My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
~ 1 John 2:1-2
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
~ 1 John 5:6
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
~ Zechariah 13:1
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
~ John 1:29
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
~ Romans 5:9
The Cleansing Power of Christ’s Blood, by Stephen Charnock.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.—1 John 1:7
The apostle, in the beginning of the chapter, puts the saints to whom he writes in mind of the Gospel he had written. (In it) he had declared to them that Word of life, which had been with the Father and was manifested to the world, and which he now declares again that they might have fellowship with the apostles in the truth and not with the false teachers in their errors. For an incentive, (he) assures them that the fellowship of those that kept the truth as it is in Jesus was with the Father and with the Son. “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1Jo 1:3); with the Father, as the source and spring of eternal life and happiness; with the Son, as Mediator, Who has opened the way to us, removed the bars, and given us an access to and a communion with the Father. For by sin, we were alienated from God. Our sin had caused justice to lock up the gates of paradise and forbid such guilty and polluted offenders to approach to the pure majesty of God. The apostle, to encourage them to cleave to the gospel, proposes to them a fellowship with God by the means of Jesus Christ, His Son and our Mediator, as the chief happiness and felicity of man, and that which can only afford them a full and complete joy.
Afterwards, (in) verse 5, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all,” he prescribes to them the means whereby they may keep up a communion with God. (This) he infers from the transcendent excellency of the divine nature, Who is light—light, in regard of the clearness of His knowledge; light, in regard of His unstained purity, not tainted with the least spot or dust of evil, not having anything unworthy in His nature, nor doing anything unbecoming in His actions. If, therefore, our conversations be in darkness, if we wallow in the mire of any untamed, unmortified lust, whatsoever our evangelical professions may be, or howsoever we may fancy ourselves entered a fellowship with the Father by the means of the mediator, it is but a lying imagination! For how can there be a communion between two natures so different—between light and darkness, purity and impurity, heaven and hell, God and the devil? But if our conversation be agreeable to gospel precepts, we have then a fellowship with Him. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1Jo 1:7), i.e., God has a fellowship with us in affection and delight, and we have a fellowship with God in salvation and happiness. God gives Himself to us, and we give ourselves to God. He bestows grace and pardon on us, and we resign our hearts and affections to Him. And this is a certain proof that we are interested in the expiatory virtue of the blood of Christ…
Since God is infinitely pure light without darkness and we have so much darkness mixed with our best light, we must forever despair of having any fellowship with God. The infinite distance by reason of our indwelling corruption will put us out of all hopes of ever attaining such a sovereign felicity. But this reply is prevented by this clause of the apostle: “And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”
Let not the sense of your daily infirmities animate any desponding fears. If you square your hearts and lives in all sincerity according to the gospel rule, there is a provision made for your security in the blood of Christ. God will wipe off the guilt of your defects by the virtue of the precious blood that has been shed for your reparation. The apostle here supposes remainders of sin in those that have the privilege of walking with God and interest in the blessings of the covenant.
The blood of Jesus Christ. By this is meant the last act in the tragedy of His life, His blood being the ransom of our souls, the price of our redemption, and the expiation of our sin. The shedding of His blood was the highest and most excellent part of His obedience (Phi 2:8). His whole life was a continual suffering, but His death was the top and complement of His obedience; for in that, He manifested the greatest love to God and the highest charity to man. The expiatory sacrifices under the law were always bloody; death was to be endured for sin, and blood was the life of the creature. The blood or death of Christ is the cause of our justification.
His Son. His sonship makes His blood valuable. It is blood, and so agreeable to the law in the penalty; it is the blood of the Son of God, and therefore acceptable to the lawgiver in its value. Though it was the blood of (His) humanity, yet the merit of it was derived from (His) divinity. It is not His blood as He was the son of the virgin, but His blood as He was the Son of God, which had this sovereign virtue. Therefore, it is no wonder that it should have such a mighty efficacy to cleanse believers from such vast heaps of guilt in all ages of the world…It is the blood of Christ, Who was God. (It is) valuable, not so much for the greatness of the punishment whereby it was shed, as the dignity of the person from Whom it flowed. One Son of God weighs more than millions of worlds of angels.
