1 Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Does this Passage mean, as all the present day professed Christians believe, that we must Walk around (as Christians) and Constantly admit we have Sin dwelling in us that is bringing about the actual commission of Sin daily in thought, word and deed? AND if we merely Keep (on) Confessing it, via 1Jh1:9, we will be 'Cleansed of our Sins even while we are committing them! Could the Apostle John had meant such a thing in lite of his proclamation in 1John3:8-9

 1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

The words 'committeth and Doth' in the KJV are translated form the Greek word 'Poieo, meaning to Produce, bear, Perform, bring forth, keep and work. Note that is NEVER translated; PRACTICE. (as all the modern versions render it) In other words John is saying that a person truly 'Born of God (Saved) does not Produce the (bad) fruit of sin in their life. One who does produce, commit (bad tree-bad fruit) sin is NOT of God but of the devil. Therefore walking around confessing that you have sin (dwelling in you) all day is NOT what 1Jh1:8 means. Jesus said to the religious people in John 8:34 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. This is the same word, 'Poieo that John used (and the reason he used it!) Because this is what Jesus taught! Whoever is bringing forth the fruit of sin 'practicing it' is of the devil. Simple truth, obscured by fallacies and excuses people love so they can defend their sin.

The Preposition in 1Jh1:8 is the EXACT same one used in verse 10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  Ou, is the Greek preposition in these passages, translated: no, never, have not, cannot. As in 1Jh3:5 'And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.  Here the preposition is used properly as 'No, there is 'NO SIN' in Jesus. In 1Jh1:8, 10 John is arguing against the Gnostics (of his time) who claimed to have 'NEVER sinned, he is telling them that IF you claim (say) you have NEVER (have not) Sinned you're a liar and there is no truth in you. Sadly the KJV translators believed in the Myth of indwelling Moral depravity and carefully selected this passage to miss-apply the meaning to IMPLY man must admit he has 'sin in him' (nature of sin, depravity within) and he requires a constant cleansing to 'Cover it ---- 'the blood of Christ, so 'If I merely 'Confess this fact (of sin dwelling in me) I will be perpetually cleansed and 'under the blood. Which is exactly what most professed Christians are doing on a daily bases and calling anyone who denies John means this a LIAR with no truth. Again, the simple fact of the Scriptural statement settles the issue, but because they love to defend their sin, they reject it.  

In the entire text John is saying:

1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Here is the crux of the matter, if you're walking in darkness (sinning, producing sin) and claim to have fellowship with Christ, you're lying to yourself and have no truth in you. The ONLY way that His Blood will Cleanse you from all sin (past sin, Rom3:25) is if you are NOW Walking in the Light (not sinning, because he who sins is of the devil!) You cannot possibly have a Safe Cover of Cleansing while you are in the commission of known and deliberate sin. That would contradict everything Jesus said, as the following:

 Mat 6:22-23 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

And if you could merely 'sin-confess, sin-confess claiming 1Jh1:9 all day, that would make Jesus a Minister of Sin, Gal2:17, and worse 'Trample His Blood, Heb10:29  counting it as a common thing that has no more power to redeem you from the corruption of sin than the blood of animals!  John certainly understands that a person in their initial repentance must FORSAKE their Sin, not merely 'CONFESS it. (Prov28:13) So he could not have meant that a 'Christian is constantly sinning and in need of confession daily because a person Committing (producing) that much sin is certainly NOT of God, as he said in chapter three. Rather than saying there no truth in a person who will not constantly confess they have sin in them all day long, why not ADMIT there's no Truth in you for not KEEPING His commands to 'Go and sin no more!'

 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

The concept of presumptuous and non-presumptuous Sins is lost to the present day professed Church goer. But its present in the mind of the Apostle that there is BIG difference between Sins done in ignorance, mistakes, miss-steps, faults, Gal6:1, Js5:16, and Sinning willfully against your knowledge of the truth. Heb10:26

 Num 15:30-31 But the soul that doeth sin presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

 John is speaking of 'Confessing our mistakes, faults, sometimes called 'Trespasses in scripture. Even though he is using  the word 'Hamartia (sin, offense) in 1Jh1:9, 'Trespass, fault, offense' are used in Scripture to express BOTH types of sin, the deviation from the truth: 'Paraptoma or plainly 'Hamartia, sin, offense. Look it up if you doubt the word Sin 'hamartia, is used in a wide range of ways throughout scripture. We must examine the entire Context of each passage to understand its meaning. As we are doing here, John by no means could be telling Christians they can Sin willfully, daily, because there's always 'sin in them, and just merely 'Confess as you go along and hope you remember to Keep confessing (daily) lest your caught in death with an 'un-confessed sin!  Absolute Foolishness! We will never be Perfect in Knowledge of free from ignorance in this life, which makes us prone to mistakes in judgment. BUT we can certainly be FREE INDEED from the corrupting influence of vile sins that will disqualify us from the Kingdom if we have Crucified our evil passions and desires in Repentance, then Sin shall not have dominion over you because you have put it to death with Christ when you repented.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom6:1-11

