Walking in the Light: 1 John 1:1-10
[Note: This is part 1 in a six-part series looking at the First Epistle of John. Some of the material is adapted from my commentary That You May Know: The First Letter of John. During this series, we won’t necessarily touch on every single verse, but will look at the major messages that 1 John presents.]
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
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. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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. If we say 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 our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:1-10).
“Can I know for certain that I’m saved? If so, how?” This is a common question for many believers, whether young or old in the faith. It often springs from a time when a believer falls into sin sometimes repeatedly. They begin to wonder, “Maybe I’m not saved after all. After all, aren’t I supposed to have victory? How can I know?” First John was written for such a person, and John’s answer is an unequivocal “Yes! You can know.” (By the way, the phrase know that appears some 18 times in this short letter.) Before diving into the letter and learning what we can know (and how we can know), a few preliminary matters:
Background
Though some critics dispute that the apostle John, the “Beloved Disciple,” wrote 1 John, there is no real debate about the letter’s authorship among serious biblical scholars, and no valid reason exists to reject the evidence of his authorship. John probably wrote this letter about 85-95 A.D. (or about 50 years after Christ’s death and resurrection).
By the time of John’s writing, many false teachings had emerged, and John sought to combat them, by laying down evidences that would distinguish true believers from the false teachers. Along those lines, we must be careful in reading this letter. John uses many familiar contrasting themes such as love/hate, light/darkness, truth/lies, belief/unbelief (themes which he introduces on the book of John). He often uses stark, direct sentences to contrast these ideas, and if one is not careful it would be easy to miss the fact that John speaks of consistent practice, not individual events.
Jesus: The Word of Life
John begins his letter in the same way he starts the Gospel of John—focusing on Christ. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (vv. 1-2). There are several things we should notice here, even in his introduction.
He portrays Jesus as the Word of Life. In John, he called Jesus ‘the Word’ (John 1:1-18), and Jesus proclaimed Himself as the Life. Here, John combines those two, giving us the idea that Jesus speaks life into a dead and fallen world—and a dead and fallen soul. He alone is the source of life—He is life itself. The life that John speaks of here is zōē. It refers not to the biological functions of life (bios), but to the spiritual. When God created man, He breathed “the breath of life” into Adam. It’s this very life that Christ has along with the Father, and that man has lost because of sin. It is “life to the full” (John 10:10), the way life was meant to be lived, in vital dependence on and communion with the Father.
He identifies Jesus as being uncreated. As he does in his gospel, John asserts that Jesus was “from the beginning.” Uncreated, He exists as the eternal Word of God. This is in contrast to false teachers of the day who claimed that “Jesus” was a created being, and the “Christ” was a spirit that came upon Him (but more on that later). As he does in all his writings, John says that to understand Jesus, we must take Him as He is—both God and man.
He claims that he and the other apostles were eyewitnesses of the things they speak. Why is this important? Contrary to those today who discount the value of eyewitness testimony, the testimony provided by John and the others is valuable. John is not writing about some fanciful legend. He is writing about that which he (and others) have seen, heard, lived with, walked with, and touched. He is subtly telling his readers, “I was there. I know what Jesus is like.”
He clearly states his purpose for writing. He tells his readers, “What we have seen and heard we are proclaiming to so that you may have fellowship with us—and thus with the Father and the Son” (v. 3, paraphrase). John wanted his readers to be in “fellowship” with the apostles and with God. The Greek work is koinōnia, which denotes a sharing with, communion with. Those in fellowship with the apostles, the church, and God are sharing and participating in the very life of Christ. When people join that fellowship, John says that it makes their (his and the other believers’) joy complete.
Maintaining Fellowship
Before launching into the marks of a true believer John touches on a very important issue. Once in fellowship with the Lord and His disciples, how does one maintain that fellowship? Or does one even need to maintain it? John assumes the answer to the second question is “yes,” since he immediately starts with a discussion of how to maintain fellowship.
His first statement, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (v. 5), is not just an axiom to be remembered. It has relevance. Since God is [the source of] all light, if we claim to have fellowship with Him, we must walk in the light. God does not have fellowship with darkness, John says. So, we come to the first of many “if/then” statements that John gives us.
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 (vv. 6-7).
His argument is clear and to the point. If we are to have fellowship with God, we are to walk in the light. If we instead walk in darkness, “we lie and do not practice the truth.” As long as we walk in the light, however, our fellowship remains, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
One might ask John, “What do you mean by walk in the light?” His next statements, in verses 8-10, explain what he means. There has been much controversy surrounding these statements, so we are going to look at them carefully.
The first thing we should notice about these statements (and in fact all of this chapter is John’s constant use of we. He does not say “you” or “I”. He includes himself in the group of people he is talking to. With that said, verse 8 tells us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” That statement seems clear. If “we” (again John is including himself) have no sin, we are self-deceived. Period. No believer of Christ can rightly claim to have no sin.
Verse 9 continues with another statement in the same logic: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There could be a ‘But” starting the sentence, since it is contrasting the previous one. In any case, John’s message is clear. If we say we have no sin, we are self-deceived, and the truth is not in us—therefore we are not walking in the light. However, if we confess our sin (agree that it is sin and forsake it), our sin will be forgiven. Not only that, but we will continue to be cleansed of unrighteousness.
At first, verse 10 seems to be a repeat of verse 8. However, the thrust is on the last part of the sentence instead of the first. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him (Jesus) a liar. Why is that so? Because He has declared that all have sinned, and even believers still sin. John’s logic in verses 8-10, then shows that Christians are not perfect, and should not ever attempt to claim sinlessness. While some denominations teach that possibility for the believer, such a teaching is foreign and in direct contradiction to John’s message.
Takeaways from This Passage
What’s the primary takeaway from this passage? The most important one, in the life of the believer, is this: We will all stumble and fall in our journey with Christ. We are learning and growing. To maintain fellowship with Him is to walk in the light, admitting that we are not perfect, we don’t have it all together. To do anything else is to deny the need for His grace. And His grace is offered to us abundantly. Grace, of course, is not a license to continue to sin, but it is a warm hug of accepting who we are and encouraging us to continue the journey. In His grace, we will grow, we will mature, we will become like Him. But along the way, we will fall—ideally less and less as time goes on. The next time you are tempted to pretend that you have it all together in His presence, remember to first turn on the light.
