this story, and he has determined the proper amount of punishment that this person deserves. Then Nathan tells him, “You are the man!”

2Sam. 12:7b–12: So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you the house of your master, and your master's wives into your bosom. And I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that were too little, then I would have added to you these and those things. Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do the evil in His eyes? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite by the sword, and you have taken his wife to yourself for a wife. And you have killed him by the sword of the sons of Ammon. And now the sword will not turn aside from your house continually, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be a wife to you. So says Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your house, and will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he will lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. For you acted in secret, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.

God, through Nathan, begins to lay out the punishment which David will face. One of his sons will lay with one of David’s wives.

2Sam. 12:13: And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said to David, Jehovah also has put away your sin; you will not die.

David here, admits to his sin, as he will in a later psalm or two. Had David not done that, God’s final judgment against him would have been the sin unto death. However, Nathan reassures David, after he rebounded, that he would not die.

2Sam. 12:14–17: Only, because you have made the enemies of Jehovah to scorn derisively by this thing, also the son who will be born to you dying will die. And Nathan went to his house, and Jehovah struck the boy whom the former wife of Uriah had borne to David. And it became sick. And David sought God for the child. And David fasted a fast, and went in and stayed the night, and lay on the earth. And the elders of his house rose up toward him, to raise him up from the earth. But he was not willing; and he ate no bread with them.

Throughout Scripture, there are a number of things which we are taught. Even though this is a narrative, we are taught rebound, we are being taught God’s punishment of David, we are shown that a believer can commit heinous sins. And, specifically here, David deserves to die, but he will not; his son will die in his stead.

2Sam. 12:18–23: And it happened on the seventh day, the boy died. And David's servants feared to tell him that the boy was dead, for they said, Behold, while the boy was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to our voice. And how will we say to him, The boy is dead? Then he may do harm. And David saw that his servants were whispering among themselves. And David understood that the boy was dead. And David said to his servants, Is the boy dead? And they said, He is dead. And David rose up from the earth, and bathed, and anointed. And he changed his clothing, and came into the house of Jehovah, and worshiped. And he came to his house, and commanded, and they brought bread for him; and he ate. And his servants said to him, What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept because of the living boy, yet when the boy is dead, you have risen up and have eaten food? And he said, While the boy was alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who knows? Jehovah may be gracious to me and the boy may stay alive. And now he has died. Why this, that I should fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.

I only present that last paragraph because it teaches us that, David would see his son again. He will not return to me, I will go to him. This tells us what will happen to children who die before they are able to make the decision to believe in Jesus Christ.

There are a lot of things which happened to David as a result of this sin, which I will skip over. However, note one of the psalms which David wrote:

Psalm 51:1 inscription: To the chief musician, A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

We are told the time frame and the inspiration for this psalm: David wrote this after committing adultery with Bathsheba and after speaking to Nathan the prophet.

Psalm 51:1–3: Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies; blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

David asks God to completely wash him of this iniquity; to completely cleanse him from this sin—just like we read at the end of 1John 1:9. Then note what David says:

Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done evil in Your eyes; that You might be justified in Your speaking and be clear when You judge.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He attempted to manipulate Uriah the Hittite, and when he could not do that, David had Uriah killed, which involved bringing Joab and several other soldiers into the mix. In a week’s time, David committed some of the most heinous sins a believer could commit; and yet he tells God, while being inspired by God the Holy Spirit, “Against You and You only have I sinned!” He admits his sin to God, and he recognizes that his sin is ultimately against God.

This does bring up one question, which is, why didn’t God forgive David completely after this sin? When David admitted his sin to God; when he acknowledged his sin to God, he was completely and totally forgiven by God. What happened afterwards was for David’s benefit and blessing, even though it may have seemed harsh.

In several instances in Scripture, God made a permanent mark on an individual so that individual would never forget Who and What God was. They would know forever God’s power and God’s involvement in their lives. Jacob was a particularly hard-headed man, and, when wrestling with Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord, his leg was messed up, and he limped for the rest of his life. Every time he took a step, he was reminded of God’s involvement in his life and of his own hard-headedness. The Apostle Paul had an eye problem which he lived with for his entire life—this constant infirmity continually reminded him of what God had done in his life, as well as what he saw in the 3^rd heaven, which God had made him privy to.

In other words, what God did to David after his admission of sin was no longer punishment, but it is for David’s blessing and to remind him of his relationship to God. He was under tremendous pressure for the next 15 or so years, but God used that pressure to advance David further along in the spiritual life. He was placed in what would appear to be a hopeless situation when Absalom’s revolt appeared to be succeeding, and David was on the run; but in all of that, David learned to place his trust completely in God. David’s accelerated spritiual advance—which is a lifetime function for all believers—was the result of these things—particularly, Absalom’s revolt against him—and God, in this way, had turned cursing into blessing.

False Systems of Spirituality:

The key here is, if the unbeliever can do it, then it is not spirituality.

1. Morality: Morality was designed for the human race, not just for Christians. Morality is enforced by law and by social norms and standards and by social ostracism. Sometimes morality lines up with the norms and standards of the Bible and sometimes it does not. As a society, we have moved from a time when spanking was common and expected to a society where one can even be investigated for spanking (too hard, too often). However, even if one tries to live by 9 or 10 of the Ten Commandments or if one attempts to follow the morality that they get out of the Sermon on the Mount, the end result is a better person and a better life, but it is not spirituality. Society requires boundaries, limits and some sort of morality in order ot survive. Since we interact with people, we cannot function as just looking out for number one—there have to be rules of interaction. But, whatever laws, rules or standards are adhered to, they are not spirituality, as both believers and unbelievers must follow these rules.