Cleanseth. Cleansing and purging are terms used in Scripture for justifying as well as sanctifying. The apostle interprets washing of both those acts: “But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co 6:11). The latter words are exegetical of the former; they both are the fruits of the merit of the blood of Christ. The one is the act of the Father as a judge appeased by that blood, the other the act of the Spirit as a sanctifier purchased by that blood. And so, the “washing of us in the blood of Christ,” spoken of in Revelation 1:5, is to be understood of justification. Sanctification is expressed by “making us kings and priests to God” (Rev 1:6), giving us royal and holy natures to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God. Several times the word chafar, which signifies to expiate, appease, is translated to sanctify (Exo 29:33, 36) and to cleanse (29:37); and a word that signifies cleansing is sometimes put for justifying, as in the Third Commandment: “The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exo 20:7); (guiltless means) will not cleanse or purge them. But it must be understood of cleansing from guilt because it refers to the penalty of the law. It is here used in this sense; it is spoken to them that are sanctified and have a fellowship with God that if they walk in the light, God will impute to them the blood of His Son for their absolution from the guilt of all their infirmities.
The blood of Christ cleanseth.
1. It hath a virtue to cleanse. It doth not actually cleanse all (people), but only those that believe…There is a sufficiency in it to cleanse all, and there is an efficacy in it to cleanse those that have recourse to it.
2. The blood of Christ cleanseth, not hath cleansed or shall cleanse. This notes a continued act. There is a perpetual pleading of it for us, a continual flowing of it to us. It is a “fountain set open for sin” (Zec 13:1). There is a constant streaming of virtue from this blood, as there is corruption from our nature. It was shed but once, it is applied often, and the virtue of it is as durable as the person Whose blood it is.
3. The blood of Christ cleanseth. The apostle joins nothing with this blood. It hath the sole and the sovereign virtue. There is no need for tainted merits, unbloody sacrifices, and terrifying purgatories. The whole of cleansing is ascribed to this blood, not anything to our own righteousness or works. It admits no partner with it, not the blood of martyrs nor the intercessions of saints.
4. The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. It is a universal remedy. Whatsoever hath the nature of sin, sins against the law and sins against the gospel. It absolves from the guilt of sin and shelters from the wrath of God. The distinction of venial and mortal sins hath no footing here; no sin but is mortal without it, no sin so venial but needs it. This blood purgeth not some sort of sins and leaves the rest to be expiated by a purgatory fire. This expression of the apostle, of all sin, is water enough to quench all the flames of purgatory that Rome hath kindled; what sins are not expiated by it are left not to a temporary, but an eternal death; not to a refining, but a consuming fire. So that we see these words are an antidote against fears arising by reason of our infirmities, a cordial against faintings, an encouragement to a holy walk with God. It is a short but a full panegyric of the virtue of the blood of Christ.
(1) In regard of the effect: cleansing. (2) In regard of the cause of its efficacy: It is the blood of Jesus, a savior; the blood of Christ, one appointed, anointed by God to be Jesus; the blood of the Son of God, of one in a special relation to the Father, as His only begotten, beloved Son. (3) In regard of the extensiveness of it: all sin. No guilt (is) so high but it can master (it); no stain (is) so deep but it can purge (it); being the blood of the Son of God, and therefore of infinite virtue, it has as much force to demolish mountains of guilt as level mole-hills of iniquity.
The words are a plain doctrine in themselves:
Doctrine. The blood of Christ has a perpetual virtue and does actually and perfectly cleanse believers from all guilt. This blood is the expiation of our sin and the unlocking of our chains, the price of our liberty and of the purity of our souls. The redemption we have through it is expressly called the forgiveness of sin. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin” (Eph 1:7), by a metonymy of the effect for the cause; remission was an act of redemption. When the apostle tells that “by one offering he has for ever perfected them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:14), he places this perfection in the remission of sin (vv. 17-18). He did in the offering Himself so transact our affairs and settle our concerns with God that there was no need of any other offerings to eke it out or patch it up. As the blood of the typical sacrifices purified from ceremonial, so the blood of the antitypical offering purifies from moral uncleanness. Scripture places remission wholly in this blood of the Redeemer. When Christ makes His will and institutes His Supper, He commends this as our righteousness: “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:28), according to the title and end given it in the prophet: “By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water (Zec 9:11)—no water to quench our thirst, no water to cleanse our souls, but mud and mire to defile them. This was the design of His death, as He Himself speaks: “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations” (Luk 24:46-47). And Peter, in his discourse at Cornelius’ house, comprises in this the intent of the whole Scripture: “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Act 10:43). As this was the justifying blood in the time of the prophets, so it will be the justifying blood to the end of the world. By this blood only the robes of any are made white (Rev 7:14); by this blood, the accuser of the brethren is overcome and cast in his suit (Rev 12:10-11).
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