1 João 1
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Spurgeon says "See how (the apostle John) does hammer this nail as if he will drive it fast! How he rings this bell that it may toll the death-knell of every doubt!" Kenneth Wuest paraphrases it "That which we have seen with discernment and at present is in our mind's eye, and that which we have heard and at present is ringing in our ears, we are reporting (Eerdmans Publishing - used by permission) Heard (akouo) is in the perfect tense which speaks of an abiding effect. It's as if Jesus' words gave him "divine tinnitus," for they remained ringing in his ears. When John wrote this letter, some 60 years had passed since he had last heard the voice of Jesus and yet, the words of His Lord continued to be a vivid truth in his heart! THOUGHT - Imagine that you had heard Jesus speak! Would not His majestic words continue to reverberate and resonate in your mind for the rest of your days on earth? I think they would! May we go to His Word desiring to hear from Him even as John first heard Him. And may this "foretaste" make us long for (and live for) eternity future when we shall have the holy privilege of hearing His voice...forever and ever! Amen! Adam
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Spurgeon - When fellowship is the sweetest, your desire is the strongest that others may have fellowship with you; and when, truly, your fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, you earnestly wish that the whole Christian brotherhood may share the blessing with you. Click here to see James Smith's seven part description of our fellowship with God's Son. The whole purpose of the Christian message can be summarized in a single word—fellowship. -- Daniel Rowlands, Welsh revivalist (see explanation) Hiebert emphasizes that "The nature of what is mutually shared molds the nature of the group. Here, as in Acts 2:42+, the intimate bond of fellowship that unites the group is their common faith in Christ, based on the apostolic message. By its very nature the new life in Christ creates and stimulates the desire for such fellowship. The Christian life is a call not for isolation but for active participation with other believers in this new life." (Online An Exposition of 1 John 1:1-4 - excellent) Acts 2:42+ They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Peter Toon notes that in secular Greek koinonia had several secular uses - It was used of a business partnership, where two or more persons share the same business and are thus closely connected in work. Also it was used of marriage, of the shared life of two persons, a man and a woman, together. Further, it was sometimes used of a perceived relatedness to a (FALSE) god, such as Zeus. Finally, it was used to refer to the spirit of generous sharing in contrast to the spirit of selfish acquiring. (Fellowship in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology) Webster says that share implies that one as the original holder grants to another the partial use, enjoyment, or possession of a thing though it may merely imply a mutual use or possession. THOUGHT - When one considers the secular Greek use of koinonia to describe the marriage, one begins to get a glimmer of the incredible privilege we as finite believers have to be in communion with the infinitely holy God, Father, Son and Spirit. Glory! Oh Lord, open our eyes to the breadth and length and height and depth of this incredible truth, the unsearchable riches of the truth of our intimate sharing of the life of the Almighty might motivate us to live holy lives for the glory of the Lamb in a world which has gone "AWOL" from God! Amen. Is not fellowship with God in a sense a return to the idyllic sinless setting of the Garden of Eden, when apparently God walked with Adam in perfect fellowship! Satan as a snake tempted Adam to sin and with that sin the perfect union was broken. Now through the redemptive work of the Second Adam, Christ Jesus, believers can "walk with God". Neander writes that "Through Christ God closes up the chasm that separated Him from the human race, and imparts Himself to them in the communion of the divine life." Peter uses the related word koinonos explaining that He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers (koinonos) of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2Pe 1:4+) Comment: Peter is not saying believers become "little gods" but he is saying that we are sharers in His nature. As new creatures in Christ we have His Spirit within us and we are in the process of sanctification, growing in conformity to Christ (2Co 3:18+), with the hope (hope sure, not hope so = assurance) that one day in glory we will be like Him (1Jn 3:2+). Marvin
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Spurgeon has a thought that may surprise you, explaining that... THE twelve apostles were favored with the most intimate intercourse with our blessed Lord; but I can hardly say that they entered into fellowship with Him during His life on earth. Each of them might have been asked the question that our Savior put to one of them: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” (Jn 14:9) But after Christ had ascended to heaven, and the Spirit of God had rested upon His disciples, and in proportion as the Spirit did rest upon them, all that they had seen, and heard, and handled of their Lord became a means of communion between Himself and them. They were then able to realize what a very near, and dear, and deep, and familiar communion had been possible to them through having spent some three years or so with Him in public and in private, and having actually seen Him, and heard His voice, and felt the touch of His hand. Now, since their literal hearing, seeing, and touching Christ did not create communion with Him apart from the work of the Spirit, we need not so much regret, as we might otherwise have done, that we never saw, or heard, or touched the Savior, because we also, without seeing, or hearing, or touching Him, can believe in Him, and rejoice that He said, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Jn 20:29KJV+) And, further, as it is through faith, rather than by sight (2Cor 5:7+), or hearing, or feeling, that the Spirit of God operates upon us, when we believe the witness of the apostles concerning Christ, the Spirit of God will bless their message to us, and we shall enter into the apostles’ fellowship. What the apostles learnt, they learnt in order that they might tell it to others. All that John saw, he was prepared to speak of according to his ability, that others might have fellowship with him; and, dear friends, remember that, if you ever learn anything of Christ, — if you have any enjoyment of His presence at any time, — it is not for yourself alone, but for others also to share with you. When fellowship is the sweetest, your desire is the strongest that others may have fellowship with you; and when, truly, your fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, you earnestly wish that the whole Christian brotherhood may share the blessing with you. My great desire, just now, is not so much to preach to you as to lead you, by the Holy Spirit’s gracious assistance, into the actual enjoyment of that which the apostles possessed, that, believing, as we do, their testimony, we might thereby enter into their fellowship. (Read Spurgeon's entire message - Fellowship with the Father and the Son) Robert Neighbour - One in Fellowshiping Saints "Thus saith the High and Lofty One, I will dwell with him" (Isa. 57:15). 1. The Father Fellowships Saints "Our fellowship is with the Father" (1 John 1:3). The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the promise that the Father would come in and take up His abode with us; this is exactly what the Father does. If God is Father, His sons have the right of approach unto Him. For this cause we may draw nigh in full assurance of faith. It is the Father's joy to be with His sons, no matter where they go, or in what straits they are cast, He is with them. He tenderly says, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." 2. The Son Fellowships Saints "Our fellowship is with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). The Lord Jesus said, "If any man open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Jesus Christ gave promise, "Lo, I am with you alway." Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil for He is with us. 3. The Spirit Fellowships Saints "The communion of the Holy Ghost" (2Cor. 13:14). The Spirit of God is both with us and in us, He never leaves us nor forsakes us, wherever we go He is there, ready to help and to strengthen, ready to fellowship and to favor. It may seem simple that God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit alike fellowship saints, but be it ever so simple, it assures us that each of the Trinity is very God, for only God could fellowship all saints, of all ages and of every clime — only God could satisfy them with His love. Vance Havner on fellowship... We have fellowship...(1John 1:3, 7). Precious indeed is the fellowship of those whose citizenship is in heaven. 1. We have fellowship with the Saviour: "God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:9). 2. We have the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1). 3. There is the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10). 4. We enjoy the fellowship of the saints (1 John 1:7; Acts 2:42). 5. There is the fellowship of service; "the fellowship of ministering to the saints" (2 Cor. 8:4). But there is also a fellowship of Satan: "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Eph. 5:11). "If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6). "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" (2 Cor. 6:14). We cannot have a heavenly fellowship if we allow a hindering fellowship. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" --1 John 5:21 H G Bosch gives a touching illustration of fellowship as the "sharing of hearts" - In 1765 John Fawcett was called to pastor a very small congregation at Wainsgate, England. He labored there diligently for 7 years, but his salary was so meager that he and his wife could scarcely obtain the necessities of life. Though the people were poor, they compensated for this lack by their faithfulness and warm fellowship. Then Dr. Fawcett received a call from a much larger church in London, and after lengthy consideration decided to accept the invitation. As his few possessions were being placed in a wagon for moving, many of his parishioners came to say good-bye. Once again they pleaded with him to reconsider. Touched by this great outpouring of love, he and his wife began to weep. Finally Mrs. Fawcett exclaimed, “O John, I just can’t bear this. They need us so badly here.” “God has spoken to my heart, too!” he said. “Tell them to unload the wagon! We cannot break these wonderful ties of fellowship.” This experience inspired Fawcett to write a hymn. “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love! The fellowship of kindred mind is like to that above.” (Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times) How Important is Fellowship - During World War II, the enemy conducted experiments to find the most effective type of punishment for eliciting information from prisoners. They found that solitary confinement was the most effective. After a few days of solitary confinement, most men would tell all. That is why we need fellowship—without it we too become easy prey for temptation and abandonment of our values. Although this illustration describes the need of humanity in general, we can easily relate this truth to the need of Christian's sharing their lives with one another. (Adapted from Michael Green) People or Things? - After many months of waiting, a Russian girl finally obtained a visa to visit her relatives in Canada for three months. She arrived in Canada and was shown around the various attractions, amusements, and entertainments. The young Russian seemed immensely impressed by the amount of things that people were wrapped up with. As the three months drew to a close, everyone expected her to defect and seek political asylum in Canada. She surprised them all by expressing a desire to return to her family in Russia and the small group of believers to which they belonged. She explained that in North America everyone seems wrapped up in “things” and doesn’t have time for people. In Russia, they don’t have as many material possessions and consequently they need each other. She wanted to return to a place where people relied on each other, where fellowship was important. (Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Baker Book House) AND INDEED OUR FELLOWSHIP IS WITH THE FATHER, AND WITH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST: kai e koinonia de e emetera meta tou patros kai meta tou huiou autou Iesou Christou.: fellowship: 1Jn 1:7 2:23,24 Jn 14:20-23 17:3,11,21 1Co 1:9,30 2Co 13:14 Php 2:1 3:10 Heb 3:14 with His Son: 1Jn 5:10,11 Col 1:13 1Th 1:10 1 John 1 Resources Related Passages: 2Cor 13:14+ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 1 Corinthians 1:9+ God is faithful, by Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER AND SON And indeed our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ - Our (emeteros) is the possessive pronoun of the first person. You are probably asking "So what?" The Amplified has "And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians]." I like that last addendum that fellowship with God is a distinguishing mark of our faith! I think I have underestimated the significance of this incredible truth! Hiebert explains that this pronoun OUR "is a strong one; it is not the genitive of the personal pronoun but rather the first person plural of the possessive pronoun, emphasizing an actual mutual possession. This plural may be understood as restricted to the apostles, but it is more natural to hold that John deliberately chose this form to include his readers with him in this further aspect of their fellowship. No verb is used in the Greek, but English versions generally supply “is” to denote a positive assertion. For true believers this Godward fellowship is a fact, though a call to deepen it is always in order. This vertical fellowship is vital for true fellowship horizontally. Each reflects and influences the other. (Online An Exposition of 1 John 1:1-4 - excellent) Our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ - As stated by Hiebert there is no verb "is" in the Greek but it has been added by the translators. Literally it reads "our fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." John emphasizes the reason his readers can experience fellowship with each other is because as believers they all have fellowship with the Father and the Son. In other words, the fellowship John and his readers experience is personal communion with the Father and the Son made possible by the past completed sacrifice and present ongoing mediation of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Vertical fellowship is vital for true fellowship horizontally Ray
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Spurgeon - Fellowship with God (Full sermon Fellowship with God) That which is the Father’s employment is our employment. I speak not of you all; he knows whom he has chosen. We cannot join with the Father in upholding all worlds, we cannot send forth floods of light at the rising of the sun, we cannot feed the cattle on a thousand hills, nor can we give food and life to all creatures that have breath. But there is something which we can do which he does. He does good to all his creatures, and we can do good also. He bears witness to his Son Jesus, and we can bear witness too. The ‘Father worketh hitherto’ that his Son may be glorified, and we work too. O Eternal Worker! it is his to save souls, and we are co-workers with him. You are his husbandry, you are his building; he scatters the seed of truth, we scatter it too; his words speak comfort, and our words comfort the weary too, when God the Spirit is with us. We hope we can say, ‘For me to live is Christ;’ and is this not what God lives for too? We desire nothing so much as to glorify him, and this is the Father’s will, as well as Jesus Christ’s prayer, ‘Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.’ Do you not see, brethren, that we stand on the same platform with the eternal God? When we lift our hand, he lifts up his eternal arm; when we speak, he speaks too, and speaks the same thing; when we purpose Christ’s glory, he purposes that glory too; when we long to bring home the wandering sheep, and to recall the prodigal sons, he longs to do the same. So that in that respect we can say, ‘Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.’ James Smith - OUR FELLOWSHIP IS WITH HIS SON 1 John 1:3 1. With His death, Gal. 2:20. 2. With His life, Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:1–3. 3. With His nature, 2 Peter 1:4. 4. With His Name, Eph. 3:14, 15. 5. With His service, John 17:18. 6. With His sufferings, 1 Peter 4:13. 7. With His glory, Ro 8:17; John 17:24; Rev. 20:4. John
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Spurgeon reminds us that supernatural joy does not come naturally writing that "The Christian’s joy wants looking to. If any of you have lost the joy of the Lord. I pray you do not think it a small loss." In His "Upper Room Discourse" the day before He was crucified, Jesus knowing that disciples' world would soon be "turned upside down", repeatedly spoke of His desire for them to experience joy (which is still our Lord's desire for all His disciples!) (Jn 15:11+, Jn 16:24+, Jn 17:13+) These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you (literally "may abide in you"), and that your joy may be made full (Same verb pleroo used here in 1Jn 1:4). (John 15:11+) Comment: This passage was discussed briefly earlier. Again, compare Jesus' phrase "these things I have spoken" and John's phrase "these things I write". From our vantage point, both refer to the Word of God. It follows that in order to maintain our joy, while it is ultimately wrought by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we have a responsibility to read His Word as our part in in fighting "the good fight of faith" for the joy He gives. Is this important? Nehemiah 8:10 says the "joy of Jehovah is our strength" ("our strong place", "our stronghold") (Neh 8:10), which leaves no doubt that joy is vital to the believer's spiritual walk and warfare! How's your joy (Jehovah's joy in you)? John Angell James alludes to how joy functions as the believer's strength or stronghold writing that… Spiritual joy is the oil to the wheels of obedience. It is this which braces up the soul for action, and carries it forward through difficult and self-denying duties. How can we best vanquish the world, that ever present, and every where present foe, which comes in so many forms, and with such golden pleas? How, but by a heart already well pleased with its own happiness in Christ. Spiritual joy is the world's vanquisher! And how easy, how perfect in its triumph! The heart by holy joy rises above the world, sees it below, covered with smoke and dust, and finds itself in a brighter, purer, happier region, with the cloudless sun above, and all around filled with his glory. (See James' article Spiritual Joy which discusses a number of factors that dissipate and destroy a disciple's joy, eg, his admonition "Watch against sin, for sin is like water to the flame of joy.") Comment: Beloved, complete, full to the brim, overflowing joy comes to those who obey Christ (cp 1Sa 15:22 Gal 5:22) Sin (and disobedience to God) in any form is a joy stealer. Run quickly to 1John 1:9! Compare David's sin with Bathsheba and his loss of spiritual joy, for which he pleaded not once but twice in his famous psalm (Ps 51:8, Ps 51:12 where "restore" clearly indicates David had "lost" it!) Hab 3:17, 3:18 presents a powerful pattern in our fight for joy. Notice the prophet's circumstances did not preclude his personal choice to rejoice. While the Spirit is not mentioned here, there is little doubt that He was an active "Participant" in Habakkuk's making the choice for joy as he focused on Jehovah rather than his circumstances. Warren
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Spurgeon comments on fulness of joy: In Thy presence is fulness of joy. Christ being raised from the dead ascended into glory, to dwell in constant nearness to God, where joy is at its full for ever: the foresight of this urged Him onward in His glorious but grievous toil. To bring His chosen to eternal happiness was the high ambition which inspired Him, and made Him wade through a sea of blood. O God, when a worldling's mirth has all expired, for ever with Jesus may we dwell at thy right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore; and meanwhile, may we have an earnest by tasting thy love below. Trapp's note on the heavenly verse which closes the Psalm is a sweet morsel, which may serve for a contemplation, and yield a foretaste of our inheritance. He writes Here is as much said as can be, but words are too weak to utter it. For quality there is in heaven joy and pleasures; for quantity, a fulness, a torrent whereat they drink without let or loathing; for constancy, it is at God's right hand, Who is stronger than all, neither can any take us out of His hand; it is a constant happiness without intermission: and for perpetuity it is for evermore. Heaven's joys are without measure, mixture, or end. (Psalm 16:11 - Treasury of David) Chuck Smith - Oh the fullness of joy that comes from fellowship with God. As David said, "My cup runneth over." (Ps 23:5-note) Peter said, "Whom having not seen you love, and though you do not see Him now, yet you rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1Pe 1:8-note) I think of the words of that hymn, "The love of Jesus, what it is none but the loved ones know." I feel so sorry for those whose hearts and minds are closed to Jesus Christ. If they only knew what they were missing out on. The philosophers who talk about the ultimate experience, confess that they know nothing about it. We know what it is. It is walking in fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3 Sermon Notes) Spurgeon comments on "the love of Jesus that only the loved ones know": "I fear that if you do not love Christ better than you did; if you do not feel that there are new tendrils which bind you to Him; if you do not feel that it would be harder now than ever to give up your hold on the Savior, you have not begun to learn the love of Christ. When we know that love, when we feel gratitude for mercies received, then we see every mercy, both temporal and spiritual, coming from that love! Ungrateful souls cannot learn this love. They have the Book of mercy but they are blind and cannot read it. Grateful souls, in every Letter from Jesus their absent Friend, whom having not seen, they love, and in every second of daily fellowship, and of daily mercy, read again that glittering sentence—“He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Sermon by Spurgeon) THE "EXCITEMENT" OF JOY Ray