Now, as an aside, let me deal with the half-witted statement you can’t legislate morality. We legislate morality all of the time. If a city chooses not to allow a pornography bookstore next door to an elementary school, that is legislating morality; if a community does not allow a house of prostitution to set up in the middle of a neighborhood, that is legislating morality. If we decide that murder is a bad thing and we pass laws against it, that is legislating morality. To me, prosecuting someone for what they think is the stupidest thing in the world, even if what they are thinking is sinful. However, our society has chosen to do so by passing ridiculous hate crimes legislation. And I will guarantee you that some of the people who parrot “You can’t legislate morality” support hate crimes legislation. The Bible clearly teaches that what you think can be sinful and 3 of the top 7 sins in the Bible are sins which occur in the mind; however, in my opinion, the law needs to concern itself with actions and not with thoughts, as did the societal laws of the Mosaic Law. It may be wrong to hate gays or African Americans, but legislating against that is foolish.

2. Emotionalism: “I feel spiritual” or “I do things which make me feel spiritual” and therefore, I am spiritual. Your emotions are what allow you to appreciate life. Believers and unbelievers have emotions; believers and unbelievers feel happy, sad, ecstatic, down in the dumps, angry, etc. We go through life feeling a myriad of emotions and some of us even let our emotions guide us through life; but what we feel is not spirituality.

It is dangerous when a believer in Jesus Christ allows their emotions intermingled with their experiences to define for them spirituality. I know a lot of people in the tongues movement, some of whom are wonderful individuals, and many of whom live very good lives. However, we cannot allow spirituality to be defined by how we feel or be an experience which makes us feel spiritual, close to God, or whatever. The Bible lays out objective facts and clear mechanics. Going outside these mechanics is not Biblical.

As an aside, the entire tongues movement is built upon one verse and one verse only: 1Cor. 13:1. If you take this verse away, the entire charismatic movement collapses. The fundamental doctrines of your faith should never be based upon just one verse. Now, to cut the charismatics some slack, I have never heard this verse properly exegeted, apart from my own writings (I hope that Bobby gets it right when he comes to it). Paul in this verse is making a logical, progressive argument, and he is not saying that believers will speak with the tongues of angels.

In any case, the big problem with charismatic churches is, they have an experience gotten by mechanics not found in the Bible, and then they support this experience with a dozen verses, taken out of context. In all of the discussions I have had with charismatics, it often comes down to, “Well, if you would just allow yourself to experience what I have experience, then you would know it is from God.” And, what they experience is directly tied to their emotions. I have covered the Doctrine of Tongues in great detail already.

The experience of tongues occurs outside Christian religions as well as within most Christian denominations and sects. Similar experiences are found throughout religions which are steeped in emotionalism.

3. Personality imitation: A church is sometimes led by a person with a very strong personality. This is not good or bad, it just is. However, we are not spiritual because we act like the pastor. I attended Berachah Church when Bob Thieme Jr. was the pastor, and he had a strong personality, to put it mildly—particularly during the first 25 or so years of his ministry. Despite his clear teaching against personality imitation, there were those who acted like little Thiemes, some of whom, from what I understand, taught in the prep school, running their classes as if they were drill sergeants. I attended one church where the women of the church clearly imitated the voice and vocal inflections of the pastor’s wife. Not only did they salt and pepper their conversation with praise the Lord (usaing way too much salt, in my opinion), but they sounded just like the pastor’s wife when they did it. You might be outgoing, you might be withdrawn; you may be happy and bouncing on your toes all the time and you might be somber and straight-faced; you may like to read books and you may bored to death with reading a book—you’re personality is unique, it is the result of a multitude of factors, and, aside from it being sinful in one way or another (e.g., you tend to hate everyone you meet), your personality is separate from your spiritual life. God uses all kinds of personalities and nowhere in the Bible are we told to change our personality or to copy someone else’s personality.

4. Spirituality by feeling sorry for your sins: This seems like something which should be a good thing. If sin is bad then feeling bad about doing bad should be good. Again, these are your emotions. How you feel about your sins is inconsequential. Sometimes you are going to feel badly or guilty about committing sins and sometimes you won’t. You might even rationalize away the sins which you commit and don’t feel badly about. But how you feel is not the basis of spirituality.

There are two words found in the New Testament which help us out here: repentance and regrets. The Greek word is metamélomai.(μεταμέλομαι) [pronounced meh-tah-MEH-loh-my]. This is made up of two Greek words: metá (μετά) [pronounced meh-TAH], which means (among other things) to change. Strong’s #3326. The other half of the word is mélô (μέλω) [pronounced MEH-loh], which means to have concern, to regret. Strong’s #3199. Together, they mean to change one’s mind or purpose after having done something regrettable, to feel remorse; to desire to undo something you have done. If you are a believer who is confused about salvation, then right now, you are thinking to yourself what’d I say? Metamélomai is often translated to feel remorse, to regret. We do not find it in conjunction with passages dealing with salvation, but we do find Judas regretting his betrayal of our Lord (Matt. 27:3), recognizing that he had betrayed innocent blood. He was so upset over this, he committed suicide (Matt. 27:5). Furthermore, Judas was not saved (John 13:11–12). Strong’s #3338. When most believers use the word repent, what they actually mean is this word metamélomai. You sin and then you feel badly about having sinned—you feel remorse and regret. However, when the we find the word repent in the Bible, it is often the Greek word metanoéô (μετανοέω) [pronounced meh-tah-noh-EH-oh], and this word means to change one’s thinking, to change one’s mind. This is the word that we find repeatedly as a part of salvation. The key is whatever it is that we are to change our minds about, which is generally found in context. However, when we do not have an obvious target, then it means to either change one’s mind about Jesus Christ (we all had preconceived ideas as to Who He was; and we are to change those to recognizing Him as our Savior) or we are to change our minds about our dead works—that is, the things that we have accumulated in order to get us into heaven (Heb. 6:1; spoken of, in that context, as being one of the fundamentals of the faith). Do we find this word associated with sin? Not really; in the gospels, it usually stands alone.

