The first advantage of an uncondemning heart is what John calls “confidence before God.” This must be understood, not in the sense of confidence of things in general, but in the sense of confidence of one’s standing before God and therefore of access to Him. The Greek phrase literally says, “confidence toward God,” meaning that confidence by which we turn toward Him trustingly. It is one fruit of justification in the Christian life (Rom. 5:2).
This is the second time in the letter that the word “confidence” (parresia) has been used, and it will occur twice more. In the first instance and in the third it refers to confidence before God in the day of His judgment: “And now, little children, abide in him, that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming” (2:28); and “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment” (4:17). In this instance and in the last (5:14) it refers to confidence in prayer. It is, as Westcott says, “the boldness with which the son appears before the Father, and not that with which the accused appears before the Judge.”1 Dodd calls attention to the fact that in ancient times the word rendered “confidence” stood for the most valued right of a citizen in a free state to speak his mind. He adds that “although the meaning of the word became wider and more vague in course of time, yet there always hung about it this special association with the thought of freedom of speech, unhampered by fear or shame.”2
It is not only confidence in being able to approach God freely and speak our mind that should delight us, however. This would be wonderful enough even if this were all, but it is not. There is more. Not only does the one whose heart does not condemn him have confidence in being able to approach God, John says. He also has confidence that his prayers will be answered: “And whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
This, of course, is a most remarkable statement. For it is a claim that prayer will be answered, not just for some Christians in some instances, but in every instance for any Christian who will meet certain conditions. The conditions are: 1) that we keep His commandments, and 2) that we do what pleases Him.
It is possible that these two conditions are identical. Certainly they are related, for keeping the commandments of God is to do what is pleasing to Him. Still there is probably a difference. To “keep his commandments” is to adhere to an external standard. That is, it involves certain objective statements. John is going to refer to two of them in a summary way in the next verse. To “do what pleases him” may go beyond this in indicating a desire to serve and please God even in those areas where no specific commandment applies. In this case, it would be the attitude of a child seeking to please his father in little thoughtful ways, as well as by doing all that the father has specifically commanded. It is when these two elements are present—doing His commandments and seeking to please Him—that the Christian can pray with total confidence.
1B. F. Westcott, The Epistles of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1960), 118.
2C. H. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1946), 93.