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Spurgeon: In Thy light shall we see light. Light is the glory of life. Life in the dark is misery, and rather death than life. The Lord alone can give natural, intellectual, and spiritual life; He alone can make life bright and lustrous. In spiritual things the knowledge of God sheds a light on all other subjects. We need no candle to see the sun, we see it by its own radiance, and then see everything else by the same luster. We never see Jesus by the light of self, but self in the light of Jesus. No inward intelligence of ours leads us to receive the Spirit's light, but the rather, it often helps to quench the sacred beam; purely and only by His own illumination, the Holy Ghost lights up the dark recesses of our heart's ungodliness. Vain are they who look to learning and human wit, one ray from the throne of God is better than the noonday splendor of created wisdom. Lord, give me the Sun (Son), and let those who will delight in the wax candles of superstition and the phosphorescence of corrupt philosophy. Faith derives both light and life from God, and hence she neither dies nor darkens. Psalm 43:3-note O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. Psalm 89:15-note How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance. Augustus Montague Toplady: The text… does not say, they shall sit down in the light of thy countenance; or, they shall lie down in the light of thy countenance; but "they shall WALK in the light of thy countenance." What is walking? It is a progressive motion from one point of space to another. And what is that holy walking which God's Spirit enables all his people to observe? It is a continued, progressive motion from sin to holiness; from all that is evil, to every good word and work. And the self same "light of God's countenance" in which you, O believer, are enabled to walk, and which at first gave you spiritual feet wherewith to walk, will keep you in a walking and in a working state, to the end of your warfare.. Psalm 104:2-note Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. Spurgeon: Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: wrapping the light about him as a monarch puts on his robe. The conception is sublime: but it makes us feel how altogether inconceivable the personal glory of the Lord must be; if light itself is but his garment and veil, what must be the blazing splendour of his own essential being! We are lost in astonishment, and dare not pry into the mystery lest we be blinded by its insufferable glory. Psalm 119:105-note Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. Comment: Here the metaphor of light “light” is used in an intellectual sense to symbolize truth which guides our steps along the "highway of holiness." (cp Jn 17:17) When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey - James Sammis Spurgeon: It is a lamp by night, a light by day, and a delight at all times. David guided his own steps by it, and also saw the difficulties of his road by its beams. He who walks in darkness is sure, sooner or later, to stumble; while he who walks by the light of day, or by the lamp of night, stumbles not, but keeps his uprightness. Ignorance is painful upon practical subjects; it breeds indecision and suspense, and these are uncomfortable: the Word of God, by imparting heavenly knowledge, leads to decision, and when that is followed by determined resolution, as in this case, it brings with it great restfulness of heart. Proverbs 6:23-note For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life, Tis like the sun, a heavenly light, That guides us all the day; And through the dangers of the night, A lamp to lead our way. Isaiah 2:5-note Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. Isaiah 5:20-note Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness (Lxx = skotos not skotia) for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 9:2-note The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. Comment: Here light (phos) prophetically symbolizes the coming of the Messiah, a prophecy Jesus specifically applied to Himself in Mt 4:15, 16. Isaiah 42:6 "I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness (Father is here speaking to the Messiah, His Son), I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations (Gentiles), Comment: Messiah, the Light of the world (Jn 1:9, 8:12, 9:5) is prophesied to be the One Who would bring light to the Gentiles (cp Paul's ministry to bring light to the Gentiles - Acts 26:18, 23). Messiah is personified as a "Covenant" and indeed in Jesus we find the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that "in you all the families (Jew and Gentile) of the earth will be blessed", the ultimate fulfillment being in Jesus becoming the Mediator of the New Covenant. (See related studies - Covenant: Abrahamic versus Mosaic; New Covenant in the Old Testament ; Covenant: Why the New is Better; Covenant: Abrahamic vs Old vs New). Isaiah 49:6 He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; (Father is speaking to His Son) I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Comment: Paul quoted this verse in Acts 13:47 showed that he clearly understood God's intention for the Jewish nation to be a light to the Gentiles, which was ultimately fulfilled by the Messiah, the Light of the world (Jn 1:9, 8:12) Acts 28:23 says the Messiah "would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." Isaiah 60:19,20 “No longer will you have the sun for light by day, Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; But you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And your God for your glory. 20 “Your sun will set no more, Neither will your moon wane; For you will have the LORD for an everlasting light, And the days of your mourning will be finished. Comment: In the future, at the dawn of a new age, when God's "Light" triumphs over the World, the Flesh and Satan's "Darkness" it is only fitting that the God Who is light should be the only Source of light forever and ever! Try to get your mind around that truth beloved! Daniel 2:22-note It is He Who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. Norman Harrison has this discussion of God as light… To know light, and therefore what it means to be in fellowship with light, we must trace it back to its source. As the swift-winged sunbeam that kisses our cheek, when passed through the spectrum, yields up the qualities of the energizing sun from which it emanated, just so is all spiritual light. "God is Light." And again, "In Thy light shall we see light." In GOD is light in the absolute, such light as, coming from GOD, makes known to men His being and nature. 1. LIGHT IS PURE. It suffers no admixture of anything foreign to it. It is incapable of adulteration or contamination. Nothing extraneous can by any possibility attach itself to it. What a picture of our Lord JESUS CHRIST manifesting the purity of Deity in His walk among men. Touching the unclean, He was not defiled. Passing through the haunts of sin and iniquity, in sympathetic contact with the shame and sorrow of human life, He emerged sinless and stainless. What a portrayal, as well, of the purity that must ever attach to and characterize the life that partakes of the divine nature. 2. LIGHT IS PERVASIVE. It enters the least opening accessible to it. It searches out the recesses that otherwise would remain dark, dank and dismal. It penetrates the gloom, leaving it no alternative but to flee before its presence. Science long since disclosed the value of this pervasive quality of light in laying hold of every lurking germ of disease, whether in the homes of men or in the human system. Such is the ministry of Him who came as the world's Light. So far from sin fastening upon Him, it could not even stand in His presence. How often men found themselves confronted with the penetration of His searching insight, only to yield up the sinful unworthiness of their thoughts and actions. 3. LIGHT IS POWERFUL, with a power that is peculiarly its own. No agency known to man travels so swiftly or so far, yet does its work so silently and unobtrusively. From the farthest stellar spaces it reaches to us, revealing yonder worlds upon worlds. From our sun it bears upon its beams a multiform ministry for the sustaining of life and the maintaining of industry. The power put forth in a single day is wholly beyond compute. Yet all is done noiselessly - there is no sound; and gently - there is no jar, but a quiet persistent putting forth of its powers to heal and help. All of this, and so much more, is our wonderful Light, in whom is "no darkness at all," and with whom He has brought us into fellowship, to a privileged sharing of these qualities with Himself. (1 John 1:7 Walking in the Light) David Legge asks a good question about why does John begin with God is light instead of God is love (1Jn 4:8, 16)?… 'Why can't you just come in there right away and tell them that God loves them?'. Now you must do that, but if you don't talk to them of God's holiness (God is light), if you don't speak to them of sin and how men personally have broken God's law - do you know what you do? You cheapen the love of God! 'How is that so?', you say. Simply because you cannot understand the greatness of God's love until you understand both His holiness, His awesome holiness, and the magnitude of your personal iniquity. If you go to a jewelers and you look through the front window, and you see there beautiful diamond rings. But you know those diamond rings are being offset by a black backdrop of black velvet, black as the coal that the diamonds came from. It is that black backdrop that offsets the diamond, that causes the light to shine through it, to see its splendor, to see its glory - it's exactly the same with the love of God. You can never appreciate Calvary love until you appreciate the awesome holiness of God and your awful sinfulness (Ed: The "black backdrop" of our fallen humanity)! Do you know what that means? A message that ignores the holiness of God, and a message that fails to preach against sin and declare God's judgmental wrath because of the broken law of His holiness, is not the message that Christ gave to the early disciples: God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. In some pulpits in our land you dare not even mention sin, judgment, or hell - it's unfashionable, it's not trendy! Well, it's not the message of Christ if you don't preach it! (The Gospel According To Christ) Steven Cole has some powerful and pithy comments on 1 John 1:5… To have fellowship with God, we must begin with God and His authoritative revelation of Himself. John is not sharing with us his speculations on what God may be like. He doesn’t throw out an idea and suggest that his readers discuss what they think about it. Rather, John says, “We heard this straight from Jesus and we announce it to you.” It wasn’t a discussion point; it was an authoritative pronouncement from Jesus through the apostles to the readers. To have fellowship with God, we must start with His authoritative revelation in His Word. Note, also, that John does not begin with his hearers felt needs. He doesn’t discuss where they may be hurting, or bring up how this message will help them have a happy family life or a successful personal life. Rather, John begins with God and he brings us face to face, not with God’s love, but with His holiness. Coming after verse 3, about having fellowship with God, you would expect John to say, “To have fellowship with God, you need to know that He loves you very much.” But, rather, he bluntly says, “God is light.” Then, so that we don’t dodge the uncomfortable implications of that, he states the negative, “and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes this point (Fellowship With God [Crossway Books], p. 100), that we must always start with God. He argues that our main problem is our self-centeredness, and so we come to the Christian faith looking to have our needs met. I’m not happy; can God make me happy? I’m looking for something that I don’t have; can God give it to me? How can Christianity help me with my problems and needs? But to approach the Christian faith in that manner is to cater to our main problem, which is self! He says (p. 101), “The first answer of the gospel can always, in effect, be put in this way: ‘Forget yourself and contemplate God.’” He adds (p. 102), “The way to be delivered from self-centeredness is to stand in the presence of God.” The entire church growth movement, including one of its most famous leaders, blatantly contradicts this. Robert Schuller, in his heretical book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation ([Word], p. 64), argues that classical theology “erred in its insistence that theology be ‘God-centered,’ not ‘man-centered.’” So he calls for a new Reformation that puts man, not God, at the center! Following his lead, other church growth leaders have started with the “religious consumer.” They have gone to people with the question, “What would you like in a church? What would get you to come back and try the church again?” People have responded, “We’d like a church that is a happy, upbeat place. We don’t want to hear about sin or a holy God who threatens sinners with His wrath. We want help on how to have happy families, how to be successful in reaching our full potential, and how to recover from divorce, drug addiction, and sexual addictions. We don’t want sermons that make us uncomfortable. Give us more drama and less preaching. In fact, don’t preach at us; share with us. Tell more stories and jokes. Don’t bring up controversial issues. Make it positive.” So, the church marketers go back to the drawing board and re-design the church to meet the felt needs of the consumer. The result is amazing growth. But, have people come face to face with the living God? John says, first, to have fellowship with God, we must begin with God and His authoritative revelation of Himself, not with ourselves. (1 John 1:5-10 How to Have Fellowship With God) The Power of Light TODAY’S READING: 1 John 1: 1–10 God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. -1 John 1:5 Even as the darkness of death was present in his sickly body, Augustin-Jean Fresnel persisted in working on his powerful light. Finally, in the early 1820s, he tested the first Fresnel lens in France’s Cordouran lighthouse. The lens—a ring of beehive-like prisms—allowed sailors navigating dark, troubled waters to glimpse life-saving beams many, many nautical miles from land. Called “the invention that saved a million ships,” Fresnel’s work was featured in thousands of lighthouses by the 1860s. Although he died of tuberculosis in 1827 at just thirty-nine years old, the light from his lens would save the lives of countless seafarers over the coming decades. As a part of His perfect plan, God chose to send Jesus, His only Son, to bring light to our troubled world. As John wrote, “God is light, in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Christ pushed back the darkness of sin and death as He shared the good news of life and forgiveness (vv. 2, 9). Because of Him, we can live “in the light, as God is in the light,” . . . for &lduqo;the blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin” (v. 7). What does it mean for you to walk in the light of Christ? In what practical ways can you shine for Him? Jesus, thank You for the light You’ve brought to this world and to my heart. Please help me, by Your power, to radiate Your love and ways. Jon Courson - I John 1:5 People who are depressed in their spiritual lives because they think being a Christian is so hard don’t match up with true Biblical Christianity because John says there’s no dark side to God; there’s nothing negative about Him; there’s not a mean bone in His body. Therefore, a sour, dour, dark, and discouraged Christian is an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms. ‘Wait a minute,’ you say. ‘Wasn’t Jesus the Man of Sorrows?’ (Isaiah 53:3). Yes. Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). He wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35). When Jesus wept, however, it was always for others. What about when He wept in the Garden of Gethsemane? The night before He would go to the Cross, Jesus sweat blood because He was terrified not by the pain of the Cross, the spittle that would run down His face, or the flagellum that would rip into His back. Jesus was almost literally scared to death by the thought of being temporarily separated from His Father when He would be made sin on our behalf. ‘What if I can’t pay the bills?’ we wonder. ‘What if the car doesn’t work?’ ‘What if I lose a loved one?’ ‘What’s next?’ ‘Who else?’ These are the things which frighten us. But separation from the Father? We don’t even give it a second thought. God have mercy on us. We’re terrified of all the wrong things. (See Jon Courson's Application Commentary: Volume 3, New ... - Page 1613) John
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Spurgeon adds that God is… ) Not a light, nor the light, though he is both, but that He is light. Scripture uses the term light for knowledge, for purity, for prosperity, for happiness, and for truth. God is light, and then in his usual style, John, who not only tells you a truth but always guards it, adds-” in Whom is no darkness at all.” Cleon Rogers writes "That God is light is a penetrating description of the being and nature of God, indicating that He is absolute in His glory, truth, and holiness. (BORROW The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament) A W Pink in the Attributes of God - "God is light" (1 John 1:5), which is the opposite of darkness. In Scripture "darkness" stands for sin, evil, death, and "light" for holiness, goodness, life. "God is light" means that He is the sum of all excellency. (The Attributes of God) John Phillips has some interesting thoughts on God is light writing that "Light! What an amazing and wonderful thing light is. Darkness cannot drive out the light, but light can drive out the darkness. There can be no fellowship between light and darkness—and God is light… Physical light bears the image and stamp of its Creator, a God who is, Himself, light… Another wonderful property of light is that it cannot be defiled. Even though it passes, say, through a glass of muddy water, light is not defiled. Moreover, light can, and most certainly does, reveal defilement. Also, life as we know it craves light. A plant will always turn toward the light and struggle to reach it. Such are some of the characteristics of natural, created light. Many of these properties reflect the One who reveals Himself as the Light. He is always the same, He is immaculate and beyond the reach of darkness, He reveals Himself to us in all the diverse beauties of His being. And beneath the sunshine of His smile, life can flourish, take root, and grow. Our desire is toward Him, and He rules over us. (Exploring the Epistles of John) John Stott explains that in regard to the truth that God is light, God by His very nature seeks "to reveal Himself, as it is the property of light to shine; and the revelation is of perfect purity and unutterable majesty. We are to think of God as a Personal Being, infinite in all His perfections, transcendent, ‘the high and lofty One… He Who lives forever, Whose name is holy’ (Isa. 57:15), yet Who desires to be known and has revealed Himself. The miserable errors of the heretics were due to their ignorance of God’s ethical self-revelation as light. They could never have laid claim to a private, esoteric gnosis into which they had been initiated if their conception of God had been of one Who is light, diffusive, shining forth and manifesting Himself, in Whom there is no darkness at all, no secrecy, no hiding in the shadows. And if God is also light in the sense of possessing an absolute moral perfection, their claim to know Him and have fellowship with Him despite their indifference to morality is seen to be sheer nonsense, as the author goes on to demonstrate. (BORROW The Epistles of John : an introduction and commentary) Roy Gingrich - God is light (truth and righteousness) and in Him is no darkness (error and unrighteousness). This truth was partially unveiled through the writings of the Old Testament prophets but it was fully unveiled in the words and the works of the incarnate Christ (His words revealed God’s truth and His works revealed God’s righteousness), John 14:7–11; Heb 1:1–3. The apostles learned the truth that God is light from Jesus and they proclaimed it to all men. NET Bible Note - Following the theme statement in 1Jn 1:5, God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all, the author presents a series of three claims and counterclaims that make up the first unit of 1 John (1Jn 1:5–2:2). The three claims begin with “if” (1Jn 1:6, 8, 10) and the three counterclaims begin with “but if” (1Jn 1:7, 9; 2:1). Believer's Study Bible - The imagery of God as “light” illustrates two concepts. First, it pictures God’s self-revelation (cf. John 8:12; 9:5; 12:35, 36). Because of this God-initiated disclosure, believers have access to the truth (Jn 2:21, 27). Second, the “light” motif highlights God’s holiness. Hence, the contrast between light and darkness does not simply represent knowledge and ignorance; it also portrays good versus evil (cf. John 3:19-21). (Criswell, W A. Believer's Study Bible: New King James Version. 1991. Thomas Nelson) John
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Spurgeon: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Here is personal interest, "my light," "my salvation;" the soul is assured of it, and therefore, declaring it boldly. "My light;" -- into the soul at the new birth divine light is poured as the precursor of salvation; where there is not enough light to see our own darkness and to long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of salvation. Salvation finds us in the dark, but it does not leave us there; it gives light to those who sit in the valley of the shadow of death. After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light; He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us. Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that He "is" light (cp 1Jn 1:5); nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation; he, then, who by faith has laid hold upon God has all covenant blessings in his possession. Every light is not the sun, but the sun is the father of all lights. This being made sure as a fact, the argument drawn from it is put in the form of a question, Whom shall I fear? A question which is its own answer. The powers of darkness are not to be feared, for the Lord, our light, destroys them; and the damnation of hell is not to be dreaded by us, for the Lord is our salvation. This is a very different challenge from that of boastful Goliath, for it is based upon a very different foundation; it rests not upon the conceited vigor of an arm of flesh, but upon the real power of the omnipotent I AM. The Lord is the strength of my life. Here is a third glowing epithet, to show that the writer's hope was fastened with a threefold cord which could not be broken. We may well accumulate terms of praise where the Lord lavishes deeds of grace. Our life derives all its strength from Him who is the Author if it; and if He deigns to make us strong we cannot be weakened by all the machinations of the adversary. Of whom shall I be afraid? The bold question looks into the future as well as the present. "If God be for us," who can be against us, either now or in time to come? F B
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Spurgeon comments on fellowship with God noting that "There were certain in John’s day who said, “We have fellowship with God.” How they had come by it they did not explain. Perhaps they claimed to have reached it by philosophical speculation, by exact reasoning, or by long-continued meditation. Whatever the road, they said that they had reached the City of God and were in communion with the Great Being. John saw that they walked in darkness, rejecting the Light of Divine Revelation from above and the pure Light of the Holy Spirit within. He also saw that they, themselves, were not true, and that their lives were not pure and, therefore, he warned them that they were speaking and acting a lie. Their life was a lie, for they were not walking in the truth. And their profession that they had fellowship with God was another lie, for God can have no fellowship with falsehood. “God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all” and, therefore, He cannot hold any communion with darkness. John draws the lines very tightly and judges with unflinching fidelity—he is not inclined to the boasted charity of latitudinarianism, but he curtly dismisses false claims with that plain word, “lie.” The disciple whom Jesus loved spoke like the Son of Thunder that he was when he had to deal with shams. It is the part of true love to be honest and to expose that which would be injurious to those it loves. He who will gloss over a falsehood loves but in word, only. Learn, then, that if men boast of fellowship with God and do not receive the Revelation of His Word, they lie, and know not the Truth of God. (The Child of Light Walking in the Light) J Sidlow Baxter adds that "We cannot strictly call (1Jn 1:3) the "key" to the epistle, or say that "fellowship" is John's uppermost subject (seeing that after 1Jn 1:7 the word does not once occur again); yet who can help but realize that the underlying purpose all through is that by avoiding the false and abiding in the truth we should know the pure joy of an unclouded fellowship with God?" (Explore the Book page 319) Adam