In this manner the old man (indulgent passions and desires) is put to death in Christ once and for all, not to be repeated, in the process of Repentance, BEFORE a person can be granted forgiveness of past sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as a Vessel cleaned and scrubbed, FIT for the Master's use. The 1Jh1:8-9 folks have never experienced this, they think Jesus did it for them and they trust in His work to make up for their lack of effort to die to sin and live for Righteousness as the Bible directs. 1Pet2:22-24 As Paul goes on to say you do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but as instruments of Righteousness to God. Sin no longer reigns in your mortal body to obey its lust because you have put it to death in repentance. Col3:5, It happens by you DOING your part to 'Work out your Salvation, Add to your faith, Run the race with endurance to the end' and Him doing His to 'energize your efforts through Grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and live soberly righteously in this present age! Titus2:11 BOTH dynamics must be at work in our Faith or you will fall back into slavery to sin and be lost. Because you are a Slave to WHO you OBEY:

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Rom6:16-18

As Jesus Himself said: 'You commit sin (poieo, produce bad fruit) you are a SLAVE to Sin'  It's very dangerous to assume you can commit such sins as are said to disqualify you from the Kingdom, 1Cor6:9-10, Gal5:19-21, and maintain your 'supposed relationship with Christ by merely 'confessing them everyday. Such an unfounded assumption is going to put your soul in Perdition if you don't abandon it now and go through a real Repentance in which you will be Cleared of your wrong doings and empty of your guile, deceit and double-minded ways. Real repentance results in Purity of heart and Obedience to the Truth.

 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear (pure) in this matter. 2Cor7:10-11

Clearly such a repentance produces Diligence, a clearing of wrong doing, a vehement desire change, fear of God and indignation toward sin. In it you PROVE your repentance by your Deeds (Acts26:18-20) and Purity of heart toward God. MUCH more than a 'confession and a sin-confess relationship you THINK is Salvation.

You ask, 'Does ONE sin, one act of immorality, uncleanness, drunkenness, automatically disqualify me form the Kingdom. YES ... It only took ONE with Eve in the Garden, a single act of willful transgression of God's Known Command is all it takes. BUT this is ONLY if you were REALLY Saved in the first place! If you have Never stopped sinning to begin with (which most professed Christians have not) you were never Redeemed or born again of the Spirit. So in your mind, this ONE sin disqualification seems horribly harsh, since all the 'Christians you know are sinning daily by their own admission. (including you) thus its Impossible that such a thing can be true otherwise NO ONE would be Saved. But if you were genuinely in Christ this would be easy to understand:

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace,
Heb10:26-29

See, Grace raised the bar, not lowered it (like your pastors keep telling you) because Grace is empowerment to live that godly life God requires, so now there's NO excuse to live in sin and ruin the rest of life. BUT you have to OBEY what God has said and Come to Him on His terms (not yours) Come Clean with Him in Repentance and stop playing the sin-confess game, finding excuses in the Bible for sinning. It's not that you CAN'T Stop Sinning its that you WON'T Stop. Your addicted to it of your own doing, by the choices you've made over time to sell yourself into Slavery. Many in this position of sin-confess, 1Jh1:8, excuses, no one's perfect, sin nature hoax, have gone Reprobate in their minds and are beyond true redemption. They Mock God's moral laws and scoff His Commands to clean up their act, but everyone will 'Reap what they Sow' no matter what they THINK is true. Your in the same boat if you argue for sin, its your Choice now to examine the Truth and make up your own mind WHO you will follow. 

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1Jh1:10

It is of the upmost importance to understand this in our world of greasy grace, receive Jesus, repeat after me, the Children of God and the children of the devil are KNOWN (manifest) by what they DO! Whoever is not a good tree Producing good fruit is NOT of God! It cannot be Both ways, a little bit of each (good and bad) its one or the other, righteousness or sin, no darkness at all … If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 1Jh1:6 'You cannot claim to be 'Cleaned of all sin while you walk in darkness and you cannot step in and out of the Light as though forgiveness is a revolving door that never stops spinning.

By Mike D