These two words (actually, their cognates) are found in 2Cor. 7:7–10, and therein contrasted, but this is one passage that very few English translations get right. This is too much of a tangent for me to get into, but R. B. Thieme Jr. covers this contrast correctly and in reasonable detail in Rebound Revisited. However, if you check that passage, it literally reads μετανοιαν...αμεταμελητον, which means a change of mind...without regrets. The sorrow or grief referred to in that passage is a recognition of having sinned and being out of fellowship.

5. Making Christ the Lord of your life: Of the false systems of spirituality, this sounds the most holy. Jesus was once just your Savior and now, presto, He is the Lord of your life. Now, recognize what is going on here: this is a believer who has decided to begin obeying Scripture more often than they used to. Is that a good decision? Of course it it! Anyone who more closely aligns himself with the Bible is going to be better off, believer or unbeliever. However, such a person will continue to sin, and when they sin, they need to rebound. And just in case you did not know it, Jesus has always been and will always be the Lord of your life, whether you believe that or not.

6. Rededicating your life/walking down an aisle: These actions are close to the previous point. Generally, what happens is, we have stopped going to church, we have started to behave sinfully to a point where it begins to shock us. We go into a church or into an evangelistic meeting, we recognize that we are screwing our lives up, and so, we rededicate our lives or we walk forward or walk down an aisle. Now, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind about how you are living your life; but there is no substitute for rebound. Satan attacks people in two ways: (1) he attempts to blind their minds to the gospel and, after a person is saved, (2) Satan attempts to get them to swerve from the spiritual life. The result is, we have millions of believers who have their own methods when it comes to spirituality. They either ignore what is in the Bible or they distort what is in the Bible and they follow these other false forms of spirituality instead. The Christian life is not a do-it-yourself operation; it is not a matter of finding what works for you or what makes you feel good. It is a matter of following the Bible and the mechanics laid out in the Bible. How in the world can you call Christ the Lord of your life, or rededicate your life to God, and then ignore His clear mandates. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is clear and unambiguous. The context is being in fellowship or not; walking in the light or walking in darkness.

7. Social activism: Becoming involved in some popular cause in some form or another. This could be legitimate, like helping in a city mission or illegitimate like marching in a demonstration about global warming. Some believers are called upon to interact with people, and to interact with those who have hit bottom. Missions in cities which provide food and shelter and the gospel are legitimate; however, all Christian service needs to be accomplished while being filled with the Spirit, which involves rebound.

The key is this: if you are spiritually dead—a believer who is out of fellowship through an act of sins or by committing a whole slew of sins—then there is nothing meritorious that you may do which will is going to undo what you have done. There is nothing you can feel, nothing you can think, nothing you can say and nothing that you can do which will fix being out of fellowship, except using God’s method, the mechanics clearly laid out in 1John 1:9 (and 1Cor. 11:31 and Psalm 51:4): you name your sins to God, and you are forgiven your sins. You acknowledge your sins and they are forgiven, and you are also cleansed from all unrighteousness.

Topics
Definition	The Exegesis of 1John 1:4–10	Case History: David's sin with Bathsheba
Charts, Maps and Doctrines
Scar Tissue/Grace Apparatus for Perception (GAP)	Links to the Doctrine of Rebound	A Summary of the Doctrine of Homologeô
The Importance of Bible Doctrine Links	The Results of David's Sin	False Systems of Spirituality
Doctrines Alluded To
Dispensations	Jesus in the Old and New Testaments	Messianic Prophecies
	Tongues