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Spurgeon - THE apostle warns us against saying more than we have made our own by experience. He hints at the solemn difference between empty profession and gracious reality. To have fellowship with God is a great matter, but merely to say that we have fellowship with Him is a totally different thing. John warns us that if we say that which our characters do not support, we lie. He leaves it just so, without a word of softening or excuse. Between saying and being, between saying and doing, there may be all the difference in the world. There is a tendency among men, if there is a good experience, to say that they possess it; if there is a high privilege of grace, to say that they are enjoying it. What a folly is this! It is akin to madness. To unsound minds a precious original suggests a desire to fashion an imitation. To the untruthful mind the genuine is an invitation to be the counterfeit. Let us be upon our guard that we do not flatter ourselves into saying more than is true. Let us not stretch our arm beyond our sleeve, nor boast beyond our line. Every profession will be tried with fire; let us, therefore, see to it that we put in no claim which will not endure the severest test. There were certain in John’s day who said, “We have fellowship with God.” How they had come by it they did not explain; perhaps they claimed to have reached it by philosophical speculation, by exact reasoning, or by long-continued meditation. Whatever the road, they said that they had reached the city of God, and were in communion with the Great Being. John saw that they walked in darkness, rejecting the light of divine revelation from above and the pure light of the Holy Spirit within; he also saw that they themselves were not true, and that their lives were not pure, and therefore he warned them that they were speaking and acting a lie. Their life was a lie, for they were not walking in the truth, and their profession that they had fellowship with God was another lie, for God can have no fellowship with falsehood. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all,” and therefore, He cannot hold any communion with darkness. John draws the lines very tightly, and judges with unflinching fidelity; he is not inclined to the boasted charity of latitudinarianism, but he curtly dismisses false claims with that plain word “lie.” The disciple whom Jesus loved spoke like the Son of Thunder that he was, when he had to deal with shams. It is the part of true love to be honest and to expose that which would be injurious to those it loves. He who will gloss over a falsehood loves but in word only. Learn, then, that if men boast of fellowship with God, and do not receive the revelation of His word, they lie, and know not the truth. (The Child of Light Walking in the Light) R C H Lenski is equally clear: "To think that we can remain in darkness, and yet be in fellowship with God in Whom there is no darkness whatever, is the height of delusion, the saddest contradiction ... 'What communion hath light with darkness?' (2 Cor 6:14; John 3:19-21). None who are in the darkness, who only lie by claiming fellowship with God, are in fellowship with us, they are without". (Borrow the interpretation of the epistles of st. peter, st. john) (Bold added) Monty Mills comments that "The purpose of this section (1Jn 1:5-7) is to stress that the change in the believer’s lifestyle is a proof of the fact that he has indeed been cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ and that therefore he has fellowship with God. (Letters from John : a Study Guide to I, II and III John; 3E Ministries. 1997) If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet our life is characterized by and sold out to the darkness, then we are liars Steve Zeisler - In verse 6 the first thing we should note is that John is describing what he calls a walk. "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie...." John isn't saying here that if we occasionally commit a dark deed or think a dark thought, we fall into this category. All of us have sins we fall into daily that we recognize and confess. What he is talking about is a pattern or way of life. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet our life is characterized by and sold out to the darkness, then we are liars. (Bold added) Another sermon by Zeisler - 1 John 1:5-10 Walking in the Light - Before we consider what it means to walk in the darkness, let me clarify what it does not mean. First of all, it has nothing to do with shallow issues of personal taste or appearance. God is not ultimately concerned with our haircuts or style of dress or speech habits. Walking in the darkness is a matter of sinful lifestyle. It is about the profound things that make us really human or not, like God or not. John is also not talking about the struggles and failures of life. People who acknowledge their brokenness, who agree with God that sin is sin and repent of it when they fail, are not walking in the darkness. What John means by walking in the darkness is claiming the right to act in complete defiance of God....Jesus’ command to love our neighbors does not admit any exceptions, but it is hard not to act on long-standing prejudices. If you realize your sin and ask the Lord for help, if you fail sometimes but genuinely want the Lord to change your heart, you are not walking in the darkness. However, if you reserve the right to hate those whom God has told you to love, if you assert that he has no right to change you, then you most certainly are walking in darkness. If we claim to be in fellowship but reserve the right to rebel, we are lying and are not, in fact, in fellowship with him. John Cereghin - If God is Light to the exclusion of all darkness, then fellowship with darkness excludes fellowship with him. Here is a hindrance to fellowship: walking in darkness. This is not the darkness of gloom or depression but the darkness of sin. Say what you want, but if you are walking in spiritual darkness, you do not have fellowship with the Father and you are not saved. A Christian will not walk in sin, error, apostasy, carnality. This is one of the identifying characteristics of a Christian. If a man professes to be a Christian yet still lives as a sinner or is in gross, unchristian error, then that man is not a Christian, despite any profession he may make. This is the error of antinomianism, which teaches that a Christian is not under the authority of the law and that he may live as he pleases. His relationship to God or his spirituality does not depend upon his relationship to the law. You can live like the devil and still be in fellowship with God! These sinners are rebels against the law of God and deeply resent anyone, even God, trying to tell them how to live or what they cannot do. John makes it clear- you cannot walk in darkness and expect to have fellowship with the Father. You must get out of the darkness and into the light....If one is living a lie through a low-level Christian life, then he does not know God, even if he is baptizing 5000 people a year and even if his church is “growing”. We cannot gauge a man’s spirituality or relationship with God by external means. A man may have a huge church with lots of activity and be seriously out of fellowship with God. A man may pastor just a handful of people and yet be walking in the Light. (1 John Commentary - 208 pages) (Bold added) Believer's Study Bible - (1 John 1:6-2:2) Building on the affirmation that "God is light" (v. 5), 1Jn 1:6-2:2 develops the ethical implications of authentic Christianity. This section contains six statements beginning with "if" (ean, Gk.)-three negative and three positive. The negative assertions are inconsistent with Christian ethics. Most likely, these avowals were made by the false teachers who were harassing the church. At the heart of these claims is the belief that "sin has no effect on me." Ultimately, these inaccurate declarations reveal the true nature of the heretics' inward character. Each of these statements is refuted by a positive claim. The positive affirmations depict the life-style of a genuine believer. (The Believer's Study Bible) Jim Bomkamp lists the following indicators or marks of a genuine believer from John's first chapter… 1. Walks in the light - 1Jn 1:6 2. Has fellowship with other Christians who walk in the light - 1Jn 1:7 3. Believes he has a sin nature - 1Jn 1:8 4. Occasionally sins - 1Jn 1:10 (see 34 Marks of a True Christian in 1 John). Listen to Dr. John Piper's concluding remarks from his sermon on 1John 1:5-10… Some people think that the only way to make the Gospel really good news is to deny that changes are necessary in our lives. They say that takes away the possibility of assurance of salvation. They say the way we live after putting our faith in Christ has nothing to do with our salvation. I answer that a powerless Gospel is not good news. A Gospel that only wins lip service is not different than all the other philosophies of the world. Such a Gospel produces a Christianity that is a game of words. It encourages lukewarm church-goers that they are safe from God's wrath because of some inherited mental assent to the love of God. Such a Gospel accounts for how 40 million people can claim to be born again in America at the same time that our moral condition is an all time low of corruption inside and outside the church. The message of 1 John—that walking in the light is not optional, but necessary for salvation—is good news because it creates the moral atmosphere of urgency in which serious business is done with God. It gives the flavor of eternity to all we say and do. It militates against religious gamesmanship. It honors the purpose of God in Christ to destroy the works of the devil. It takes seriously the necessity of glorifying God in our bodies. It leads people to real faith instead of encouraging them to be content with a lip service that cannot change and cannot save. But in the end it simply is not up to us to decide whether the Gospel is the kind of good news we would like it to be. Ours is simply to listen and submit to the Word of God. And the Word of God says that "if we walk in the light as he is in the light … the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." If we walk in darkness, we cut ourselves off from the cleansing effects of Christ's blood. And if we cut ourselves off from Christ's blood, where will hope be found! (Bolding added for emphasis). (let-us-walk-in-the-light-of-god) The venerable expositor Charles Simeon commenting on 1Jn 1:6 says that… Many will pretend to have communion (fellowship) with God, while they are ignorant of the salvation revealed in the Gospel, and living in the habitual indulgence of sin. But, while they thus “walk in darkness,” what “fellowship can they have with God?” What access can they have to Him, when they do not so much as know the way of “access to Him through the rent veil of the Redeemer’s flesh?” and what regard can they feel in their hearts towards Him, while they are under the allowed dominion of worldly and carnal lusts? Their profession is a system of falsehood and hypocrisy: “they lie, and do not the truth:” they may work up themselves to ecstasies if they will; but they neither have, nor can have, any fellowship with God; for how “shall the throne of iniquity (or one in whom sin reigns) have fellowship with Him?” (Ps 94:20) “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2Cor 6:14)… From this most instructive subject we may learn The connection between faith and works—One man hopes to be saved by his works, while he disregards faith in Christ: another hopes that his faith will save him, though it never produce good works. But both of these deceive their own souls: for no man can do such works as the Gospel requires, unless he embrace the truths which it reveals: and, if he could do them, they would be utterly insufficient to justify him before God. On the other hand, “the faith that is without works, is dead:” and as it differs not from the faith of devils, so will it bring us no better portion than theirs. Knowledge is necessary to produce holiness; and holiness is necessary to evince that our knowledge is truly spiritual and saving. It is not by separating them from each other, but by uniting them together, that we are to “walk in the light as God is in the light.” The connection between duty and happiness—The greater part of the world expect happiness in the ways of sin: but God has warned us that there is “no peace to the wicked.” There is no real happiness but in fellowship with God: and there is no fellowship with him, without a conformity to him. If then we would be happy in this world, we should be religious: we should study to know and do the will of God. Then we should be happy in sickness as well as in health, and in the prospect of death no less than in the midst of earthly enjoyments. The connection between grace and glory—The saints in glory are called “saints in light;” (Col 1:12-note) and in order to partake of their inheritance, we must be “made meet for it.” An unregenerate sinner would not be happy, even if he were in heaven. There is a total difference of character between them that are saved and them that perish: those who are saved, love God, and delight in Him, and make it the labor of their souls to glorify Him: whereas they who perish, would, if they were able, pluck Him from His throne: it would be glad tidings to them if they were informed that He exists no longer. Such precisely is the difference between saints and sinners in this world; the one find all their happiness in serving God; the other say in their hearts, “We wish there were no God.” Neither the one nor the other indeed attain the same degree of holiness or wickedness in this world that they will in the next: but in all other respects their characters will continue the same that they are in this life. If ever then we would have fellowship with God in heaven, we must begin it here: and, if ever we would dwell with Him in the regions of everlasting light, we must now be “brought out of darkness into the marvelous light" of His Gospel (1Pe 2:9-note) and “walk henceforth as children of the light and of the day.” (Eph 5:8-note) (1John 1:5-7 The Importance of Being Conformed to God's Image - 1832-63) (Bolding added for emphasis) David Legge explains the truth of 1 John 1:6 theologically and practically… Theologically what John was trying to bring to their attention was this: that if they walk in darkness, and claim to have light from God, they are potentially opening themselves up to fellowship with others outside the grounds of the Gospel. That's exactly what was happening. They were following a false Christ, they were imbibing the Greek philosophy of the day that was fashionable intellectually and socially. What Paul said to the Corinthians could be said to some of these Ephesians: 'What fellowship hath light with darkness, and Belial with the Living God? What fellowship hath Christ with temple idols?'. My friend, here is a lesson for us today theologically: the only grounds on which we can have fellowship with another man or woman in humanity, as brothers and sisters in Christ, is on the foundation of the Gospel. If they deny the fundamentals of the Gospel, they cannot be considered authentically Christian, and they're not proclaiming or declaring the Gospel according to Christ, and we cannot have fellowship with them. Theologically they had to learn that in Ephesus, we need to learn it today. other side of the coin regarding that truth is that in the one regard we must always fellowship on the grounds of the Gospel. We must never add to it anything else other than the gospel. What was happening here in Ephesus was there was an elitism - it could have been charismatic in the sense that these false teachers were coming along and saying they had a personal privileged knowledge of God greater than the rest. They were making the other believers second-class citizens. They were believing themselves to be above those Christians, that those Christians were not worthy of their fellowship, so they split off in schism… Secondly this has a practical implication… it was practically seen and evidenced in John's day and in ours. Here is the first way it was seen: people were living in sin and claiming that they had the life of God. (They were) Living practically in a lifestyle of habitual sin, yet claiming that they were in fellowship with God. This has been given a theological name: antinomianism. Now don't switch off when you hear these big names… What you have in antinomianism is 'anti-lawism', Christians - so-called - who were saying, 'We can trust Christ and have the life of God, be in fellowship with the brethren and in fellowship with the Father through Christ, yet live a life that is against the law of God, and even in contradiction of it'. That's what was written of in Romans 6 when Paul asked the rhetorical question, hypothetically: 'Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?' (Ro 6:1). Of course he said: 'God forbid' - but what was coming into vogue here was dualism of the Gnostics… they were saying that everything spiritual is pure, and everything physical is evil - therefore they believed that the body would be burned up in the judgment, and it didn't matter what you did with the body as long as you had eternal life in your soul… I shared this with you a number of Sunday nights ago, the story of J. P. Mehaffey who was a famous scholar and man of the world from Trinity College in Dublin. When he was asked if he was a Christian, he answered: 'Yes, but not offensively so'. What he meant by that statement was, he didn't let his "Christianity" interfere with his social life. That is exactly what John is preaching against: You cannot claim to have the life of God and walk in darkness, and live habitually in sin. Indeed, many cults fall into this trap because of their fundamental error. In the 1960s, during the sexual revolution, there was a group called the 'Children of God' cult, and they actually taught that people could be won for Christ through sinful means. You may find that staggering, but that is exactly what happened in John the apostle's day - so much so that they declared that there could be a 'hooker' who was a Christian… and win men for Jesus! That was almost 40 years ago, and there's a mentality about today that is quite similar. American gangster Mickey Cohen reputedly converted to Christ, and then later declared that he wanted to be a 'Christian gangster'… there was this idea that you could live the life of God, yet live a life of sin - and it is impossible. In fact, what John is saying is: if you claim that, the life of God is not in you!… what we're talking about here is not just falling into sin now and again - we all do that, and we all try with the Spirit's help not to - but what John's talking about is a lifestyle of habitual sin that marks you out as an habitual sinner, addicted to sin. If you live in sin, you cannot claim the life of God in your soul - that's the Gospel, and we need to herald it out today, because there's an easy-believism that says: 'Come as you are'. That's the Gospel alright, but it lacks repentance (Ed: See the Gospel Jesus proclaimed - Mk 1:15) - to come as you are, but be willing to give up your sin, and Christ will enable you to give up your sin (Ed: Note Paul's clear contrast in Ro 8:13-note). In fact, people are coming to Christ with the one hand, and keeping their sin with the other - and that's not salvation! I hope you haven't believed that one. (The Gospel According To Christ) W Hall Harris comments on... The significance of the present tense of peripatōmen (“keep on walking”) in 1Jn 1:6. The context of this statement in 1Jn 1:6 indicates clearly that the progressive (sometimes called continuative, or durative) use of the present tense, one of its most common uses, must be in view here. The relationship of (peripatōmen) (WALKING) to (eipōmen) (SAYING) is of particular importance for understanding the problem expressed in 1Jn 1:6. We have already noted above that the first (kai, “and yet”) in 1 John 1:6 has adversative force. If someone should say (eipōmen) that he has fellowship with God, and yet continues walking (peripatōmen) in the darkness, then it follows (as expressed in the apodosis of the conditional sentence) that such a person is lying and not practicing the truth. The author almost certainly has the claims of the opponents in view here. The background of the light/darkness motif introduced in 1Jn 1:6. The author’s problem with the claim of the opponents lies not with the boast that they have fellowship with God, but with their contradictory behavior: they continue walking “in the darkness” at the same time they are making the claim to have fellowship with God. To the author this proves conclusively that they are lying, as the author points out in the apodosis (1:6b). The contrast with light occurs because the opponents claim to have fellowship with God, who has been characterized as “light” in 1John 1:5. The light/darkness motif in Johannine theology. In the Old Testament God is compared with light on several occasions (e.g., Ps 27:1; 36:9). The contrast between light and darkness is also a major theme in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS 1:9–10). The light/darkness motif occurs in a number of places in the New Testament (cf., for example, Eph 5:6–8), but it is especially evident in the Johannine literature. It is an important theme of the prologue to the Gospel of John, especially 1:5. One of the most important sections of the Gospel, containing the key to a number of themes within it, is John 3:16–21. In John 3:19 we are told that people “loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.” The author goes on to state in John 3:20 that “everyone who practices evil hates the light” and refuses to come to it, because of fear that his evil deeds will be exposed for what they are. Finally in John 3:21 the one who “practices the truth” (same phrase as 1 John 1:6) comes to the light. The picture painted by John 3:16–21 is one where one’s affinity for ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ serves to reveal one’s inner nature. One is forced to a decision to ally oneself with one side or the other. A response is evoked; one cannot just remain neutral. Either one comes to the light, and it becomes evident that one belongs there, or one hates the light and shrinks back into the darkness to hide from it. The imagery of response used in John 3:16–21 applies to an individual’s response to Jesus himself, Who is identified as “the true Light” in John 1:4 and Who identifies Himself as “the Light of the world” in John 8:12. The significance of the light/darkness motif in 1 John 1:6. Because of the central role this theme plays in the Gospel of John, it is almost certainly behind the introduction of the motif in 1 John 1:6. The opponents, who profess that they have “come to the light” (using the language of John 3) have not in reality done so, and for the author of 1 John their deeds prove it, because they are continuing to “walk in darkness.” Rather, their way of life (“walking”) demonstrates that they are lying in their claim to have fellowship with God who is light. (1 John 1:5-22: Exegetical Commentary) (Bold added) In the darkness - Notice John says "in" not "according to". The idea is "in the sphere of" darkness (see locative of sphere). Even as a fish is in the atmosphere of water, this person is in the sphere of or the "environment" of the darkness, spiritual darkness.
