1 John 1:5-10
On Wednesday nights over the next few weeks will be studying the letters of John. The SBC has what is called January Bible Study and basically it is Sunday School material helping assist in a special study. This year’s material is written by Dr. Daniel Akin. (Having spent time in the
Beginning in verse 5 John says that he and the other apostles heard a message from Christ. Having walked with Christ he could say that he heard Jesus speak it and that the message comes directly from Christ. Now John is proclaiming it to the church. First God is Light. He is truth and life and holiness and righteousness. There is no darkness whatsoever in him. There is not a hint of sin, death, filth, or corruption. What comfort should we receive from the fact that there is no darkness in Christ? What warning should we receive in the fact that there is no darkness in Christ?
In verse 6 John begins a series of warnings. And these warnings seem to have their basis in verse 5. First if we say we have fellowship with Christ but walk in darkness. If Christ is God and God is light then Christ is Light. Therefore Christ cannot walk in darkness. The image of darkness is death or not possessing life or truth. To not possess life or the truth is to be apart from Christ. There is no way to walk with Christ and to be in darkness. John says that we lie and do not practice the truth. We are evil at heart because we are not of Christ. We are not made new. To be evil at heart is to be separated from Christ by our sin nature. Christ is life and all separated from Christ is evil. Do not practice the truth. We do not seek to live in truth. We are not immersed in truth. Our daily lives are not representative of truth.
Verse 7 says but if we walk in the light. The emphasis here as in verse 6 with walk is what your daily life consistently looks like. This is not your best day but most days. Do you regularly practice the truth? Do you regularly seek to love and enjoy God? Do you regularly seek to make Christ first in your life? It is through Christ our light that we have life. The most visible sign of our life in him is our fellowship with one another. Some have said that the greatest reason the world recognized a difference in Christians is because they came across cultural and racial boundaries as one. There was a visible unity that could be seen in them that was not seen anywhere else. Do we fellowship with one another outside of scheduled church activities? Are we so busy with “church” that we do not have time to just be with each other? Do we spend time together in our little hideout without welcoming and loving those outside of Christ in order to share the love of Christ with them? If we walk in the light, then the blood of Jesus has and forever will cleanse us from all sin. This is accomplished and continuous. It has happened and continues to happen. Our guilt has been removed and so has the stain of that guilt.
In verse 8 if we say that we have no sin we are sorely deceived. If you say that you have no sin then you are deceiving yourself. You are leading yourself astray. We are then the cause of our lack of knowledge of Christ. The truth is not in us. If we say we are without sin apart from Christ then the darkness and not truth is in us. Only Christ or God has a sinless character and not us. It is his sinless character which gives us our salvation. His righteousness is imputed (definition #2) upon us. What is the advantage of imputed righteousness? Would we be able to earn our salvation even if Christ’s death just gave us a clean slate to begin?
In verse 9 John continues with if we confess our sins. John is saying here let me give you a hypothetical you might want to make reality. If you confess your sins. If you admit your guilt. If you stop being so prideful and just admit that you are weak and unable to not sin. This is what your faithful God will do for you. If you admit your weakness and faults and the fact that you are rebelling against God this is what he will do for you. In his righteousness he will do what he promised. What did God promise? He would forgive our sins. He would forget that we rebelled. Not everyone else’s who has never repented but yours. Their day will come when they repent. If you repent and seek forgiveness then your sins are forgiven. Not only will he forgive those sins we have committed, but he will also cleanse to prevent any other sin tarnishing our appearance before him. Yes we will sin and need to seek forgiveness but we will be found pure because we will be cleansed, scoured bleached by God. It is through the character of God that our salvation came and was secured. It is his righteousness and not our own.
In verse 10 to close, if we say that we have not sinned. After the previous two warnings (verses 6 and 8), he puts it quite succinctly, “You have sinned.” We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) But if we say we have not sinned then we make him to be a liar. Do you desire to contradict the word of God? Do you truly desire to make Christ appear a fool before other people? He is not a liar but you are misrepresenting him before others. But if you say that you have not sinned then truly His word is not in you.
Do you represent Light or Darkness?
Do you represent the truth of Christ or the lies of Satan and darkness?
If you were to share the gospel with someone would they see the truth presented in you or darkness?
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