In this past major point, I had given a few technical terms. Let me define this terms and provide additional sources of information.
Scar Tissue/Grace Apparatus for Perception (GAP)
Term	Definition/Links
Grace Apparatus for Perception	Grace is the basis for perception of the entire realm of revealed truth as contained in the canon of scripture. The apparatus consists of: (1) The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, under the condition of filling (spirituality), is the ultimate teacher of doctrine. (2) The human spirit, which acts as a spiritual brain stem (an integrating mechanism like the higher brain stem). (3) The instantaneous filling of the Holy Spirit through Rebound, so as to isolate the sinful trend of Adam gene and to acquire a clear perception of truth.
Scripture:	1Cor. 2:1-16 Col. 1:9–10
Links:	http://www.versebyverse.org/doctrine/gap.html http://jimbrettell.org/docrbt/GAP http://www.gdcmedia.org/visuals/gap.pdf
Scar Tissue	Scar tissue of the soul (also called hardness of the heart, the uncircumcised heart, and stubbornness of heart) is a process by which the soul is incrementally covered with darkness. It begins with negative volition toward Bible doctrine which simultaneously pulls in human viewpoint, which covers the soul in darkness. It is also a result of certain sins or groups of sins. Capacity to love is affected and is one’s relationship to the truth. This can occur in both believers and unbelievers. A terrific secular example today is the hyper-liberal’s thinking about President George Bush. Since the year 2000, my mail box has regularly seen the influx of what can only be described as hateful diatribes against Bush, his cabinet and those who voted for him (I have received several comparisons about how blue state residents are much better human beings than red state residents). Now, George Bush, like any president, has made intelligent choices, mediocre decisions, and outright lame-brained decisions. Being a man, he will make mistakes and he will make correct decisions. A person who becomes emotionally involved with the President to where he fills his soul with hatred and bitterness toward him covers his own soul in darkness, and is unable to see or think objectively, particularly in relation to George Bush. This is how we can have a nation where the dominant opinion is, we are very well off individually; and yet, have a majority of the population, at the same time, think we are on the wrong track. A person whose irrational hatred for President Bush would be unable to recognize good proposals which he has made. An example of this is, President Bush was going to reform social security, which dramatically needs reform. His proposals were shot down. However, if you pay attention, social security will be radically reformed within the next decade (probably before 2016), and many of the changes will be very much like what Bush proposed. A less political example is that of a drug addict, whose soul becomes more and more darkened as they take more and more drugs, turning them into people who are unrecognizable by their own family and friends. In the spiritual realm, believers allow their emotions to cloud their thinking or they commit sins which cover parts or all of their soul in scar tissue. Examples of this would be a person involved in the tongues movement, who is emotionally intertwined with some of the fundamental doctrines of charismatics, which leads such a one to accept more and more false doctrine, and reject sound teaching. In the behavioral realm, a person can have homosexual tendencies and be a believer in Jesus Christ. If he gives into these tendencies regularly, he is going to also turn away from Biblical teaching and search out a church which will give assent to his behavior.
Scripture:	Isaiah 6:9-10 Matt. 19:8–9 Mark 3:5 8:14-17 Rom. 1:26–27 11:7-8, 25 Ephesians 4:17-18
Links:	http://biblenews1.com/scartis/scartiss.htm http://www.gbible.org/index.php?proc=d4d&sf=rea&did=3

1John 1:4 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
tauta (τατα) [pronounced TAU-taw]	these, these things	intermediate demonstrative pronoun; neuter plural; accusative case	Strong's #3778 (also known as Strong's #5124)
graphô (γράφω) [pronounced GRAF-oh]	to write, to delineate (or form) letters on a tablet, parchment, paper, or other material, to commit to writing, to give information, directions; to fill with writing; to compose	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #1125
ἡμες	we	1^st person plural pronoun, nominative case	Strong’s #1473
hina (ἵνα) [pronounced HEE-na]	that, in order that, so that, to the intent that; because	conjunction which denotes purpose or result	Strong’s #2443
hê (ἡ) [pronounced hey]	the; this, that; these	feminine singular definite article; nominative and vocative cases	Strong’s #3588
chara (χαρά) [pronounced khahr-AH]	joy, rejoicing, gladness; the joy received from you; the cause or occasion of joy; used of persons who are one’s joy	feminine singular noun, nominative case	Strong’s #5479
hêmn (ἡμν) [pronounced hay-MOHN]	us, of us, from us, our, [of] ours	1^st person plural, personal pronoun; genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #2257 (from Strong’s #1473)
Some manuscripts have your instead of our.
ô () [pronounced oh]	to be, is, was, might [could] be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active subjunctive	Strong’s #1510
A subjunctive mood is used when there is some doubt, uncertainty or indefiniteness; sometimes the uncertainty arises simply because the act has not occurred yet. A subjunctive would be used in a 3^rd class condition, where the action of the verb depends upon a person’s volition or upon circumstances as to whether it occurs or not. The subjunctive is also used in purpose clauses when following ἵνα. The verb form here is ἡ.
plêroô (πληρόω) [pronounced play-ROH-oh]	to fill [a vessel, a hollow place, a valley]; to fill [something] with [something]; to supply [abundantly with something] [fully, completely], to impart, to imbue with; to fulfill; to perform fully; to bring to a full end, to complete [finish, accomplish]	feminine singular neuter, present passive participle [meanings: being filled with, being fulfilled; being completed [finished, accomplished]	Strong’s #4137