1 João 1:6
Spurgeon comments "Mark here, this does not mean walking in the darkness of sorrow, for there are many of God’s people that walk in the darkness of doubts and fears, and yet they have fellowship with God; nay, they sometimes have fellowship with Christ all the better for the darkness of the path along which they walk, but the darkness here meant is the darkness of sin, the darkness of untruthfulness. If I walk in a lie, or walk in sin, and then profess to have fellowship with God, I have lied, and do not the truth. The Full Life Study Bible comments "To “walk in the darkness” means to live outside of God’s truth and a personal relationship with him. It means to reject God’s standards and pursue one’s own direction toward selfish and immoral pleasure. People who live this way do not “have fellowship with him,” and are “not born of God” (cf. 1John 3:7-9; Jn 3:19; 2Co 6:14). Their actions show that they do not have a saving relationship with God. But those who have accepted God’s forgiveness and the opportunity to have true companionship with Christ experience his favor, help and strength to live in spiritual purity and to do what is right by God’s standard (1Jn 1:7; 2:4; 3:10). Sam Storms notes that John's phrase "walk in the darkness" gives us "the first hints of Johannine dualism (an ethical, not metaphysical dualism): truth vs. falsehood, good vs. evil, joy vs. sorrow, safety vs. peril, life vs. death, love vs. hate, children of God vs. children of the Devil, of God vs. not of God, not of the world vs. of the world, knowledge vs. ignorance, etc The tests which follow fall into two categories: First, the lifestyle test, i.e., how one lives; the overall characteristic tendencies of an individual's practice. This is found in 1John 1:6-7. Second, is the hamartiological (hamartiology = study of the doctrine of sin) test, i.e., how one understands and responds to the nature and reality of sin. This is found in 1Jn 1:8-10. (John first deals with) exposure of the unbeliever in 1John 1:6. John's phrase, "if we say" (1John 1:6,8,10) points to his concern with how our conduct corresponds to our claim. One need not conclude that the false teachers actually made these exact claims, but they are no doubt an accurate representation of their point of view. The point is: a person's verbal profession is only as good as the practice of his/her life. The meaning of "fellowship with Him" will depend on whether one takes this as synonymous with salvation or as a reference to experiential harmony with God. I take it to be the former, and thus a claim to have experienced genuine conversion. Cf. 1John 2:4,9. To "walk in the darkness" may not seem so bad until one realizes that "God is light" (1Jn 1:6a)! "To walk" (peripateo) is metaphorical = "to live" (see Jn 8:12; Ro 6:4-note; Gal. 5:16-note; Eph. 5:1-note). The present tense of the verb stresses the habitual nature of living. To walk in darkness is not merely to commit an act of sin but refers to a lifestyle characterized by darkness, i.e., that which is the moral antithesis of God. "Darkness" is obviously the opposite of "light" (i.e., truth and holiness), hence error and unrighteousness. Cf. 1John 2:9, 10, 11; 3:10. I conclude that to be "in darkness" = to be "not of God," i.e., lost. See Jn 11:9,10; 12:35,36,46; Eph 5:8-note, Ep 5:9-note; 1Th 5:5-note; 1Pt. 2:9-note; Acts 26:18. John's point is that the person who claims to be in fellowship with God (i.e., be saved) yet consistently and characteristically walks in darkness is a liar. What do they lie about?… their claim to be Christians! "We are right," says Stott, "to be suspicious of those who claim a mystical intimacy with God and yet 'walk in the darkness' of error and sin, paying no regard to the self-revelation of an all-holy God. Since God is light, such claims are ludicrous. Religion without morality is an illusion" (Borrow Stott's The Epistles of John : an introduction and commentary). What does this tell us about our tendency to naively believe everyone's "verbal profession" of faith in God/Jesus? Observe John's reference to "doing" the truth. The truth of Christianity is not simply something to be believed. It is not merely a matter of theological reflection or intellectual persuasion. It is, rather, a comprehensive embrace by both our minds and in our lives of all that God has revealed (1 John Sermon Comments) (Bolding added for emphasis). Comment: George Barna has reported that as many of 45% of Americans claim to be "born again." (March 27, 2006) And yet according to Michael Horton in those same surveys they find that those who make this claim are "as likely to embrace lifestyles every bit as hedonistic, materialistic, self-centered, and sexually immoral as the world in general” (Michael Horton - Modern Reformation. May-June, 1993) (E.g., Born Again Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Are Non-Christians) (Changes in Worldview Among Christians). Wayne Barber relates walking (present tense) in the darkness to the truth about believers taught in 2Corinthians 5:17 "Whenever there is a clear conflict between an individual’s “talk” and his “walk,” it is always his walk and not his talk that reveals what he really is."Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (note) The word new is the same word used for New Covenant, New Testament and (in Greek) is the word kainos which means absolutely, qualitatively brand new, never seen before. What did you use to do? You lived in darkness. You hid your sin under darkness. That is the judgment that has come into the world (John 3:19). What happened when light came into your life?… The light exposed you and you saw yourself as a sinner. You came out of the darkness. Ephesians says you were once darkness, now you have been made light (Eph 5:8-note). How can a person who has been made light go back and live habitually in darkness? John is saying you can’t do that. "Well," you might say, "if that is the case, there are a lot of people who have joined the church who aren’t saved." That is what I am saying. (Ed: In other words, there are people in churches around the world who are professing Christ but whose practice demonstrates no evidence of a Christ like walk. This is a frightening thought!) He who lives in sin and looks for happiness hereafter is like him who sows cockle and thinks to fill his barn with wheat or barley. - John Bunyan Steven
1 João 1:6-7
Spurgeon comments… Mark here, this does not mean walking in the darkness of sorrow, for there are many of God’s people that walk in the darkness of doubts and fears, and yet they have fellowship with God; nay, they sometimes have fellowship with Christ all the better for the darkness of the path along which they walk, but the darkness here meant is the darkness of sin, the darkness of untruthfulness. If I walk in a lie, or walk in sin, and then profess to have fellowship with God, I have lied, and do not the truth. The Full Life Study Bible comments… To “walk in the darkness” means to live outside of God’s truth and a personal relationship with him. It means to reject God’s standards and pursue one’s own direction toward selfish and immoral pleasure. People who live this way do not “have fellowship with him,” and are “not born of God” (cf. 1John 3:7-9; Jn 3:19; 2Co 6:14). Their actions show that they do not have a saving relationship with God. But those who have accepted God’s forgiveness and the opportunity to have true companionship with Christ experience his favor, help and strength to live in spiritual purity and to do what is right by God’s standard (1Jn 1:7; 2:4; 3:10). WE LIE AND DO NOT PRACTICE THE TRUTH: pseudometha (1PPM/PI) kai ou poioumen (1PPAI) ten aletheian: we lie: 1Jn 1:10 4:20 Jn 8:44,45 1Ti 4:2 do not: Jn 3:21 1 John 1 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Compare these other passages in First John that deal with lying… The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1Jn 2:4) I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. (1Jn 2:21) And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1Jn 2:27) Although the word "lie" is not used, the principle practiced is the same in this passage… Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1Jn 4:1) Now, as you compare Scripture with Scripture, do these passages that speak of lying help you interpret John's statement "we lie and do not practice the truth"? Notice the repeated contrast between truth and lie. We lie (5574)(pseudomai from pseudo = to cheat, defraud, falsify) means to communicate what is false, with the evident purpose of misleading. In the context of this verse, the one we are misleading is ourselves! Self deception! The Greek term and the English equivalent ‘to lie’ involve more than simply telling what is not true, for this could occur without an intent to deceive or mislead. It means means to tell a falsehood, attempt to deceive by lying, to speak falsely or deceitfully. In the present context John is saying in essence that we lie by our actions. And thus we might say one thing with our lips but another with our life! Pseúdomai therefore involves not only the communication of a falsehood but also the intent to deceive (cp our intrinsic ability to even deceive ourselves - Jer 17:9 cp Heb 3:12, 13-note) Plummer on "we lie, and do not the truth"… Antithetic parallelism, as in v. 5. The negative statement here carries us further than the positive one: it includes conduct as well as speech. See on John 3:21, where ‘doing the truth’ is opposed to ‘practising evil’. It is also the opposite of ‘doing a lie’ (Rev. 21:27, 22:15).
