Do you claim to be a believer but walk in darkness?
Light (1 John 1:5–7). John’s first answer to the question of how believers can have fellowship with God was simple. God is Light. If we walk in the light, we will have fellowship.
Often when John spoke of light (and he used the term 30 times in his writings), he was quoting Jesus: “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12; see 9:5; 12:46). The essential nature of God as light sets God apart from man. Man’s sinful condition has made the world lie in darkness. Even worse, “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (3:19). Confronted with the nature of God, men twist and struggle to turn away from such holiness. “Light” and “darkness” are moral terms in John’s writings. The character of God is expressed as light; the character of sinful man is expressed as darkness.
So in this first letter, John confronted us with a disconcerting reality. If we are to be comfortable with God and live in intimate fellowship with Him, we must “walk in the light, as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). Our values, our behavior, our attitudes, our commitments must be in harmony with God’s character rather than with the natural passions of fallen humanity.
But this seems to raise a terrible barrier.
- If we must walk in light to have fellowship, how can we, who feel sin’s pull and all too often give in to temptations, ever be comfortable with God?
- Isn’t each sin a retreat to darkness?
- If sinlessness is the avenue to fellowship, who then can stand in the presence of God?
But John was not talking of sinlessness. “If we walk in the light,” he said, “the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (v. 7). Even those walking in the light need forgiveness, and cleansing from sins they commit. While it is possible for us in Christ not to sin, we can never claim that it is impossible to sin.
John’s primary target here seems to be those who “claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness” (v. 6). These men and women speak glowingly of their closeness to God and the fellowship they enjoy—and yet make a practice of sin! Their lifestyle is not godly; it is patterned after the ways of the false teachers described by Jude and Peter. No one who makes a practice of sin can claim fellowship with God. God’s nature is light, not darkness. Those who walk in light as He is in the light may fall, but they will quickly turn away from that old lifestyle to find forgiveness in Jesus.
We might sum up John’s teaching this way; if the direction of your life is toward the Source of light, you will find forgiveness for your failures and inadequacies. But if the direction of your life is toward the darkness, then you may be sure you have nothing in common with God.
Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The teacher’s commentary (pp. 1048–1049). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
John’s primary target here seems to be those who “claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness” (v. 6). These men and women speak glowingly of their closeness to God and the fellowship they enjoy—and yet make a practice of sin! Their lifestyle is not godly; it is patterned after the ways of the false teachers described by Jude and Peter. No one who makes a practice of sin can claim fellowship with God. God’s nature is light, not darkness. Those who walk in light as He is in the light may fall, but they will quickly turn away from that old lifestyle to find forgiveness in Jesus.
We might sum up John’s teaching this way; if the direction of your life is toward the Source of light, you will find forgiveness for your failures and inadequacies. But if the direction of your life is toward the darkness, then you may be sure you have nothing in common with God.
Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. (1987). The teacher’s commentary (pp. 1048–1049). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