1John 1:5 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
ατη	this, this one, this thing	intermediate demonstrative pronoun; feminine singular, nominative form	Strong's #3778
hê (ἡ) [pronounced hey]	the; this, that; these	feminine singular definite article; nominative and vocative cases	Strong’s #3588 (article, demonstrative pronoun) and #3739 (pronoun)
angelia (ἀγγελία) [pronounced ang-ehl-EE-ah]	message, announcement, news; a proclamation, command, order; messenger	feminine singular noun; nominative case	Strong’s #31
hên (ἥν) [pronounced hayn]	whom, which, what, that; to whom, to that	feminine singular relative pronoun; accusative case (occasionally a demonstrative pronoun)	Strong’s #3739
akoúô (ἀκούω) [pronounced ah-KOO-oh]	to hear; to hear and pay attention to; to listen to; to hear and understand	1^st person plural, 2^nd perfect active indicative	Strong’s #191
apó (ἀπό) [pronounced aw-PO]	from, away from, by	preposition or separation or of origin	Strong’s #575
Zodhiates: apo means the going forth or preceding of one object from another; or it indicates the separation of a person or an object from another person or an object with which it was formerly united but is now separated. Thieme and Zodhiates describe apo as being from the ultimate [secondary, mediate] source [origin] of. This barely scratches the surface of this preposition, as Zodhiates devotes nearly 5 pages to it.
autou (αὐτο) [pronounced ow-TOO]	his, of him; for him, to him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; genitive/ ablative case	Strong’s #846
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
anaggelô (ἀναγγέλω) [pronounced ahn-ang-EHL-oh]	to announce, to make known; to tell [declare, report] [of things done, events], to bring back tidings (news), to rehearse	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #312
humin (ὑμν) [pronounced hoo-MEEN]	you [all]; in you; to you; in you; by you	2^nd person plural pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #4771
hóti (ὅτι) [pronounced HOH-tee]	that, because, since; as concerning that; as though	demonstrative or causal conjunction	Strong’s #3754
ho (ὁ) [pronounced hoh]	the; this, that, these	definite article for a masculine singular noun	Strong’s #3588
theos (θεός) [pronounced theh-OSS]	God, [the true] God; divine being; god, goddess, divinity	masculine singular noun; nominative case	Strong’s #2316
phôs (φς) [pronounced fohç]	a light; daylight, dazzling light; that which emits light (star, torch, lamp, fire]; perfection, truth; a dispenser of truth; splendor, glory; purity	neuter singular noun, nominative case	Strong’s #5457
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
skotia (σκοτία) [pronounced skoht-EE-ah]	darkness; the darkness due to want of light; metaphorically used of ignorance of divine things, darkness in association with unhappiness and ruin; darkness and its associated wickedness, and the resultant misery in hell	feminine singular noun, nominative case	Strong’s #4653
This can be used as a figurative term for sin and also for the consequences of sin.
ouk (οὐκ) [pronounced ook]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; this form is used before a vowel	Strong’s #3756
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
autô (αὐτ) [pronounced ow-TOH]	in him, by him, to him; for him; by means of him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #846
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
autô (αὐτ) [pronounced ow-TOH]	in him, by him, to him; for him; by means of him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #846
ouk (οὐκ) [pronounced ook]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; this form is used before a vowel	Strong’s #3756
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
oudeís (οὐδείς, οὐδεμία, οὐδέν) [pronounced oo-DICE, oo-deh-MEE-ah; oo-DEHN]	not one, nothing, not a thing; not in any respect, in no way, not in any way; an invalid, senseless, useless matter;	adjective; used as an absolute denial; emphatic negation; designates exclusivity	Strong’s #3762
This word designates exclusivity of a matter or a group of people. This word is used in a conditional negation: οὐδείς...εἰ μή..., which means no one...except. The pleonastic construction οὐ...οὐδείς means not...anyone. This adjective is used as an emphatic negation when strung together with additional negatives. Balz has additional combinations.

1John 1:6 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
eán (ἐάν) [pronounced eh-AHN]	if, in case, suppose, let’s suppose [for the sake of an argument]	conjunction affixed to a subjunctive verb	Strong’s #1437
légô (λέγω) [pronounced LEH-goh]	to speak, to say; affirm over, maintain; to teach; to exhort, advise, to command, direct; to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say; to call by name, to call, name; to speak out, speak of, mention	1^st person plural; 2^nd aorist active subjunctive	Strong’s #3004
hóti (ὅτι) [pronounced HOH-tee]	that, because, since; as concerning that; as though	demonstrative or causal conjunction	Strong’s #3754
koinônia (κοινωνία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced koi-nohn-EE-ah]	fellowship, [close] association, communion, [joint] participation, personal involvement [or, interaction]; communication, distribution; a metonym for contribution	feminine singular noun; accusative case	Strong’s #2842
echô (ἔχω) [pronounced EHKH-oh]	to have [and/or] hold; to own, to posses, to adhere to, to cling to	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #2192
meta (μετά) [pronounced meht-AH]	with, among, in the company of, in the midst of	preposition with the genitive	Strong’s #3326
autou (αὐτο) [pronounced ow-TOO]	his, of him; for him, to him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #846
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
tô (τ) [pronounced toe]	to the, for the; in the; by the, by means of the	neuter singular definite article; dative, locative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #3588
skotos (σκότος) [pronounced SKOH-toss]	[thick] darkness; blindness; spiritual darkness metaphorically for ignorance, ungodliness, immorality, out of fellowship, that which opposes or is the opposite of God	neuter singular noun; dative, locative, and instrumental cases	Strong’s #4655
peripateô (περιπατέω) [pronounced per-ee-paht-EH-oh]	to walk [around, to and fro, all over, about]; metaphorically used to mean to conduct oneself [typically, consistently in life]; to live, to pass through life, to function [in life]	1^st person plural, present active subjunctive	Strong’s #4043
pseudomai (ψεύδομαι) [pronounced PSYOO-doh-mai]	to lie [to], to speak deliberate falsehoods, to speak deceitfully; to deceive one by a lie	1^st person plural, present middle/passive indicative	Strong’s #5574
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
ou (οὐ) [pronounced oo]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation	Strong’s #3756
poieô (ποιέω) [pronounced poi-EH-oh]	to do, to make, to construct, to produce; to carry out, to execute [a plan, an intention]; to practice; to act	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #4160
Thayer: 1) to make: 1a) with the names of things made, to produce, construct, form, fashion, etc.; 1b) to be the authors of, the cause; 1c) to make ready, to prepare; 1d) to produce, bear, shoot forth; 1e) to acquire, to provide a thing for one’s self; 1f) to make a thing out of something; 1g) to (make i.e.) render one anything; 1g1) to (make i.e.) constitute or appoint one anything, to appoint or ordain one that; 1g2) to (make i.e.) declare one anything; 1h) to put one forth, to lead him out; 1i) to make one do something; 1i1) cause one to 1j) to be the authors of a thing (to cause, bring about). 2) to do 2a) to act rightly, do well; 2a1) to carry out, to execute; 2b) to do a thing unto one; 2b1) to do to one; 2c) with designation of time: to pass, spend; 2d) to celebrate, keep; 2d1) to make ready, and so at the same time to institute, the celebration of the passover; 2e) to perform: to a promise.
tên (τὴν) [pronounced tayn]	the	feminine singular definite article; accusative case	Strong’s #3588 (article, demonstrative pronoun) and #3739 (pronoun)
alêtheia (ἀλήθεια, ας, ἡ) [pronounced ahl-Ā-thi-ah]	[absolute, unimpeachable, divine] truth, divine viewpoint, veracity, verity; reality; of a truth, in reality, in face, certainly; conduct which is in accordance with truth/divine viewpoint	feminine singular noun; accusative case	Strong’s #225