1 João 1:6-7
Spurgeon comments on 1Jn 1:7) So that, in the very highest state to which we can attain in this world, namely, walking in the light, as God is in the light, and having fellowship with him, even then we shall sin, and shall still need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from its stain. So those err exceedingly who say that the Christian man can or does live utterly free from sin. Either they have lowered the standard by which they judge the actions of men, or they excuse themselves on some Antinomian principle, or else they must be altogether ignorant of the truth about the matter; for “if we walk in the light, as God is in the light,” and have fellowship with him, still “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin;” and, therefore, there is sin needing to be cleansed, for Christ does no work as a superfluity. But what a mercy it is for us to feel the continual cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus, so that, if we sin through ignorance, or if we sin by omission or by commission, that precious blood constantly keeps us so pure, that we can still walk with God! Commenting on "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light" ( Spurgeon says) Not to the same degree, but in the same manner-So you see that when we walk the best, when we walk in the light, as he is in the light, when our fellowship is of the highest order, yet still we want daily cleansing. It does not say-mark this O my soul-it does not say “ The blood of Jesus Christ cleansed “ but “ cleanseth.” If guilt return, his power may be proved again and again, there is no fear that all my daily slips and shortcomings shall be graciously removed by this precious blood. But there are some who think they are perfectly sanctified and have no sin. Jim Bomkamp lists the following indicators or marks of a genuine believer from John's first chapter… 1. Walks in the light - 1Jn 1:6 2. Has fellowship with other Christians who walk in the light - 1Jn 1:7 3. Believes he has a sin nature - 1Jn 1:8 4. Occasionally sins - 1Jn 1:10 (For Pastor Bomkamp's complete list of 34 "marks" see 1John - Marks of a True Christian) WALKING IN THE LIGHT NOT OPTIONAL John Piper clearly sees this section as describing genuine salvation… Some people think that the only way to make the Gospel really good news is to deny that changes are necessary in our lives. They say that takes away the possibility of assurance of salvation. They say the way we live after putting our faith in Christ has nothing to do with our salvation. I answer that a powerless "Gospel" is not good news. A "Gospel" that only wins lip service is not different than all the other philosophies of the world. Such a "Gospel'' produces a Christianity that is a game of words. It encourages lukewarm church-goers that they are safe from God's wrath because of some inherited mental assent to the love of God. Such a "Gospel'' accounts for how 40 million people can claim to be born again in America at the same time that our moral condition is an all time low of corruption inside and outside the church. The message of 1 John—that walking in the light is not optional, but necessary for salvation—is good news because it creates the moral atmosphere of urgency in which serious business is done with God. It gives the flavor of eternity to all we say and do. It militates against religious gamesmanship. It honors the purpose of God in Christ to destroy the works of the devil. It takes seriously the necessity of glorifying God in our bodies. It leads people to real faith instead of encouraging them to be content with a lip service that cannot change and cannot save. But in the end it simply is not up to us to decide whether the gospel is the kind of good news we would like it to be. Ours is simply to listen and submit to the Word of God. And the Word of God says that "if we walk in the light as he is in the light … the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." If we walk in darkness, we cut ourselves off from the cleansing effects of Christ's blood. And if we cut ourselves off from Christ's blood, where will hope be found. (1 John 1:5-10: Let Us Walk in the Light of God) (Bolding added) Let Us Walk in the Light --Fanny Crosby There is a Light, a blessèd Light, That comes from God above; And in the face of Christ the Lord, Reflects the Father’s love. Refrain Let us walk in the Light, Ever walk in the Light of God; Let us walk in the Light, Ever walk in the Light of God. There is a Light, a glorious Light, That falls upon our way; And brighter shineth as we go, Till lost in perfect day. Refrain There is a Light, a Holy Light, By which we now behold The jasper walls, the pearly gates And streets of shining gold. Refrain O blessèd, blessèd, Holy Light, To all so freely giv’n; Shine forth, shine forth, O Light of Life, And guide us safe to Heav’n. Refrain Forgiven! Read: 1 John 1:1-10 | Bible in a Year: Psalms 46–48; Acts 28 I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant. Psalm 119:176 My friend Norm Cook sometimes had a surprise for his family when he arrived home from work. He would walk through the front door, and shout, “You’re forgiven!” It wasn’t that family members had wronged him and needed his forgiveness. He was reminding them that though they doubtless had sinned throughout the day, they were by God’s grace fully forgiven. The apostle John supplies this note about grace: “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, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin [no inclination to sin], we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7–9). Monitor your heart daily to avoid wandering from God’s wisdom. To “walk in the light” is a metaphor for following Jesus. Imitating Jesus with the Spirit’s help, John insists, is the sign that we have joined with the apostles in the fellowship of faith. We are authentic Christians. But, he continues, let’s not be deceived: We will make wrong choices at times. Nevertheless, grace is given in full measure: We can take what forgiveness we need. Not perfect; just forgiven by Jesus! That’s the good word for today. Lord, I know I’m not even close to being perfect. That’s why I need You and Your cleansing in my life. I’m lost without You. Monitor your heart daily to avoid wandering from God’s wisdom. By David H. Roper Walk For Your Health - Physical exercise may help us fight off colds and infection. The theory is that a good workout puts our body in a condition similar to what happens at the onset of a fever. That’s not all bad. A fever is the body’s way of fighting back when micro-intruders get into our system. Increased body temperature aids our white blood-cell defense system while slowing down the action of bacteria and viruses. Exercise does the same thing. It releases chemicals into the blood that stimulate the brain to make our temperature rise. The first two chapters of First John indicate that a regular practice of good spiritual exercise is beneficial to the health of our soul. To ward off sin, we must “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1John 1:7) and obey Jesus each day. Disobedience, however, cools our spiritual temperature. Fellowship with God and other believers is neglected. Sin is neither confessed nor forsaken. If we have a lukewarm faith (Rev. 3:16-note), we are not taking advantage of the defense mechanisms necessary to fight spiritual infection. God's Exercise Program * Confess your sins to God (1John 1:9). * Follow His instructions (1John 2:3). * Walk as Christ walked (1John 2:6). For a healthy heart, give your faith a workout. Something More to Give (1John 1:7) - When evangelist John Wesley (1703–1791) was returning home from a service one night, he was robbed. The thief, however, found his victim to have only a little money and some Christian literature. As the bandit was leaving, Wesley called out, “Stop! I have something more to give you.” The surprised robber paused. “My friend,” said Wesley, “you may live to regret this sort of life. If you ever do, here’s something to remember: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!’” The thief hurried away, and Wesley prayed that his words might bear fruit. Years later, Wesley was greeting people after a Sunday service when he was approached by a stranger. What a surprise to learn that this visitor, now a believer in Christ and a successful businessman, was the one who had robbed him years before! “I owe it all to you,” said the transformed man. “Oh no, my friend,” Wesley exclaimed, “not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin!” John Wesley really did have something more to give the thief that night—the good news of salvation. And we have the same responsibility to share the gospel with those who cross our paths.— by Henry G. Bosch (Ibid) There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. —William Cowper (Biography) Play - There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood — Ponder All Six Stanzas! Listen to one of my favorite groups version Red Mountain The Gospel is a priceless gift to be freely given to others. Secrets - "God is light,” the apostle reminded us, “and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). But if that is true, how can a holy God have anything to do with the likes of us? Fyodor Dostoevsky, in Notes from the Underground, writes what we all know: “There are certain things in a man’s past which he does not divulge to everybody but, perhaps, only to friends. Again, there are certain things he will not divulge even to his friends; he will divulge them perhaps only to himself, and that too as a secret. But, finally there are things which he is afraid to divulge even to himself, and every decent man has quite an accumulation of such things in his mind.” If we have so many deep dark secrets, how can we hope to have fellowship with God? An illustration from Martin Luther’s life shows us. Luther had a dream in which he stood before God. Satan was there to accuse Luther, and when the books were opened the accuser pointed to sin after sin in his life. Luther despaired. Then he remembered the cross and, turning to the devil, he quoted 1 John 1:7, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Thinking It Over "God is light" (1Jn. 1:5). What does that mean? What creates distance between us and God? (1Jn. 1:6,8,10). What is the solution to the problem? (1Jn. 1:9). No sin is so secret that it is beyond God's forgiveness. There When You Need It - When I donated blood some time ago, a nurse gave me a card to read while a pint of the vital red fluid was flowing out of my vein. The card showed the percentages of people who have the different blood types. Here are some of them: O Positive 37.4% A Positive 35.7% A Negative 6.3% B Negative 1.5% The rarest, AB Negative, is found in only 1 in 167 people, or 0.6% of the population. Then the card made this eye-catching statement: “The rarest blood type is the one that’s not there when you need it.” That reminded me of a supply of blood that is one of a kind and always available to those who ask for it. 1John 1:7 states The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. It was the death of Christ, the shedding of His blood, that satisfied the demand of a holy God as payment for our sins (Heb 9:12-note, Heb 9:22-note). So now, whenever a person cries out in faith to God, repenting of his sin and pleading for forgiveness, his prayer for salvation is answered. I am deeply grateful that Jesus was willing to die on the cross, giving His blood for me, so that forgiveness was available when I needed it. Aren’t you?— by David C. Egner (Ibid) Lord, I believe Your precious blood, Which at the mercy seat of God Forever does for sinners plead, For me, e'en for my soul was shed. —Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (Biography) Jesus takes our sin and gives us His salvation. Thanksgiving Pardon - Each year at the end of November, the President of the United States issues an official pardon for the National Thanksgiving Turkey. During this lighthearted ceremony, one president remarked: “Our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody’s told him yet that I’m going to give him a pardon.” The poor turkey had a good reason to be uneasy—without an acquittal, he was doomed to be Thanksgiving dinner. We are in a similar situation when it comes to our sin. Without God’s pardon, we’re on our way to certain demise. This condition is a direct result of our own wrongdoing. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23-note). However, we can be set free from this death sentence because God’s Son bore our sin in His body on the cross, “that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1Peter 2:24-note). First John 1:7 tells us that Jesus’ blood “cleanses us from all sin.” We can accept God’s pardon for our sin and receive eternal life when we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead (Ro 10:9-note). Today, consider how you will respond to God’s offer of forgiveness.— by Jennifer Benson Schuldt (Ibid) Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow— Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! —Chisholm Through faith in Christ, we receive God’s pardon and escape sin’s penalty. MARKS OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN: THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN by Jim Bomkamp 1. Walks in the light - 1Jn 1:6 2. Has fellowship with other Christians who walk in the light - 1Jn 1:7 3. Believes he has a sin nature - 1Jn 1:8 4. Occasionally sins - 1Jn 1:10 5. Continually keeps His commandments - 1Jn 2:3, 3:24 6. Continually keeps His word - 1Jn 2:5 7. Walks in the same way Jesus walked - 1Jn 2:6 8. Does not hate his brother - 1Jn 2:9 9. Loves his brother - 1Jn 2:10, 3:10 10. Does not love the world ( cosmos - the world in rebellion against God ) - 1Jn 2:15 11. Does not love the things in the world - 1Jn 2:15 12. Does the will of God - 1Jn 2:17 13. Stays in the Body of Christ - 1Jn 2:19 14. Has an anointing and as a result understands the truth of the gospel - 1Jn 2:20-21 15. Believes that Jesus is the Christ (Jewish Messiah of scripture) - 1Jn 2:22, 5:1 16. Abides in Christ (as a branch in the vine: see John 15) - 1Jn 2:27-28 17. Continually practices righteousness - 1Jn 2:29, 3:10 18. Purifies himself just as He is pure - 1Jn 3:3 19. Does not continually practice sin - 1Jn 3:6, 5:18 20. Practices righteousness and is righteous, just as He is righteous - 1Jn 3:7 21. His seed abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God - 1Jn 3:9 22. Loves the brethren - 1Jn 3:14 23. Loves not only with word and tongue, but in deed and in truth - 1Jn 3:18-19 24. The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit gives assurance of salvation - 1Jn 3:24, 4:13 25. Confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (the eternal Son of God/Messiah) - 1Jn 4:2 26. Has overcome the false prophets and teachers (and the spirit that animates them) - 1Jn 4:4 27. Listens to, receives, and believes in the sound teaching from the apostles (the Bible) - 1Jn 4:6 28. Loves (with agape love) - 1Jn 4:7,8 29. Confesses that Jesus is the Son of God - 1Jn 4:15 30. Abides in (agape) love - 1Jn 4:16 31. Loves (agape) because He first loved him - 1Jn 4:19 32. Loves the child born of the Father (either Jesus, other Christians, or all men) - 1Jn 5:1 33. Overcomes the world - 1Jn 5:4 34. Believes that Jesus is the Son of God - 1Jn 5:5
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Spurgeon explains it this way - The Gospel does not consist in making a man's sin appear little. The way Christians get their peace is not by seeing their sins shriveled and shrinking until they seem small to them. But on the contrary; they, first of all, see their sins expanding, and then, after that, they obtain their peace by seeing those sins entirely swept away,—far as the east is from the west. (The Evil and Its Remedy) If one reads the biographies of great men and women of the faith who were passionate Christ followers, it is notable how their progressive sanctification (their growth in godliness and holiness and Christlikeness - all these descriptions are essentially synonyms) is associated with an increased awareness of their sinfulness, and a growing sensitivity to sins which heretofore were not even recognized as sinful (or which were thought to be only "small" sins). We see this pattern in the Bible with the Apostle Paul by comparing his personal testimony at different stages of his growth in Christlikeness… PAUL'S ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF AS HE GREW CLOSER TO JESUS, THE LIGHT SCRIPTURE/DATE (APPROXIMATE) PAUL'S SELF "ASSESSMENT" 1Cor 15:9 circa 55AD "I am the least of the apostles" Eph 3:8 circa 61AD "The very least of all saints" 1Ti 1:15 circa 63-65AD "Sinners, among whom I am foremost" THE BLOOD OF JESUS GOD'S SON Blood (129) (haima) literally is the fluid substance in the circulatory system of human beings which is the basis for life primarily because of its oxygen carrying capacity. Moses writes that "the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement." (Lev 17:11+) Peter writes that we… were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from (our) futile way of life inherited from (our) forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1Peter 1:18, 19+) Wayne Grudem: The blood of Christ is the clear outward evidence that His lifeblood was poured out when He died a sacrificial death as the price of our redemption—‘the blood of Christ’ means His death in its saving aspects. Although we might think that Christ’s blood as evidence that His life had been given would have exclusive reference to the removal of our judicial guilt before God (Ed: Justification)—for this is its primary reference—the New Testament authors also attribute to it (to His blood) several other effects. By the blood of Christ our consciences are cleansed (Heb 9:14), we gain bold access to God in worship and prayer (Heb 10:19), we are progressively cleansed from more and more sin (1 John 1:7; cf. Rev 1:5b), are able to conquer the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:11), and are rescued out of a sinful way of life (1Pet 1:19). We would do well to recover this New Testament emphasis in our preaching today. (BORROW 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary) What Can Wash Away my Sin Nothing but the blood of Jesus (Vocal by Matt Redman) Christ's perfect, precious blood shed once for all time on the Cross almost 2000 years ago, provided perfect propitiation to the Father (He is eternally satisfied with Christ's sacrifice for sin) and complete, eternal redemption (Heb 9:12+) through the New Covenant in His blood (Mt 26:28, Lk 22:20), also referred to as "the blood of the eternal covenant." (Heb 13:20+). In other words, the blood of Jesus His Son shed at Calvary is efficacious for eternity, not only for our one time justification (the declaration that we are righteous in Christ) but also sufficient for our daily or progressive sanctification (a continual process in this life until we are glorified). Henry Alford comments that the blood of Jesus must be clearly defined…The expression is an objective one, not a subjective (and) is spoken of that which is the objective cause from without, of our being cleansed from all sin. And this is the material Blood of Jesus the personal Redeemer, shed on the Cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sin of the world. So we have the same Blood said in Col. 1:20 to be the great medium of pacification between God and the world: so in Eph. 1:7, to be the means of ou of our redemption; so in Heb. 9:14, which approaches very nearly to our passage, to cleanse (as here) our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. In all these places, and similar ones, whatever application to ourselves by faith or otherwise may lie in the background, it is not that which is spoken of, but the Blood of Christ itself, as the actual objective cause, once for all, of our reconciliation and sanctification. C H Spurgeon emphasizes the continual efficacy of the blood of Christ to cleanse sin…Christ does no work as a superfluity. But what a mercy it is for us to feel the continual cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus, so that, if we sin through ignorance, or if we sin by omission or by commission, that precious blood constantly keeps us so pure, that we can still walk with God! John
