Andreas of Caesarea : This is how John describes the Jews who dared to say: "Let his blood be upon us and upon our children," as if they could crucify Christ without being sinners. If we say such things, we deceive ourselves. — CATENA Augustine of Hippo : "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Consequently, if thou hast confessed thyself a sinner, the truth is in thee: for the Truth itself is light. Thy life hath not yet shone in perfect brightness, because there are sins in thee; but yet thou hast already begun to be enlightened, because there is in thee the confession of sins. — Ten Homilies on 1 John 1 Bede : If we say that we have no sin, etc. This sentence avails against the heresy of Pelagius, which claimed that all infants are born without sin and that the elect in this life can progress to such an extent as to be without sin. For even when the prophet says: "Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin my mother bore me" (Psalms 50), we cannot be without guilt in the world, having come into the world with guilt. But the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin so that our debts do not hold us under the power of our enemy, because the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, freely repaid on our behalf what He did not owe. For He who undeservedly paid the debt of death in the flesh for us, freed us from the debt of the death of the soul. — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Caesarius of Arles : Let no one deceive you, brothers. Not to know your sin is the worst kind of sin. — SERMONS 144.4 Cyprian : Let us then acknowledge, beloved brethren, the wholesome gift of the divine mercy; and let us, who cannot be without some wound of conscience, heal our wounds by the spiritual remedies for the cleansing and purging of our sins. Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, "Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins? " And again, in his epistle, John lays it down, and says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But if no one can be without sin, and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in those that have been healed, even after their healing, has given wholesome remedies for the curing and healing of their wounds anew! — Treatise VIII On Works and Alms Cyprian : That no one is without filth and without sin. In Job: "For who is pure from filth? Not one; even if his life be of one day on the earth." Also in the fiftieth Psalm: "Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins hath my mother conceived me." Also in the Epistle of John: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." — Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. Cyprian : After this we also entreat for our sins, saying, "And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." After the supply of food, pardon of sin is also asked for, that he who is fed by God may live in God, and that not only the present and temporal life may be provided for, but the eternal also, to which we may come if our sins are forgiven; and these the Lord calls debts, as He says in His Gospel, "I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me." And how necessarily, how providently and salutarily, are we admonished that we are sinners, since we are compelled to entreat for our sins, and while pardon is asked for from God, the soul recalls its own consciousness of sin! Lest any one should flatter himself that he is innocent, and by exalting himself should more deeply perish, he is instructed and taught that he sins daily, in that he is bidden to entreat daily for his sins. Thus, moreover, John also in his epistle warns us, and says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." In his epistle he has combined both, that we should entreat for our sins, and that we should obtain pardon when we ask. Therefore he said that the Lord was faithful to forgive sins, keeping the faith of His promise; because He who taught us to pray for our debts and sins, has promised that His fatherly mercy and pardon shall follow. — Treatise IV. On the Lord's Prayer. Didymus the Blind : Since God is light, there is no darkness in him at all, and he has nothing to do with darkness. The person who is enlightened by his light walks in the light, according to the words of the Savior himself: "While you have the light, walk in the light, lest the darkness take hold of you." Anyone who walks in the darkness of sin but claims that his mind is not darkened and that he has a relationship with God is lying. — COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN Gregory the Dialogist : Finally, it must be asked why in our Redeemer Himself, the Mediator between God and men, the Spirit appeared through a dove, but in the disciples through fire? Certainly the only-begotten Son of God is the judge of the human race. But who could endure His justice if, before gathering us through gentleness, He had wished to examine our faults through zeal for righteousness? Therefore, made man for men, He showed Himself gentle to men. He did not wish to strike sinners, but to gather them. First He wished to correct gently, so that He might have those whom He would afterward save in judgment. Therefore the Spirit ought to have appeared over Him in a dove, since He was not coming to strike sins now through zeal, but still to tolerate them through gentleness. But on the contrary, the Holy Spirit ought to have been shown over the disciples in fire, so that those who were simply men, and therefore sinners, He might kindle as spiritual servants against themselves, and the sins which God would spare through gentleness, they themselves might punish in themselves through repentance. For neither could they themselves be without sin who were clinging to the heavenly teaching, as John attests, who says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Therefore He came in fire upon men, but appeared in a dove upon the Lord, because the sins which the Lord piously tolerates through gentleness, we ought to carefully observe through zeal for righteousness, and always burn away with the fire of repentance. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30 Hilary of Arles : If you say that you are not a sinner but act otherwise, you are deceiving yourself. — INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN Leo the Great : It is pride to presume that it is easy not to sin, since the presumption itself is sin. — SERMONS 41.1 Oecumenius : If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. "If we confess our sins." John repeats the statement, using it more richly, so that the frequency of the produced refutation may restrain them by the degree of sin itself and invite them to confession. However, John indicated how much good arises from confession when he said: "Say your sins first, so that you may be justified." (Is. 43:26) However, it was also the custom of the Teacher of this beloved disciple to repeat the same things more frequently, first moderately, then more perfectly, wishing to make the understanding of the words more effective, and striving to instill their habit into the listeners. Indeed, John called God faithful. This means "truthful". For "Πιστός", that is, "faithful", is said not only of one to whom something is entrusted, but also of one who is confirmed in truth, who by his truthful manner causes others to become partakers of this as well. Therefore, God is called faithful in this way: just, indeed, as one who does not reject those who approach him, regardless of the sins they have committed. Therefore, he undoubtedly forgives the sins of those who run to holy baptism through repentance, whether they have sinned against him or against another. There, if we confess, John says, we shall obtain appropriate forgiveness. But if we shamelessly say that we have not sinned, we shall commit a double evil, both showing ourselves to be liars and slandering God, who surpasses all truth, with falsehood. For He Himself says through the Prophet: "They have repaid me evil for good." (Ps. 109:5) And again from John's own mouth: "If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike me?" (Jn. 18:23) If, with these things being so, we still say that we have not sinned, we deny his words, which are spirit and life. (Jn. 6:64) "For the words that I speak," he says, "are spirit and life." And if we no longer have his word dwelling in us: what could be more serious? — Commentary on 1 John Tertullian : If we confess our sins, faithful and just is He to remit them to us, and utterly purify us from every unrighteousness." Does he say "from impurity? "(No): or else, if that is so, then (He "utterly purifies" us) from "idolatry" too. — On Modesty