1John 1:7 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
eán (ἐάν) [pronounced eh-AHN]	if, in case, suppose, let’s suppose [for the sake of an argument]	conjunction affixed to a subjunctive verb	Strong’s #1437
dé (δέ) [pronounce deh]	but, moreover, and, also; now; namely, to wit	post-positive particle used as an adversative conjunction, an adversative particle, a transitional particle, or a connective conjunction	Strong’s #1161
Post-positive simply means that it does not occur at the beginning of a sentence or a phrase.
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
tô (τ) [pronounced toe]	to the, for the; in the; by the, by means of the	neuter singular definite article; dative, locative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #3588
phôs (φς) [pronounced fohç]	a light; daylight, dazzling light; that which emits light (star, torch, lamp, fire]; perfection, truth; a dispenser of truth; splendor, glory; purity	neuter singular noun; dative, locative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #5457
peripateô (περιπατέω) [pronounced per-ee-paht-EH-oh]	to walk [around, to and fro, all over, about]; metaphorically used to mean to conduct oneself [typically, consistently in life]; to live, to pass through life, to function [in life]	1^st person plural, present active subjunctive	Strong’s #4043
hôs (ὡς) [pronounced hohç]	like, as; in such a way; even as	comparative particle	Strong’s #5613
αὐτός	he	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; nominative case	Strong’s #846
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
tô (τ) [pronounced toe]	to the, for the; in the; by the, by means of the	neuter singular definite article; dative, locative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #3588
phôs (φς) [pronounced fohç]	a light; daylight, dazzling light; that which emits light (star, torch, lamp, fire]; perfection, truth; a dispenser of truth; splendor, glory; purity	neuter singular noun; dative, locative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #5457
koinônia (κοινωνία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced koi-nohn-EE-ah]	fellowship, [close] association, communion, [joint] participation, personal involvement [or, interaction]; communication, distribution; a metonym for contribution	feminine singular noun; accusative case	Strong’s #2842
echô (ἔχω) [pronounced EHKH-oh]	to have [and/or] hold; to own, to posses, to adhere to, to cling to	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #2192
meta (μετά) [pronounced meht-AH]	with, among, in the company of, in the midst of	preposition with the genitive	Strong’s #3326
alllôn (ἀλλήλων) [pronounced al-LAY-lohn]	one another, each other, another; reciprocally, mutually	reciprocal pronoun; genitive case	Strong’s #240
General meanings: ἀλλήλους = one another; ἀλλήλων = of one another; ἀλλήλοις = for, in, to one another.
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
to (τό) [pronounced toh]	the	neuter singular definite article; nominative case	Strong’s #3588
haima (αἵμα, ατος, τό) [pronounced HI-mah]	[human, animal] blood [as the basis of life]; blood [of Jesus Christ]; bloodshed	neuter singular noun, nominative case	Strong’s #129
Iêsous (̓Ιησος) [pronounced ee-ay-SOOCE]	Jehovah is salvation; transliterated Jesus, Joshua	proper singular noun, genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #2424
tou (το) [pronounced tu]	of the; from the, [away, out] from the; from the source of; by the; than the	masculine singular definite article, genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #3588
huios (υἱός, ο, ὁ) [pronounced hwee-OSS]	son, child, descendant; pupil; follower	masculine singular noun, genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #5207
autou (αὐτο) [pronounced ow-TOO]	his, of him; for him, to him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #846
katharizô (καθαρίζω) [pronounced kath-ahr-EED-zoh]	to make clean, to cleanse [actually, morally, spiritually]; to make free from sin; to purify; to free from guilt of sin; to declare pure [clean]; to consecrate	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #2511
hêmas (ἡμς) [pronounced hay-MASS]	us	1^st person plural pronoun; accusative case	Strong’s #1473
apó (ἀπό) [pronounced aw-PO]	from, away from, by	preposition or separation or of origin	Strong’s #575
pas (πς, πσα, πν) [pronounced pahs, PAH-sah, pahn]	each, every, any; all, entire; anyone, all things, everything; some [of all types]	accusative singular neuter adjective	Strong’s #3956
hamartia (ἁμαρτία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced hahm-ahr-TEE-ah]	sin, transgression, [intentional] failure, aberration [from the truth, or from a law or duty]; wrong, error, mistake, offense, violation [of a divine law]; sin nature; practice of sin; proneness to sin; imputation, guilt or consequences of sin	feminine singular noun, genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #266