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Spurgeon adds… There be some of you here who are saying, "Ah! that shall be my hope when I come to die, that in the last hour of my extremity the blood of Christ will take my sins away; it is now my comfort to think that the blood of Christ shall wash, and purge, and purify the transgressions of life." But, mark! my text says not so; it does not say the blood of Christ shall cleanse—that were a truth—but it says something greater than that—it says, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses"—cleanses now. And is it possible that now a man may be forgiven? Can a harlot now have all her sins blotted out of the book of God? And can she know it? Can the thief this day have all his transgressions cast into the sea; and can he know it? Can I, the chief of sinners, this day be cleansed from all my sins, and know it? Can I know that I stand accepted before the throne of God, a holy creature because washed from every sin? Yes, tell it the wide world over, that the blood of Christ can not only wash you in the last dying article, but can wash you now. And let it be known, moreover, that to this there are a thousand witnesses, who, rising in this very place from their seats, could sing— Oh, how sweet to view the flowing Of my Saviour's precious blood, With divine assurance knowing, He has made my peace with God Martin Luther tells about the dream he once had in which Satan set before him on a great scroll all of his sins and manifold iniquities. Luther didn’t argue with the devil, he just admitted each one without denying any of them. In his dream, he simply scrawled 1 John 1:7 across the list: “The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” Findlay writes that…Through continued fellowship with God and men (as we continually walk in the light), the Cross of Christ gains increasing mastery within us. On the one hand, fellowship in the Divine light brings a deepening sense of sin, demanding a renewed confession and an ampler pardon; the old repentance and faith are convicted of shallowness, in the clearer knowledge of God. At the same time, we find that the atonement is not the means only, it is the end of our righteousness in Christ; it supplies the ideal of our service to God and man (comp 1Jn 3.16, and Eph 4.32-5.2), while it is the instrument by which we are recovered for that service. The cross of Jesus is the alpha and omega of salvation. We do not pass by it, as we enter the way of life; we have to lift it up and bear it with us to the end. "The blood of Jesus" is sprinkled on the conscience to rest there; it melts the heart, and melts into the heart. His death-blood, if we may so say, becomes the life-blood of our spirits. It sinks-into the nature, wounding and healing, burning its way to the quick of our being, to the dark springs of evil, until it reaches and "slays the dire root and seed of sin." The sacrifice of Christ is the principle of our sanctification, equally with our justification. (An Exposition of the Epistles of St John) Jackman rightly observes that…Frequently we Christians are deprived of the enjoyment of walking in the light because we feel we have failed so often, perhaps in a recurring or besetting sin, that we dare not come back to God to ask for fresh forgiveness. We cannot say, as it were, ‘Lord, it’s me again and it’s that again.’ This is to fall for the devil’s lie. There is a glorious inclusiveness about this present tense and its application to all sin. We can never come too often to God when we come in humble penitence and active faith. It is because this blood (1Jn 1:7) is that of God’s Son that it has such virtue. Its purifying properties extend to each and every sin. To walk in the light means to become increasingly conscious of sin that would hinder our fellowship with God and our fellow Christians (Ed: See preceding discussion of walking in the light increasing our sense of sinfulness and need for cleansing), and as that sin is revealed, not to run away into the darkness again. Rather we bring it, by faith, to the God Whose Son gave His life that all our sins might be forgiven and removed. As we do so, the barriers to fellowship are removed and we continue in that relationship with God. (Borrow The Message of John's Letters - Bible Speaks Today - David Jackman) FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD CAN IT BE ALTERED? While I highly respect Dr John MacArthur, he "threw me a curve ball" today when I was riding my bike and heard him make a dogmatic statement about fellowship with God declaring.... Sin never alters the fellowship because it is continually being cleansed. The blood of Christ is simply a vivid, gory way to describe His death. He loves us, according to Revelation 1:5. He released us from our sins by His blood, by His sacrificial death. And if I have come to Christ, truly embraced Him, I will be being continually cleansed and, therefore, I will be being continually in fellowship with God because nothing can really come between. I will enjoy that partnership with God in an unbroken fashion.....Confession doesn’t change our fellowship. Our fellowship is with the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Father. Our fellowship began at the time of our new birth when we entered into the family and into the fellowship. Our fellowship is forever - nothing can break the fellowship. Listen to this: You can never be out of the fellowship. That never changes, it can’t be broken. The fellowship is koinōnia or koinōnos, partnership, union, common sharing of that light, which is eternal life. "And if I have come to Christ, truly embraced Him, I will be being continually cleansed, therefore I will be being continually in fellowship with God because nothing can really come between. I will enjoy that partnership with God in an unbroken fashion." (Sermon - The Certainty of Sin, Part 3 - 1 John 1:5–2:1 - May, 2002) (Bolding mine). In MacArthur's book "Keys to Spiritual Growth" he answer the question... CAN A CHRISTIAN BE OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD? We have been led astray by the usual understanding of the word fellowship. Some people say that confession is important because it restores fellowship with God, which they believe is broken by sin. We sin, fellowship is broken; we confess, fellowship is restored. But that is not what Scripture teaches. Our fellowship with God never changes, regardless of how we fail. Genuine fellowship cannot be broken by sin and therefore cannot be restored by confession. We have been led astray by the usual understanding of the word fellowship. We use it to mean “friendship, intimacy, relationship between persons.” But the Greek word is koinonia, meaning “partnership.” Our partnership with God can never be broken by sin, Satan, or anything else in the universe (see Romans 8:32–39). Something does happen when we sin, but it is not broken fellowship. It is forfeiture of joy. “These things we write unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4, KJV). Although our fellowship cannot be broken, we can foul up our lives so that we lose our joy. Many, many Christians have done that very thing. I don’t deny that in sinning, a believer loses a certain intimacy, a warm-hearted experience, a sense of nearness to God. Something does go away, but Scripture speaks of it as lost joy rather than lost fellowship. What is the fastest way to regain the joy of your salvation? Do what David did—confess. He prayed, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Psalm 51:12). God then returns His joy to you. (See The Keys to Spiritual Growth: Unlocking the Riches of God - Page 103 - 1991, revised from 1976 edition) (Bolding added) In another book The Body Dynamic,
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Spurgeon explaining the Biblical concept of walking… - The Christian life is described as walking, which implies activity. Christian life feeds upon contemplation, but it displays itself in action. Fellowship with God necessitates action, since to be with God, we must “walk with God.” The living God is not inactive, motionless, aimless. “My Father,” says Jesus, “works hitherto, and I work.” Chiefly in the character of active workers or in that of willing sufferers we must maintain fellowship with God. Walking implies activity, but it must be of a continuous kind. Neither this step, nor that, nor the next, can make a walk. We must be moving onward and onward and remain in that exercise, or we cease from walking. Holy walking includes perseverance in obedience and continuance in service. Not he that begins, but he that continues is the true Christian. Final perseverance enters into the very essence of the Believer’s life—the true pilgrims of Zion go from strength to strength… I fear I have scarcely brought out the fullness of the meaning. They that are in the Light will know what I mean. Those who are in darkness cannot imagine what life in the Light of God must be. (The Child of Light Walking in the Light) Alfred Plummer adds that John gives us…A further inference from the first principle laid down in 1Jn 5 (+): walking in the light involves not only fellowship with God but fellowship with the brethren. This verse takes the opposite hypothesis to that just considered and expands it. We often find (comp. 1Jn 1:9+) that John while seeming to go back or repeat, really progresses and gives us something fresh. It would have enforced 1Jn 1:6 (+), but it would have told us nothing fresh, to say ‘if we walk in the light, and say that we have fellowship with Him, we speak the truth, and do not lie’. And it is interesting to find that the craving to make this verse the exact antithesis of the preceding one has generated another reading, ‘we have fellowship with Him’, instead of ‘with one another’.(1 John Commentary) Warren
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Spurgeon: (God is described as) wrapping the light about Himself as a monarch puts on his robe. The concept is sublime, but it makes us feel how altogether inconceivable the personal glory of the LORD must be if light itself is but His garment and veil! What must be the blazing splendor of His own essential being! We are lost in astonishment, and dare not pry into the mystery lest we be blinded by its insufferable glory. In light of such an awesome picture of God in the light Spurgeon (see Spurgeon's related discussion above) is quick to ask… Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as He is Whom we call “Our Father,” of Whom it is written, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which is set before us, for the Saviour Himself said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect;” (Mt 5:48) and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never be satisfied until we attain to it (Ed: Read Paul's ambition regarding his daily walk in the light - Php 3:8+, Php 3:9, 10, 11+, Php 3:12, 13+, Php 3:14+ - May God grant us His grace and Spirit's enabling power to seek to walk in the light by imitating Paul, even as He imitated Christ - Read 1Cor 4:16+, 1Cor 11:1+, John 13:15+). (Daily Help) ( Spurgeon adds that "as He is in the light" does not mean) to the same degree, but in the same manner-So you see that when we walk the best, when we walk in the light, as He is in the light, when our fellowship is of the highest order, yet still we need daily cleansing. It does not say -- mark this O my soul -- it does not say “The blood of Jesus Christ cleansed“ but “cleanses” If guilt return, His power may be proved again and again, there is no fear that all my daily slips and shortcomings shall be graciously removed by this precious blood. Alexander Maclaren on walking As He Himself is in the light…Then, still further, there is implied in this great requirement of walking in the light, not only activity and effort, and progress in purity, but also that the whole of the life shall be brought into relation with, and shall be molded after, the pattern of the God in whom we pro-less to believe. Religion, in its deepest meaning, is the aspiration after likeness to the god. You see it in heathenism. Men make their gods after their own image, and then the god makes the worshippers after his image. Mars is the god of the soldier, and Venus goddess of the profligate, and Apollo god of the musical and the wise, etc., and in Christianity the deepest thing in it is aspiration and effort after likeness to God. Love is imitation; admiration, especially when it is raised to the highest degree and becomes adoration, is imitation. And the man that lies before God, like a mirror in the sunshine, receives on the still surface of his soul—but not, like the mirror, on the surface only, but down into its deepest depths—the reflected image of Him on Whom he gazes. ‘We all with unveiled face, mirroring glory, are changed into the same image.’ So to walk in the light is only possible when we are drawn into it, and our feeble feet made fit to tread upon the radiant glory, by the thought that He is in the light. To imitate Him is to be righteous. So do not let us forget that a correct creed, and devout emotions, ay! and a morality which has no connection with Him, are all imperfect, and that the end of all our religion, our orthodox creed and our sweet emotions and inward feelings of acceptance and favor and fellowship, are meant to converge on, and to produce this—a life and a character which lives and moves and has its being in a great orb of light and purity. (1 John 1:7 Walking in the Light) CULTIVATING THE RIGHT "SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE" Alfred Plummer suggests that if we are to walk as He Himself is in the light then we must "make our spiritual atmosphere similar to His, that our thoughts and conduct may reflect Him." (1 John Commentary) THOUGHT - Clearly we can enter "His spiritual atmosphere" best by spending time in His Word, not simply by rote reading, but by prayerful, meditatively reading with a sense that His Word is His love letter to us, His beloved children, while we are yet away from His immediate presence which is our promised, sure hope. And as we read of His love and provisions and promises to us, we engage in conversation with Him in prayer, not stiff and formal, but simple and intimate. Let me ask you a very practical question -- If such as has just been described were to become your daily pleasure (not duty, not a legalistic constraint, but your heart's desire prompted by His Spirit and His amazing grace) and you walked away from His presence with His thoughts coursing through your mind, how would that time of fellowship with Him impact your daily walk in the light and your fellowship with fellow believers? Would that morning memory of intimate moments spent with the infinite, almighty God Who is light enhance or empower or motivate your desire to walk in the light? Would you have a sense of His continual presence with you (cf fellowship, communion) even in the midst of the hectic hustle and bustle the rest of the day? If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, let me challenge you to just "experiment" for a few days and see if cultivating the right spiritual atmosphere has any effect on your daily walk in the light! And send me an email for I love to hear about supernatural occurrences! Warren Wiersbe…If we are the children of God, then we ought to imitate our Father. This is the basis for the three admonitions… God is love (1John 4:8); therefore, “walk in love” (Eph 5:1-2). God is light (1 John 1:5); therefore, walk as children of light (Eph. 5:3-14). God is truth (1John 5:6); therefore, walk in wisdom (Eph 5:15-17). (Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament ) Hiebert explains it this way…The expression marks the contrast between God who is “in the light” as the natural sphere of His being, and those seeking fellowship with Him who must persistently endeavor to walk “in the light.” God is eternal and abiding; believers are temporal, moving through time and space. (1 John 1:5-2-6 Exposition) Hastings writes "There is no greater blessing than light. It is the indispensable condition of our existence. Bereft of light, all life would languish. Every living creature would lose its brightness and activity ; every plant would wither ; all the material world would lose its charm. How natural was it for men to identify with light the good they felt at work in their hearts, and to mark by darkness the evil with which it had to strive!" John Phillips on walking in the light…To walk in the light means that our lives will be transparent and above reproach. We will harbor nothing shady, nothing we would not want to be seen and known, for light exposes the hidden works of darkness. How can two walk together in fellowship when one has ulterior motives and the other something to hide? (Exploring the Epistles of John) Alexander Maclaren on the effect of light which… bids us shroud no part of our conduct or our character either from ourselves or from Him. Bring it all out into the light. And although with a penitent heart, and a face suffused with blushes, we have sometimes to say, ‘See, Father, what I have done!’ it is far better that the revealing light should shine down upon us, and like the sunshine on wet linen, melt away the foulness which it touches, than that we should huddle the ugly thing up in a corner, to be one day revealed and transfixed by the flash of the light turned into lightning. ‘He that does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest.’ (John 3:21) (1 John 1:7 Walking in the Light) THOUGHT - Practical application of walking in the light: Remember that you may be the only Bible many people will ever read. Are you walking in the light that others might see His light (Jn 8:12+) in you (Mt 5:14-16+, Php 2:14-15+)? Light (5457)(phos from pháo = to shine) is defined by many lexicons as that which contrasts with darkness. Light is the medium of illumination that makes sight possible or makes things visible. In Scripture phos can refer to literal, physical light (Ge 1:3), but often is used metaphorically or symbolically, the greatest metaphorical use being used to symbolize Jesus as "the Light of the world." (Jn 8:12). Jesus characterized those who would be His followers, His disciples as "light of the world" (Mt 5:14). Then He commanded them to be "light bearers" for the glory of the Father (Mt 5:16). PHOS IN JOHN'S WRITINGS - Jn. 1:4; Jn. 1:5; Jn. 1:7; Jn. 1:8; Jn. 1:9; Jn. 3:19; Jn. 3:20; Jn. 3:21; Jn. 5:35; Jn. 8:12; Jn. 9:5; Jn. 11:9; Jn. 11:10; Jn. 12:35; Jn. 12:36; Jn. 12:46; 1 Jn. 1:5; 1 Jn. 1:7; 1 Jn. 2:8; 1 Jn. 2:9; 1 Jn. 2:10; Rev. 18:23; Rev. 21:24; Rev. 22:5 Related Resource: Harrison's Excellent Discussion on Walking in the Light QUESTION - What does it mean to walk in the light? ANSWER - To “walk in the light” is a common metaphor within Christian culture. It is often taken to mean “acting correctly” or even “living openly.” Biblically, however, the phrase has the idea of relinquishing sin by following Jesus. The only Old Testament occurrence of this precise phrase is in Isaiah 2:5, “O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord.” The Psalms contain similar phrases (56:13; 89:15), as does Isaiah (9:2; 50:10-11; 59:9). In the New Testament, “walking in the light” is directly related to following Jesus, who said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). While this verse does not directly say, “Walk in the light, i.e., Jesus,” it does pointedly warn of doing the opposite; therefore, those who follow Jesus are “walking in the light.” To “walk” is, in short, to live one’s life. One’s lifestyle or way of life can be considered a “walk.” The word also indicates progress. Walking is related to growth; it is taking steps toward maturity. “Light” in the Bible can be a metaphor for life, happiness, righteousness, or understanding. The Bible is clear that light comes from the Lord God, the “Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). He is the opposite of evil. Putting it all together, “walking in the light” means “growing in holiness and maturing in the faith as we follow Jesus.” The apostle John repeatedly used the “light” metaphor in relation to the Messiah. For example, he writes that Jesus is “the true light that gives light to every man” (John 1:9). In 1 John 1:7 he says, “If we walk in the light as He [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” In verse 5, John says that God’s very nature is light. Jesus, then, is the conduit or provider of light to the world. Our Christian duty is to live in the light God gives: “Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). When we walk in the light, we cannot walk in darkness. Sin is left in the shadows as we let our light “shine before men” (Matthew 5:16). It is God’s plan for us to become more like Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “Walking in the light” means we consider Jesus as “the light” in this world, and we “walk” in that light by following His precepts, living in His power, and growing in His grace.GotQuestions.org QUESTION - What are some of the signs of genuine saving faith? ANSWER - This is one of the most important questions in the Christian life. Many believers doubt their salvation because they don’t see signs of genuine faith in their lives. There are those who say we should never doubt our decision to follow Christ, but the Bible encourages us to examine ourselves to see if we are truly “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Thankfully, God has given us ample instruction for how we can know for sure that we have eternal life. The first epistle of John was actually written for that purpose, as it states in 1 John 5:13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." There is a series of tests in 1 John that we can use to examine ourselves and our faith. As we look at them, remember that no one will perfectly fulfill all of them all the time, but they should reveal a consistent trend that characterizes our lives as we grow in grace. 1. Do you enjoy having fellowship with Christ and His redeemed people? (1 John 1:3) 2. Would people say you walk in the light, or walk in the darkness? (1 John 1:6-7) 3. Do you admit and confess your sin? (1 John 1:8) 4. Are you obedient to God’s Word? (1 John 2:3-5) 5. Does your life indicate you love God rather than the world? (1 John 2:15) 6. Is your life characterized by "doing what is right"? (1 John 2:29) 7. Do you seek to maintain a pure life? (1 John 3:3) 8. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? (1 John 3:5-6) [Note: this refers to not continuing in sin as a way of life, not a total absence of sin.] 9. Do you demonstrate love for other Christians? (1 John 3:14) 10. Do you "walk the walk," versus just "talking the talk"? (1 John 3:18-19) 11. Do you maintain a clear conscience? (1 John 3:21) 12. Do you experience victory in your Christian walk? (1 John 5:4) If you are able to truthfully answer "Yes" to these questions (or a majority of them, and are working on the others), then your life is bearing the fruit of true salvation. Jesus said that it is by our fruits that we are known as His disciples (Matthew 7:20). Fruitless branches—professing believers who do not display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) are cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:6). A genuine faith is one that not only believes in God (the demons themselves do that - James 2:19), but leads to open confession of sin and obedience to Christ’s commands. Remember, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but our works should display the reality of our salvation (James 2:17-18). Genuine saving faith will always produce works; a faith that is perpetually without works is no faith at all and saves no one. In addition to these confirmations, we need to remember God’s promises and the reality of the war we are in. Satan is just as real as Jesus Christ, and he is a formidable enemy of our souls. When we turn to Christ, Satan will look for every opportunity to deceive and defeat us. He will try to convince us that we are unworthy failures or that God has given up on us. When we are in Christ, we have the assurance that we are kept by Him. Jesus Himself prayed for us in John 17:11 that the Father would "protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one." Again in verse 15, He prayed, "keep them from the evil one." In John 10:27-29, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand." If you hear and obey the voice of Jesus, then you are one of His sheep, and He will never let you go. Jesus gave a wonderful word picture here of Christians securely held within His loving hands and the Father’s almighty hands wrapping themselves around His, giving us a double assurance of eternal security. Related Resources: How can I have assurance of my salvation? If you doubt your salvation, does that mean you are not truly saved? What if I don’t feel saved? How can I detect a false conversion? WE HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER: koinonian echomen (1PPAI) met' allelon: NOTE: CLICK HERE FOR THIS PASSAGE IN MORE THAN 60 ENGLISH VERSIONS IN BIBLEGATEWAY we have: 1Jn 1:3 Am 3:3 1 John 1 Resources HORIZONTAL RESULT OF WALKING IN THE LIGHT We have (2192) (echo) has the basic meaning of have or hold with a variety of nuances (determined by the context and accompanying terms) and in this context speaks of a close relationship (all believers are brethren, in the same family, with the same Father Jn 1:12+, 1Jn 3:1+). The present tense speaks of this as the believer's continual "possession" (we will never be kicked out of the Father's house!) Fellowship (koinonia) with one another (allelon) - Think of fellowship as shared life (and not just "two fellows in a ship"). Some commentaries feel John is referring to fellowship between the believer and God. It is more natural to understand the reciprocal pronoun one another as indicating fellow believers. John uses allelon seven times in his epistles (1Jn 1:7; 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11, 12; 2Jn 5, the last six uses all = "love one another"!) and each use refers the relationship between men which supports that interpretation in the present passage. While one another (allelon) most likely refers to other believers, the fellowship clearly includes God because genuine fellowship with other believers is not possible unless both parties have first experienced fellowship with God (See Vincent's comment below). Toon writes says "the basic meaning of fellowship is a real and practical sharing in eternal life with the Father and the Son." (Ref) When believers share in the eternal life with the Father and the Son, they are able to share life with one another. Kruse adds that "there is no real fellowship with God which is not expressed in fellowship with other believers." (Ibid) Marvin Vincent agrees with the majority of interpreters that fellowship with one another signifies… Not, we with God and God with us, but with our brethren. Fellowship with God exhibits and proves itself by fellowship with Christians. See 1John 4:7, 12; 3:11, 23. (
1 João 1:7
Spurgeon - The child of light walking in light (Full sermon The Child of Light Walking in Light) ‘If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ 1 John 1:6–7 Remember how David pronounces him blessed ‘in whose spirit there is no guile.’ He knew painfully what it was to be full of guile. See him! He has gone astray most grievously. His mind is in the dark. What does David do? There is a foul sin committed: he tries to make himself believe that it is not so very horrible; he labours to hoodwink his conscience. His sin is likely to be seen and he tries to cover it. He brings back Bathsheba’s husband. When he declines to go to his house he must be made drunken. The design has failed. David is afraid, but not penitent; on the contrary, he hastens to still greater crime. Uriah is in the wars; there he is wantonly exposed to death and slain in battle. His death is ascribed to the fortune of war. David did not see that it was murder, for he was not walking in the light. He was still in darkness and therefore continued acting a deceitful part with his God and his own conscience. His conduct would not bear the light and so his one idea was to keep out of the light. How changed was all this after Nathan had said to him, ‘Thou art the man’! When the light of heavenly conviction had penetrated the night of his soul, he made no more excuses and practiced no more subterfuges. He stood in the light, ashamed and confounded. Amazed at the sight of his sin, he abandoned all idea of covering it and fled at once to the mercy of God crying, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness’. In the sobbing and sighing of the fifty-first Psalm he lays bare his heart and in plainest terms cries, ‘Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation’. He is in the light now, for deceit has gone; now God can speak comfortably to him, wash him and make him ‘whiter than snow.’ Thanksgiving Pardon The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin. —1 John 1:7 Today's Scripture : 1 John 1:1-10 Each year at the end of November, the President of the United States issues an official pardon for the National Thanksgiving Turkey. During this lighthearted ceremony, one president remarked: “Our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody’s told him yet that I’m going to give him a pardon.” The poor turkey had a good reason to be uneasy—without an acquittal, he was doomed to be Thanksgiving dinner. We are in a similar situation when it comes to our sin. Without God’s pardon, we’re on our way to certain demise. This condition is a direct result of our own wrongdoing. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). However, we can be set free from this death sentence because God’s Son bore our sin in His body on the cross, “that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). First John 1:7 tells us that Jesus’ blood “cleanses us from all sin.” Oswald Chambers - Placed in the light If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, … the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7. To mistake conscious freedom from sin for deliverance from sin by the Atonement is a great error. No man knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced on Calvary. The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. It takes the last reach of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the impartation of His absolute perfection, to make a man know what sin is. The Holy Spirit applies the Atonement to us in the unconscious realm as well as in the realm of which we are conscious, and it is only when we get a grasp of the unrivalled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.” This does not refer to conscious sin only, but to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Ghost in me realizes. If I walk in the light as God is in the light, not in the light of my conscience, but in the light of God—if I walk there, with nothing folded up, then there comes the amazing revelation—the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin so that God Almighty can see nothing to censure in me. In my consciousness it works with a keen poignant knowledge of what sin is. The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To walk in the light means that everything that is of the darkness drives me closer into the centre of the light. (See My Utmost for His Highest) D L Moody - YOU may pile up your sins till they rise like a dark mountain, and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of: and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me bring this one verse in, and that mountain will melt away. F B
1 João 1:9
Spurgeon put it "Sin is not a splash of mud on a man's exterior; it is filth generated within himself." Vincent distinguishing forgiveness from cleansing noting that "Cleansing contemplates the personal character of the sinner; remission, his acts." (
1 João 1:9
Spurgeon adds: The lancet must be let into the gathering ulcer before relief can be afforded. The least thing we can do, if we would be pardoned, is to acknowledge our fault; if we are too proud for this we double deserve punishment. And mine iniquity have I not hid. We must confess the guilt as well as the fact of sin. It is useless to conceal it, for it is well known to God; it is beneficial to us to own it, for a full confession softens and humbles the heart. We must as far as possible unveil the secrets of the soul, dig up the hidden treasure of Achan, and by weight and measure bring out our sins. I said. This was his fixed resolution. I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. Not to my fellow men or to the high priest, but unto Jehovah; even in those days of symbol the faithful looked to God alone for deliverance from sin's intolerable load, much more now, when types and shadows have vanished at the appearance of the dawn. When the soul determines to lay low and plead guilty, absolution is near at hand; hence we read, And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Not only was the sin itself pardoned, but the iniquity of it; the virus of its guilt was put away, and that at once, so soon as the acknowledgment was made. God's pardons are deep and thorough: the knife of mercy cuts at the roots of the ill weed of sin. Selah. Another pause is needed, for the matter is not such as may be hurried over. Pause, my soul, adore and wonder, Ask, O why such love to me? Grace has put me in the number Of the Saviour's family. Hallelujah! Thanks, eternal thanks, to thee. Listen to this prayer of an old Puritan saint… I CONFESS MY SIN I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my willful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature. I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me? (Ed: Answer? YES!) (Valley of Vision) QUESTION - Why do we need to confess our sins if they have already been forgiven? WATCH VIDEO ANSWER - The apostle Paul wrote, “To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:6-8). This forgiveness is referring to salvation, in which God has taken our sins and removed them from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). This is the judicial forgiveness that God gives us upon receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. All our past, present, and future sins are forgiven on a judicial basis, meaning that we will not suffer eternal judgment for our sins. We still often suffer consequences of sin while we are here on earth, however, which brings us to the question at hand. The difference between Ephesians 1:6-8 and 1 John 1:9 is that John is dealing with what we call “relational,” or “familial,” forgiveness—like that of a father and a son. For example, if a son does something wrong to his father—falling short of his expectations or rules—the son has hindered his fellowship with his father. He remains the son of his father, but the relationship suffers. Their fellowship will be hindered until the son admits to his father that he has done wrong. It works the same way with God; our fellowship with Him is hindered until we confess our sin. When we confess our sin to God, the fellowship is restored. This is relational forgiveness. “Positional” forgiveness, or judicial forgiveness, is that which is obtained by every believer in Christ. In our position as members of the body of Christ, we have been forgiven of every sin we have ever committed or ever will commit. The price paid by Christ on the cross has satisfied God’s wrath against sin, and no further sacrifice or payment is necessary. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it. Our positional forgiveness was obtained then and there. Confession of sin will help to keep us from the discipline of the Lord. If we fail to confess sin, the discipline of the Lord is sure to come until we do confess it. As stated previously, our sins are forgiven at salvation (positional forgiveness), but our daily fellowship with God needs to stay in good standing (relational forgiveness). Proper fellowship with God cannot happen with unconfessed sin in our lives. Therefore, we need to confess our sins to God as soon as we are aware that we have sinned in order to maintain close fellowship with God. QUESTION - What does it mean that, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just (1 John 1:9)? ANSWER - In 1 John 1:5–10, the apostle John describes genuine fellowship with Jesus Christ as walking in the light. One way believers walk in the light is by honestly admitting their human tendency to sin: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9). John portrays God and Jesus as light (1 John 1:5; John 1:4–9). Often, Jesus referred to Himself as light (John 9:5; John 12:35–36). God’s absolute holiness shines light into the utter darkness of a sinful world. Those who desire to have an authentic relationship with God must obey His Word and live in His light. But, to do this, the problem of sin must be dealt with openly before the Lord. John explains, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). The way to deal with sin is to repent and confess it as soon as we recognize it. Otherwise, guilt will weigh heavily on us, as it did on David (Psalm 32:3–4). “Finally,” David said, “I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone” (Psalm 32:5, NLT). The word confess refers to admitting a sin. When we confess our sins to God, we agree with Him that we have broken His law and therefore deserve punishment. Confession recognizes that we are wrong—we are personally guilty. Confession confronts our denial of sin head-on. We are humble enough to say, “Lord, I have sinned against you.” And believers who want to walk in God’s light must be willing to let Him deal radically with their lives. It’s important to note that, at the point of salvation, all of our sins are forgiven. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, once and for all time (Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:6–11; Hebrews 10:1–18). After we are sealed with the blood of Christ’s covenant, there is nothing we can do that will keep us from heaven (Matthew 26:28). All of our sins—past, present, and future—are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ. Yet, Jesus taught that believers must continue to seek God’s forgiveness daily (Matthew 6:11–12). After salvation, Christians frequently miss the mark (Philippians 3:12; James 3:2, 8; 4:17). For this reason, John stated, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Sins that are out in the open and confessed to God won’t hinder us from walking in the pure light of genuine fellowship with Jesus Christ. So, first, we must be willing to admit our sins to ourselves. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me,” said David in Psalm 51:3. We injure ourselves and hamper our relationship with God if we try to hide or deny our sins: “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). But if we are honest with ourselves, we can repent and confess our sins to God and experience His forgiveness and cleansing (Acts 3:19). Sometimes we may need to admit that we’ve wronged a family member, a co-worker, or a brother in Christ. Scripture teaches us to confess our sins to other believers and seek forgiveness from those we have hurt (James 5:13–16; Matthew 5:23–25; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13). Maintaining any healthy, loving, intimate relationship will require the giving and receiving of forgiveness, for this is how relationships work. In our fellowship with God and other people, if we offend the other party, we mend the relationship by confessing our failures and asking for forgiveness. Thankfully, God is “faithful” and “just.” These terms in 1 John 1:9 describe the nature of God. The word faithful means “characterized by steadfast affection or allegiance.” God will never give up on us. We can always count on His steadfast love and forgiveness (Isaiah 43:25; Romans 8:38). When we turn to the Lord, He will have mercy on us and freely pardon our sin (Isaiah 55:7). Just refers to being “legally or ethically right, righteous, and especially free from bias, favoritism, or deception.” God is morally honorable. He has promised in His Word that, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just.” Therefore, we can trust Him to “forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Paul affirms, “He himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:26, NLT). QUESTION - What is confession of sin? ANSWER - Confession of sin is the admission of what we did and the agreement with God that our actions or words were wrong. In a court of law, a person who confesses to a crime is agreeing that he or she did in fact violate a societal standard. When we confess our sins, we are admitting that we violated God’s law. We admit that we chose to do, say, or think something opposed to God’s will, and we stand guilty before Him. Related to confession is repentance. Whereas confession involves admitting what we did was wrong, repentance involves a desire to change course. We not only acknowledge our sin but take steps to overcome and forsake it. Confession without repentance is only words. Most people will confess to a sin when caught red-handed, but they may have no intention of changing. Their show of remorse is due to the consequences of their actions, not the sin of the actions. John the Baptist preached repentance in preparing the way for the Messiah: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). In other words, John counselled his hearers to not merely confess their sins but demonstrate by their actions that they had truly repented of them. The Bible presents two avenues for the confession of sins. First, we are to confess our sins to God. First John 1:9 says that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Second, we are to confess our sins to other believers. James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” When we have wronged someone, it is appropriate to confess our wrongdoing to that person and seek forgiveness. Several factors can hinder or prevent our confession of sins. One is pride. We don’t like to admit we were wrong. Pride rushes in to justify, explain, or blame-shift instead of confessing and being forgiven (Proverbs 16:18). God resists a prideful person (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Confession of sin does little good when it is coerced or insincere because it is not true agreement with God but a temporary effort to appease a guilty conscience or pacify someone else. Another factor that hinders the confession of sin is ignorance. In our modern age, people are growing more biblically illiterate, and hearts are growing cold toward the things of God. The neglect of Scripture means that many, including professing Christians, are woefully ignorant of God’s moral standards. Some indulge their sinful desires with little remorse, preferring to remain in the dark rather than have to confess and forsake their sin. Their attitude is “ignorance is bliss,” and they may even resist learning more about God’s Word for fear it will make them feel guilty about their lifestyles. God holds us accountable for all He has entrusted to us, so ignorance is no excuse for not confessing our sin to God and being forgiven. When we confess our sins to someone we have wronged, that confession should be accompanied by an appeal for forgiveness. While we cannot force someone to forgive us, we should always make that option available to them so that they can live free of bitterness toward us. The Bible is filled with commands to forgive each other (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; Matthew 6:14). Jesus even gave us a step-by-step tutorial in confession and restoration within the church (Matthew 18:15–17). There are other times when our sin was not against a specific person, but we can confess it anyway to Christian brothers and sisters as a way of becoming accountable for change (James 5:16). An old adage says, “Confession is good for the soul.” This is true. God wants us to live with a clear conscience and a pure heart (Matthew 5:8; Psalm 24:4). This is only possible when we regularly confess and forsake our sins, keeping the model of Jesus ever before us (1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1). He never had to confess His sins because He never committed any (Hebrews 4:15). But no one else can truthfully say that, so we need to learn how to confess our sins regularly both to God and to other people so that we can live free of guilt and shame (Colossians 2:14). QUESTION - How does God cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)? ANSWER - 1 John 1:9 states, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV). John’s letter, sometimes referred to as a “catholic epistle,” was written to the universal church. John was instructing all Christians everywhere with the “if” statement in 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is faithful and just to do so. For the unbeliever, God’s cleansing from unrighteousness begins from the point of justification. Christ’s sacrifice for sin is accessible to everyone but comes into effect when unbelievers, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, put their faith in Christ as the redeeming Savior. At that point, God declares sinners as righteous and holy, separating them from the rule of darkness and placing them into the kingdom of light (Romans 3:21–24; Colossians 1:13). The power of sin is broken in their lives (Romans 6:6, 14; 1 Corinthians 6:11). Additionally, those who are justified are sealed by the Holy Spirit and experience regeneration (Ephesians 1:13–14; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22). Even after justification, there is a need to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. The Christian’s sin nature still desires to perform acts of unrighteousness. No believer can claim to achieve sinless perfection in this earthly journey. Consequently, the Christian life is a tug-of-war between our flesh and the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–17; Romans 8:5–6), often resulting in moments when we yield to the flesh and disrupt our fellowship with the Father. 