1John 1:8 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
eán (ἐάν) [pronounced eh-AHN]	if, in case, suppose, let’s suppose [for the sake of an argument]	conjunction affixed to a subjunctive verb	Strong’s #1437
légô (λέγω) [pronounced LEH-goh]	to speak, to say; affirm over, maintain; to teach; to exhort, advise, to command, direct; to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say; to call by name, to call, name; to speak out, speak of, mention	1^st person plural; 2^nd aorist active subjunctive	Strong’s #3004
hóti (ὅτι) [pronounced HOH-tee]	that, because, since; as concerning that; as though	demonstrative or causal conjunction	Strong’s #3754
hamartia (ἁμαρτία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced hahm-ahr-TEE-ah]	sin, transgression, [intentional] failure, aberration [from the truth, or from a law or duty]; wrong, error, mistake, offense, violation [of a divine law]; sin nature; practice of sin; proneness to sin; imputation, guilt or consequences of sin	feminine singular noun, accusative case	Strong’s #266
ouk (οὐκ) [pronounced ook]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; this form is used before a vowel	Strong’s #3756
echô (ἔχω) [pronounced EHKH-oh]	to have [and/or] hold; to own, to posses, to adhere to, to cling to	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #2192
heautou (ἑαυτο) [pronounced heh-ow-TOO]	ourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves; oneself, his, her; their; one another	reflexive pronoun; sometimes used in the reciprocal sense; 1^st person masculine plural, accusative case	Strong’s #1438
planaô (πλανάω) [pronounced plahn-AH-oh]	to cause to stray, to lead astray; to wander, to roam about; metaphorically: to lead way from truth, to lead into error, to mislead; to deceive; to go astray; to be lead into error and sin; to seduce a people into rebellion	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #4105
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
hê (ἡ) [pronounced hey]	the; this, that; these	feminine singular definite article; nominative and vocative cases	Strong’s #3588 (article, demonstrative pronoun) and #3739 (pronoun)
alêtheia (ἀλήθεια, ας, ἡ) [pronounced ahl-Ā-thi-ah]	[absolute, unimpeachable, divine] truth, divine viewpoint, veracity, verity; reality; of a truth, in reality, in face, certainly; conduct which is in accordance with truth/divine viewpoint	feminine singular noun; nominative case	Strong’s #225
ouk (οὐκ) [pronounced ook]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; this form is used before a vowel	Strong’s #3756
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
hêmin (ἡμν) [pronounced hay-MEEN]	to us, of us, by us	1^st person plural pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #2254 (from Strong’s #1473)

1John 1:9 Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
eán (ἐάν) [pronounced eh-AHN]	if, in case, suppose, let’s suppose [for the sake of an argument]	conjunction affixed to a subjunctive verb	Strong’s #1437
homologeô (ὁμολογέω) [pronounced hoh-moh-loh-GEH-oh]	to speak frankly; to affirm [admit, acknowledge]; to openly declare [profess]; to assent; to promise; to bind oneself to/with a promise	1^st person plural, present active subjunctive	Strong’s #3670
The meaning to confess seems to come with a lot of inherent religious baggage—in fact, so much so that, most translations render this verb confess in 1John 1:9, even though these same translations do not render this verb confess in all of the other 25 places where the verb occurs.
Secular meanings: to agree; to approve [consent]; to concede; to admit [acknowledge]; to confess, to profess; to accept [affirm]; to [openly] declare [maintain]; to give assent to [promise]; to agree [commit] [to a treaty]. Thayer Definitions: 1) to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent; 2) to concede; 2a) not to refuse, to promise; 2b) not to deny; 2b1) to confess; 2b2) declare; 2b3) to confess, i.e. to admit or declare one’s self guilty of what one is accused of; 3) to profess; 3a) to declare openly, speak out freely; 3b) to profess one’s self the worshipper of one; 4) to praise, celebrate.
tas (τάς) [pronounced tahss]	the	feminine plural definite article; accusative case	Strong’s #3588
hamartia (ἁμαρτία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced hahm-ahr-TEE-ah]	sin, transgression, [intentional] failure, aberration [from the truth, or from a law or duty]; wrong, error, mistake, offense, violation [of a divine law]; sin nature; practice of sin; proneness to sin; imputation, guilt or consequences of sin	feminine plural noun, accusative case	Strong’s #266
hêmn (ἡμν) [pronounced hay-MOHN]	us, of us, from us, our, [of] ours	1^st person plural, personal pronoun; genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #2257 (from Strong’s #1473)
pistos (πιστός) [pronounced pis-TOSS]	faithful, trustworthy, dependable, worthy of trust; exhibiting fidelity; believing, confiding, trusting; credible	masculine singular adjective; nominative case	Strong’s #4103
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
dikaios (δίκαιος, αία, ον) [pronounced DIH-kai-oss]	righteous, just, upright; perfect righteousness; law-abiding, faultless, guiltless, innocent; approved by [or acceptable to] God	masculine singular adjective	Strong’s #1342
hina (ἵνα) [pronounced HEE-na]	that, in order that, so that, to the intent that; because	conjunction which denotes purpose or result	Strong’s #2443
aphíêmi (ἀφίημι) [pronounced af-EE-ay-mee]	to send forth, to send away, to dismiss; to let go [from one’s power [possession]; to let go free [escape]; to leave alone, to let go; to forsake, to abandon; metaphorically, to release from an obligation, to forgive a debt [to let go of a debt], to pardon, to forgive; to leave, to desert, to quit; to pass by	2rd person singular, 2^nd aorist active subjunctive	Strong’s #863
hêmin (ἡμν) [pronounced hay-MEEN]	to us, of us, by us; for us	1^st person plural pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #2254 (from Strong’s #1473)
hamartia (ἁμαρτία, ας, ἡ) [pronounced hahm-ahr-TEE-ah]	sin, transgression, [intentional] failure, aberration [from the truth, or from a law or duty]; wrong, error, mistake, offense, violation [of a divine law]; sin nature; practice of sin; proneness to sin; imputation, guilt or consequences of sin	feminine plural noun, accusative case	Strong’s #266
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
katharizô (καθαρίζω) [pronounced kath-ahr-EED-zoh]	to make clean, to cleanse [actually, morally, spiritually]; to make free from sin; to purify; to free from guilt of sin; to declare pure [clean]; to consecrate	3^rd person singular, aorist active subjunctive	Strong’s #2511
hêmas (ἡμς) [pronounced hay-MASS]	us	1^st person plural pronoun; accusative case	Strong’s #1473
apó (ἀπό) [pronounced aw-PO]	from, away from, by	preposition or separation or of origin	Strong’s #575
pas (πς, πσα, πν) [pronounced pahs, PAH-sah, pahn]	each, every, any; all, entire; anyone, all things, everything; some [of all types]	accusative singular neuter adjective	Strong’s #3956
adikia (ἀδικία) [pronounced ah-dih-KEE-ah]	injustice [of a judge], unjust; fraud, deceit, guile; unrighteousness; a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness	feminine singular noun, genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #93

1John 1: Greek Text
Greek/Pronunciation	Common English Meanings	Notes/Morphology	Strong’s Number
eán (ἐάν) [pronounced eh-AHN]	if, in case, suppose, let’s suppose [for the sake of an argument]	conjunction affixed to a subjunctive verb	Strong’s #1437
légô (λέγω) [pronounced LEH-goh]	to speak, to say; affirm over, maintain; to teach; to exhort, advise, to command, direct; to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say; to call by name, to call, name; to speak out, speak of, mention	1^st person plural; 2^nd aorist active subjunctive	Strong’s #3004
hóti (ὅτι) [pronounced HOH-tee]	that, because, since; as concerning that; as though	demonstrative or causal conjunction	Strong’s #3754
ouch (οὐχ) [pronounced ookh]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; used before an aspirate	Strong’s #3756
hamartanô (ἁμαρτάνω) [pronounced hahm-ahr-TAHN-oh]	to sin, to miss a mark; to err, to swerve from the truth, to go wrong; to do wrong; to violate God’s law; to sin against [with εἰς]	1^st person plural, perfect active indicative	Strong’s #264
pseustês (ψεύστης,ου,ὁ) [pronounced psyooç-TACE]	a liar; one who breaks faith; a false and faithless man	masculine singular noun, accusative case	Strong’s #5583
Used of those who profess salvation but live and think contrary to Christian truth. Pseustês indicates a person whose attitude is in opposition to God.
poieô (ποιέω) [pronounced poi-EH-oh]	to do, to make, to construct, to produce; to carry out, to execute [a plan, an intention]; to practice; to act	1^st person plural, present active indicative	Strong’s #4160
auton (αὐτόv) [pronounced ow-TAHN]	him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun, accusative case	Strong’s #846
kaí (καί) [pronounced kī]	and, even, also; so, too, then, that; indeed, but	conjunction	Strong’s #2532
ho (ὁ) [pronounced hoh]	the; this, that, these	definite article for a masculine singular noun	Strong’s #3588
logos (λόγος, ου, ὁ) [pronounced LOHG-ohss]	a word; conception, idea; matter; thing; decree, mandate; doctrine, teaching; the act of speaking, speech; reason, account; revelation	masculine singular noun, nominative case	Strong’s #3056
autou (αὐτο) [pronounced ow-TOO]	his, of him; for him, to him	3^rd person masculine singular pronoun; genitive/ablative case	Strong’s #846
ouk (οὐκ) [pronounced ook]	no, not, nothing, none, no one	negation; this form is used before a vowel	Strong’s #3756
eimi (εἰμί) [pronounced eye-ME]	to be, is, was, will be; am; to exist; to stay; to occur, to take place; to be present [available]	3^rd person singular, present active indicative	Strong’s #1510
en (ἐν) [pronounced en]	in, by means of, with; among	preposition with the locative, dative and instrumental cases	Strong’s #1722
hêmin (ἡμν) [pronounced hay-MEEN]	to us, of us, by us	1^st person plural pronoun; locative, dative or instrumental case	Strong’s #2254 (from Strong’s #1473)

This was not the end of it. There were additional judgments placed upon David which continued for several years, according to his own judgment against the rich man in Nathan’s parable.
The Results of David’s Sin
Scripture	Incident
2Sam. 12:14–15	The child born from this act of adultery died.
2Sam. 13:1–14	Amnon, David’s son, raped David’s daughter Tamar, his half-sister.
2Sam. 13:22–29	Absalom then murdered Amnon in order to avenge Tamar. Absalom is the son most like David, and rather than sort things out legitimately, he took things into his own hands, just as David had.
2Sam. 15–18	Absalom, David’s favorite son, led a national revolt against David. This mirrors David’s revolt against God in this series of sins.
2Sam. 18:14–15	Absalom died in his revolution against David, by the hand of Joab, whom David had ordered to kill Bathsheba’s husband.