1John 1:9 emphasizes the importance of recognizing our faults, confessing them as wrong before God, and getting back into alignment with His ways. Christians do not confess their sins to maintain salvation; rather, they do so because they aspire to become more like Christ. So, 1 John 1:9 does not imply that we must constantly maintain salvation through our asking for forgiveness. Salvation is based on Christ’s perfect sacrifice, not our demand for forgiveness. Nevertheless, all sins grieve the Spirit and offend God and should be confessed to God. When a Christian sins, his or her fellowship with God suffers, necessitating forgiveness (Ephesians 4:30; Psalm 51:4; Genesis 6:5–6). Consider a healthy marriage as an analogy: a husband and wife have the constant assurance that their marriage is legally valid, but, when one spouse sins against the other, the relationship suffers. Apologies and forgiveness play a vital role in restoring the intimacy. The sin did not dissolve the marriage, but it did break the fellowship for a time. Similarly, those who are in Christ possess a secure legal standing before God—we are justified; we are adopted as His children. However, when we sin, the relationship suffers, and our confession, followed by God’s forgiveness, helps us stay aligned with the relational aspect of our Christian walk. When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He came to Peter, who objected to Jesus serving him in such menial fashion. Jesus told Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). At this, Peter asked for a whole-body cleansing (verse 9). But Jesus said that wasn’t necessary: “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean” (verse 10). In other words, Peter had already had his “bath” (he was justified), but he still needed the smaller cleansing (forgiveness of the day-to-day sins he had committed). A bathed person walking through this world will pick up dirt and grime and thus need a foot-washing. Likewise, a saved person living in this sinful world will need periodic times of confession. And God promises to forgive His child. When we confess our sin—that is, when we acknowledge that our actions were wrong—God is willing to cleanse us of all unrighteousness and restore our communion with Him. Related Resources: Do Christians have to keep asking for forgiveness for their sins? Why should we confess our sins to one another (James 5:16)? How should a Christian deal with feelings of guilt regarding past sins, whether pre- or post-salvation? When we confess our sins to God, how detailed do we need to be? What happens if we die before confessing our sins? How can I know that my future sins are forgiven? If I struggle with a habitual sin, does that mean I am not saved? Why can't I stop sinning? Please help! Will God continue to forgive you if you commit the same sin? Is there any sin that God will not forgive? Do we need to confess our sins to those we have sinned against? What does the Bible say about confession of sin to a priest? How can I know that my future sins are forgiven? James Smith - THE FIRM FOUNDATION UPON WHICH RESTS THE DIVINE FORGIVENESS 1 John 1:9 Introduction One of Wesley’s preachers, who had seven children dependent upon him, was thrust into prison. One of his persecutors said in Court: “The man is well enough in other things, but the gentlemen cannot stand his impudence. Why, sirs, he says he knows that his sins are forgiven him!” What was considered impertinence in this case is our great privilege and birthright. It is our joy not only to ask for His forgiveness, but to enjoy the consciousness of His pardoning grace. With the Psalmist we may look up into His face and say, “With Thee there is forgiveness” (Psa. 130:4), and “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps 32:5). This is a word for all—the old saint as well as the young believer, because forgiveness is the grace to which more than all others, we have continually to appeal. Day by day we need to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses.” IS THERE ANY DANGER OF ITS WITHDRAWL? That God forgives is recognised. But is there any conceivable reason for its withdrawal? A woman had a long and bitter quarrel with a sister Christian. For months they had not spoken to each other. The injured woman was laid low by serious illness. She thought she was dying, and the thought of the estrangement through the quarrel made her afraid to die. She sent for her friend, and they sought each other’s forgiveness, following which they had a pleasant time together. Just as she was passing out of the room, the sick woman called her friend back, saying, “I have truly forgiven you, because I feel it is my duty to do so, and I could not die in peace otherwise. I do not expect to get well; but in case I should, I want it distinctly understood that this old matter remains just as it was before I sent for you.” When God forgives, is there any danger of its withdrawal? We feel for our peace we need the constant assurance of God’s loving mercy to us all through our lives, and indeed right through Eternity. Blessed be His Name, there is no fickleness or changeableness in Him. He has left on record in His blessed Book abundant assurance of His lasting forgiveness. His forgiveness rests upon a threefold, impregnable, immovable basis. I. Divine Justice. His forgiveness rests on a foundation of Divine justice. A very young girl came one day, and throwing herself at the feet of Napoleon, exclaimed: “Mercy, sire; have mercy on my father!” “Who is your father, my child?” the Emperor asked, graciously. “He is in prison,” she replied; “he has been condemned to death.” When Napoleon got from her an account of the crime, he said, “Poor child, this is the third time your father has conspired against the State. I must do justice!” “Ah, sir, O know it! But it is not justice I demand, but mercy!” The lips of Napoleon trembled, and grasping the hands of the young girl, he said: “Rise up; I pardon your father for your sake!” This story has often been quoted as an ideal one for us to copy in our approaches to God, and we have been asked and urged to ask Him for mercy, and not for justice. Yet the amazing and marvellous fact about the Divine forgiveness of sin is this, whilst it is granted for the sake of Another, the Lord Jesus, and in compassion, too, for it is written, “He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity” (Psa. 78:38), yet it is also granted on the solid foundation of Divine Justice! Observe, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” There is such a thing as a forgiveness arising out of mere paternal love or a good natured indifference to sin. If God’s forgiveness was of this nature, what would happen? Suppose that He should, without requisite satisfaction, pass over my offences, and forgive me for what my own conscience condemns me, what would be the consequences of this clemency? I could no longer reverence or esteem Him. Ceasing to be just (for remember the poet Cowper’s phrase, “A God all mercy were a God unjust”), He would cease to be God in my eyes. The only kind of forgiveness that satisfies is one that proceeds not from love alone, but from law, not from pity alone, but from holiness and justice. The Cross has made this seemingly impossible benefit gloriously simple. Because the penalty of sins had already been borne, to punish the penitent would be to punish a second time; to do that would be a breach of faith with the vicarious Sufferer, and an injustice to the sinner himself, who, in the person of his Substitute has met the penalty of the broken law—death. That God will never do, for He is just. “Faithful and JUST to forgive us our sins.” Glory be to His Name! II. Divine Faithfulness. His forgiveness rests also on a foundation of Divine faithfulness. “Faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” In the annals of warfare we have heard of a promise of pardon offered only to catch the offenders in hiding. Not so with the Lord. He means what He says. God is faithful to His promises, and to His covenant engagements. III. Divine Supervision. His forgiveness rests also upon the foundation of Divine supervision. What we mean by this sentence can best be explained by an incident from the life of Richard I, the favourite king of our childhood days. Coeur-de-Lion was not only a brave man, but was generous and able to forgive wrongs. When he had reigned ten years, one of his French vassals rebelled. Richard at once marched his army and besieged the rebel in his castle. During the last and successful attack, a young man, Bertrand de Gurden, shot an arrow, which mortally wounded the king! The castle fell, and Bertrand was brought before the dying monarch. To the chagrin of his men, Richard said, “Youth, I forgive you my death,” and turning to his officers commanded, “Let him go free, and give him a hundred shillings.” Richard died, and Bertrand, having been recaptured, was executed. Richard was unable to see that his commands were carried out. The Lord Jesus died to set us free, and to enrich us. But He lives to see that His wishes and commands and covenant agreements are carried out. If He forgives, it is for ever. The proof of forgiveness is seen in a cleansed life: “And to cleanse us.” Forgiveness and cleansing are inseparable. Sin is in the soul in two forms—in guilt, which requires forgiveness; and in pollution, which requires cleansing. “If.” The whole verse turns on this first word. There can be no forgiveness without confession. And confession implies forsaking (Prov. 28:13). Robert Morgan -Paralyzed - (Borrow From this verse : 365 inspiring stories) He heard his neck snap just as he made the tackle. When the players unstacked, he was unable to move; and Van Johnson, 15, found himself permanently paralyzed. Van embraced Christ as Savior while flat on his back, and he began growing as a Christian. His spiritual progress was marked by several critical junctures. One of them occurred one day while Van, lying in bed, was struck by a hell-launched missile of depression and self-pity. Anger raged within me in mighty waves. I felt I was drowning. I wanted to kick, to flail my arms, to scream. Tears of anger and pity began to pour from my eyes. “You can’t even wipe your tears away,” I told myself. I beat my head against the mattress. “Maybe this will cause me to fall out of bed,” I reasoned. “Then I’ll be on the floor where I want to be.” Mom heard the commotion and came into my room to comfort me. “Van, what’s wrong?” I refused to look at her, listen or answer her. Completely exhausted, I just lay there. Van’s rage faded into anguished guilt as he realized his pent-up anger and violent tantrum had been unwise, unhealthy, and dishonoring to God. The words of 1 John 1:9 came to my mind: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. … ” My prayer was this: “God, please forgive me for my stupidity. I have sinned against You through my anger and self-pity. I confess my sins to You.” His sweet presence came to me, and I felt a renewed sense of peace. I felt clean, because I knew as far as Jesus was concerned, it was all over—He would remember the episode no more. That experience taught me so much about life. I realized that the Christian never needs to stay discouraged or depressed, no matter the circumstances. From that day on, I determined within my heart that I would look away from my problems to see Jesus. This would be my choice. * J J Knap - If We Confess Our Sins 1 John 1:9 (With Loins Girded) A believing child of God is by far not a saint, not even half a saint, but he knows how to speak of daily stumblings, that painfully disrupt the peace of his soul; and the more tender his conscience is, the more grievous is his sorrow over the manifold trespasses of which he knows himself to be guilty before God. Inwardly it becomes an anxious question whether the grace of God has departed from us, and we would bear hell within our heart if by renewal no heavenly peace would come to us from the apostolic word: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let us take note of this word, as often as we stand before God’s countenance with a wincing conscience that brings accusation against us. If we deny our sins, we shall wait in vain for relief. If we gloss over or disguise our sins, the peace of God shall still flee far from us. If we justify our sins, and we put them on account of the weakness of our flesh or of the seducing power of the Evil One, our heart shall never be able to return to the spaciousness and freedom of the children of God. However, if we confess our sins, confess them with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, confess them into the listening ear of the Lord, which He graciously turns towards us in Christ, confess them in all their wickedness and perverseness,—behold, then the way is paved to experience that the Lord is faithful and just, that He shall forgive us all our sins, and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. He is faithful and just, He does not take back the redemption that He once gave us, when we placed for the first time the hand of faith upon that holy Lamb of God, He makes His promises to stand and He does not allow one tittle or jot to fall to the earth, He cannot deny Himself. This is a blessed truth. However, the comfort of it does not reach the man who argues her with a cold heart and who leans upon her in the midst of his sins with a cold soul,—it only reaches the man, who bows down before God’s countenance with a broken soul and who confesses his sins with a heartfelt sorrow; where this sorrow, joined with a hatred of and fleeing from sin, is found, an abundant forgiveness becomes our share. Let us so confess our daily transgressions. Let us place our leprous heart before the divine eye, and place ourselves uprightly before the countenance of the Lord, to experience that He does not only forgive us our sins, but that He also cleanses us from our unrighteousness, and reforms us in principle to the image of His Son from glory to glory, by the Lord’s Spirit. A MARK OF THE CHRISTIAN - John
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Spurgeon commenting on If we confess our sins writes "That is the point; and he, who says that he has no sins, will not confess them. He, who believes himself to be perfect, cannot enjoy the blessing described in this 9th verse. To deny that we have any sin, is to walk in darkness, and to show we are without the light which would reveal our sin to us, kind if we are walking in darkness we cannot be in fellowship with God. But to see sin in ourselves from day to day, humbly to confess it, and mourn over it, is to walk in the light; and walking in the light, we shall have fellowship with God who is light. “If we confess our sins,” — The text means just this - Treat God truthfully, and he will treat you truthfully. Make no pretensions before God, but lay bare your soul, let him see it as it is, and then he will be faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. CONFESSION… EVIDENCE THAT I AM FORGIVEN Oswald Chambers - Watch the difference between confessing and admitting ; the majority of us are quite ready to admit, it is the rarest thing to get to the place where we will confess—confess to God, not to man. It is much more difficult to confess to God than we are apt to think. It is not confessing in order to be forgiven; confession is the evidence that I am forgiven. God does not forgive me because I confess; I realize by my confession that I am forgiven. Am I willing to be brought to the place where God draws out my confession? When the Spirit of God convicts of sin it is not like a detective convicting a criminal, it is sin finding out a man’s own nature and making him say, “Yes, I recognize it.” When once your sin does find you out, the exquisite pain of confessing acts like the sweetest medicine—“a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Beware of having anything that makes your mind accept an excuse for yourself. I can step out of darkness into the light—when God is willing? No, when I am willing. “I do want to be in living communion with God”; I don’t, if I did, I could be there in one second; the reason I am not there is that I won’t confess, I won’t submit to God’s condemnation of the thing. Immediately confession is made the Atonement of Our Lord steps in with its supernatural efficacy. (He Shall Glorify Me : Talks on the Holy Spirit and Other Themes) Ray Stedman agrees with Chambers, noting that "the word confess… does not mean to ask for forgiveness… Christ's work for us upon the Cross has already done all that is necessary to forgive us. What God wants us to do is to look at the sin before us and call it what He calls it. That means to agree with God about it, and that is what the word confess means: Fess comes from a root which means "to say," and con means "with." "To say with" God what He says about this thing, that is confessing sin. There is a popular song which you sometimes hear in Christian circles, If I have wounded any soul today, If I have caused one foot to go astray, If I have lived in my own selfish way, Dear Lord, forgive. That is not a confession at all. The "if's" take it out of the realm of confession. Do not say "if," say, "Lord, I have caused some foot to go astray, I have lived in my own selfish way." That is confession, that is agreeing with God. (Ray
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Spurgeon comments: Who can understand his errors? A question which is its own answer. It rather requires a note of exclamation than of interrogation. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and in the presence of divine truth, the psalmist marvels at the number and heinousness of his sins. He best knows himself who best knows the Word, but even such an one will be in a maze of wonder as to what he does not know, rather than on the mount of congratulation as to what he does know. We have heard of a comedy of errors, but to a good man this is more like a tragedy. Many books have a few lines of errata at the end, but our errata might well be as large as the volume if we could but have sense enough to see them. Augustine wrote in his older days a series of Retractations; ours might make a library if we had enough grace (Ed: Note our need for grace to even recognize and admit our mistakes!) to be convinced of our mistakes and to confess them. Acquit me of hidden faults. Thou canst mark in my faults entirely hidden from myself. It would be hopeless to expect to see all my spots; therefore, O Lord, wash away in the atoning blood even those sins which my conscience has been unable to detect. Secret sins, like private conspirators, must be hunted out, or they may do deadly mischief; it is well to be much in prayer concerning them. In the Lateran Council of the Church of Rome, a decree was passed that every true believer must confess his sins, all of them, once a year to the priest, and they affixed to it this declaration, that there is no hope of pardon but in complying with that decree. What can equal the absurdity of such a decree as that? Do they suppose that they can tell their sins as easily as they can count their fingers? Why, if we could receive pardon for all our sins by telling every sin we have committed in one hour, there is not one of us who would be able to enter heaven, since, besides the sins that are known to us and that we may be able to confess, there are a vast mass of sins, which are as truly sins as those which we lament, but which are secret, and come not beneath our eye. If we had eyes like those of God, we should think very differently of ourselves. The transgressions which we see and confess are but like the farmer's small samples which he brings to market, when he has left his granary full at home. We have but a very few sins which we can observe and detect, compared with those which are hidden from ourselves and unseen by our fellow creatures. F B Meyer describes our sins this way - TO SIN is to miss the mark! Such is the meaning of the original word. When the prodigal returned, his first words were; "Father, I have missed the mark." Are we not always missing the mark, coming short? Sin is negative as well as positive. The Confession of the Church of England and the Shorter Catechism both agree in this: "We have done the things that we ought not; we have left undone the things that we ought to have done." Sin consists, not only in the positive transgression of the law of God, but in the want of conformity to His Will. It is needful to use this two-pronged fork. If a number of men are on their way to the recruiting-station and the standard is to be exactly six foot. They are all under that height, but the tallest of them glories in the fact that he is a clear two inches above the rest of his fellows. It may be so, but he will be as certainly rejected as the shortest, because even he comes below the standard. You may be better than scores of people in your circle, but you will need Christ's forgiveness and salvation equally with the worst! (Source) Sin (noun) (266)(hamartia) is the idea of missing the mark. Later hamartia came to mean missing or falling short of any goal, standard, or purpose. Hamartia in simple terms in the context of the Bible signifies a departure from God's holy, perfect standard of what is right in word or deed (righteous), of missing His appointed goal (His will), a deviation from what is pleasing to Him. In short, sin is conceived as a missing the true end and scope of our lives, which is God. It is interesting to note that in Romans the word dikaiosune which means "conformity to the standard" appears as the opposite of hamartia, a missing of the standard set by God (Ro 6:16, 17, 18). W. S. Plummer addressed the subtle and deceitful nature of sins, especially "little sins" and so called "acceptable sins" "We never see sin aright until we see it as against God… All sin is against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught."(1 John 1 Commentary) The related verb hamartano, means to miss a mark, as when a warrior throws his spear and fails to strike his adversary or when a traveler misses his way or a poet who selects a subject which it is impossible to treat poetically or who seeks to attain results which lie beyond the limits of his art. In the moral/ethical realm, hamartia conveys the idea of missing the right, of going wrong. In the classic literature, hamartia mainly conveys the idea of failing to attain in any field of endeavor. Remember that John is serious about sin and therefore it is not surprising that hamartia is one of his key words, occurring 17 times. Hamartia: 11x translated as sin singular; 6x translated as sins plural. 1Jn 1:7, 8, 9 (twice), 1Jn 2:2, 12; 3:4, 5, 8, 9; 4:10; 5:16 (2x), 1Jn 5:17 (2x). The same moment which brings the consciousness of sin ought to bring also the confession of it and the consciousness of forgiveness. -- Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Confess (3670) (homologeo from homos = one and the same or together with+ lego = to say; confess from con = together, fateor = to say.) literally means to say the same thing as another and so to agree in one's statements with, to acknowledge, to admit the truth of (an accusation). Homologeo is found 6 times in John's epistles - 1Jn. 1:9; 1Jn. 2:23; 1Jn. 4:2; 1Jn. 4:3; 1Jn. 4:15; 2Jn. 1:7 (acknowledge) Homologeo is a Key verb for John who has 12 of the 26 NT uses - John 1:20 (twice); John 9:22; 12:42; 1 John 1:9; 2:23; 4:2, 3, 15; 2 John 1:7; Rev 3:5. HOMOLOGEO - 26X/23V - acknowledge(2), admit(1), assured(1), confess(6), confessed(4), confesses(6), confessing(1), declare(1), give thanks(1), made(1), profess(1), promised(1). Matt. 7:23; Matt. 10:32; Matt. 14:7; Lk. 12:8; Jn. 1:20; Jn. 9:22; Jn. 12:42; Acts 7:17; Acts 23:8; Acts 24:14; Rom. 10:9; Rom. 10:10; 1 Tim. 6:12; Tit. 1:16; Heb. 11:13; Heb. 13:15; 1 Jn. 1:9; 1 Jn. 2:23; 1 Jn. 4:2; 1 Jn. 4:3; 1 Jn. 4:15; 2 Jn. 1:7; Rev. 3:5 Uses of homologeo in the non-apocryphal Lxx are rare - Job 40:14, Jer 44:25 (here in sense of making a vow).
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Spurgeon explains why quick confession should be every saint's practice - It is not the nature of sin to remain in a fixed state. Like decaying fruit, it grows more rotten. The man who is bad today will be worse tomorrow. F B
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Spurgeon adds that "now John is very careful when he strikes a blow to hit completely. He has already smitten those who say they have no sin, and now he smites those who say they did not at one time have any. Vine comments that "the third kind of false protestation; the first (1Jn 1:6) is a denial of the distinction between spiritual light and darkness, the second (1Jn 1:8) is a denial of the sinfulness of our nature, the third is a denial of sins committed—themselves the effect of a sinful state. F B Meyer correctly observes that "Though they have fallen below their own standard, they do not like to admit it, and cling tenaciously to their position of having got beyond the range of sinning. Much better to admit it, and obtain forgiveness through the one Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (Our Daily Homily) William Harris comments that those who deny actual acts of sin in the past or present "had apparently developed a version of perfectionism by which they were able to deny that, after professing to be Christians, they could be convicted of sin. (1 John 1:5-22: Exegetical Commentary) Steven