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The Letters of John
BC Weekly Digest Monday, March 23 1998 In this issue: 1 John 1:5 1 John 1:6,7 1 John 1:6,7 1 John 1:8-10 1 John 1:9 1 John 1:7 1 John 1:3,6,7 1 John 1:5 What is the meaning of "God is light"? First, it means that He is not darkness. He is not even twilight. He is not divided into part light and part darkness. Darkness calls to mind blindness, depravity, gloom, ignorance and sin. God has none of these qualities even to a small degree. Sunlight powers the process of photosynthesis to to provide food for a hungry world. God's light energizes the spiritual world giving spiritual food to His people through His holy word. Light helps one understand God as Spirit. It calls to mind moral purity, glory, truth, perfect knowledge and righteousness. Like love, light spreads out from its source. Like truth, light makes possible clear seeing and understanding. There is nothing that is not manifest in God's sight. Charles Hess. ------------------------------ 1 John 1:6,7 1 John 1:6,7 (OPV) 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. === 1:6 "Fellowship with Him" In verse three we learned that the Apostles' testimony enables us to have fellowship with them and thus also with the Father and Son. Paul wrote:"God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor 1:9 ASV). Paul mentions the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Philippians (2:1) and in his benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14. 1:6 "And walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth" In God there is no darkness at all. Thus how can someone who is walking in darkness have fellowship with God? "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them" (Eph 5:11 ASV). This should be obvious, but there were evidently false teachers who claimed that one could serve God on a 'spiritual' plane, while practicing immorality in the flesh. Paul mentions what appears to be a similar misuse and twisting of his teachings on grace: "and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? whose condemnation is just" (Rom 3:8 ASV). Jude's warning is evidently occasioned by similar false doctrine: "For there are certain men crept in privily, [even] they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:4 ASV). 1:7 "If we walk in the light" The word "walk" is these passages has to do with the path one takes in his life from day to day. Jesus said: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12 ASV). He also said: "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him" (John 11:9,10 ASV). Paul wrote to the Ephesians: "For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Eph 5:8 ASV). 1:7 "We have fellowship with one another" Christian fellowship is based on a mutual relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, which we attain and maintain by following the teachings of Christ and His Apostles, walking with them in the light. 1:7 "And the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin" This "walking in the light" is not a matter of attaining a sinless life by our own meritorious works. Even the Apostles of Christ had to struggle with sin as we do (see Gal 2:11-14 and Rom 7:18-25). But they were NOT walking in darkness. Following Christ, walking in the light, having fellowship with Him and the Father, brings with it the cleansing of all sin by the blood of Christ. Roy Davison ------------------------------ 1 John 1:6,7 God is light as opposed to darkness. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105.) As we walk according to his teachings from his word, we walk in light. As we commune with our God with our lives, walking according to his word, we have fellowship with him. Grover W. Hastings ------------------------------ 1 John 1:8-10 1 John 1:8-10 (OPV) 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we are making Him a liar, and His word is not in us. === 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin" 1:10 "If we say that we have not sinned" In verse 8 John speaks of having sin in the present tense. In verse 10 he speaks of sins committed in the past. There is a sense in which sin dwells within a person, even within someone who truly wants to do what is right. Paul speaks of the pervasiveness of sin in Romans seven. "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practice; but what I hate, that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good [is] not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practice. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members" (Rom 7:14-23 ASV). False teachers may have been misusing this passage. But Paul is NOT speaking of someone who is wallowing in sin. He speaks of himself, of one who could testify that he had lived in all good conscience before God (Acts 23:1; 4:16)! Paul did not mean that he had never sinned, for he calls himself the chief of sinners, because he persecuted the church (1 Tim 1:12-15). Paul is simply stating what every honest person knows, namely, that even when we want to do what is right, sin lies close at hand! 1:8 "We are deceiving ourselves" 1:10 "We are making Him a liar" A man once approached a preacher in Brussels and asked to be baptize, but he hastened to explain that it was not for the forgiveness of sins because he had never committed any sins! The brother told him he could not baptize him because baptism is only for sinners! I once visited a man who belonged to a group called the "Norwegian Brethren." He said Christians should never sin, and that it had been a long time since he had sinned! Such ridiculous statements can only be made by those who either underestimate sin (thinking that if they have not murdered anyone, for example, and have never committed adultery, that they have never sinned), or by those who greatly overestimate their own goodness! In both cases they are fooling themselves and contradicting the word of God, "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23 ASV). 1:8 "And the truth is not in us" 1:10 "And His word is not in us" We can know the truth (John 8:32; 1 Tim 4:3; 2 John 1). This knowing must be much more than a superficial 'book' knowledge. The truth must be IN us. Before returning to the Father, Jesus promised: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, [even] the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:16, 17 ASV). Notice the parallelism in John's statements. The truth can only be in us if the word of God is in us. As Paul said to the Thessalonians: "And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, [even the word] of God, ye accepted [it] not [as] the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe" (1 Thes 2:13 ASV). The word of Christ is to dwell in us richly (Col 3:16). 1:9 "If we confess our sins" In Psalm 32 David says, "When I kept silence, my bones wasted away" (verse 3) .. "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity did I not hide: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto Jehovah; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" (verse 5). And James tells us: "Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" (James 5:16 ASV). 1:9 "He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" God has promised to forgive our sins on the basis of His new covenant (testament). "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more" (Heb 8:10-12 ASV). "And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, and upon their mind also will I write them; [then saith he,] And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb 10:15-17 ASV). Roy Davison ------------------------------ 1 John 1:9 1 John 1:9 The question has been asked: What is the "confession" spoken of in 1 John 1:9? Is this a confession only to God, or to other Christians, or to a church leader? Reply submitted by Frank Worgan: If we look closely at verses 5 to 10, of First John 1, we see that the passage has to do with God and the believer's relationship with Him. Verse 5 points out that transparent holiness and purity, is an attribute of Deity which makes it utterly impossible for God to tolerate sin. This truth is set out under the figure of the contrast between Light and Darkness. Verse 6 states the fact that Light and Darkness are incompatible; they cannot exist together. Anyone therefore who 'walks in darkness' - that is, habitually lives a sinful life - cannot possibly enjoy fellowship - (be in a saving relationship) - with God. But, in contrast, those who 'walk in the light' - that is, who are sincerely seeking to live in a manner pleasing to God - will enjoy sweet fellowship with Him, and, at the same time, will be kept in a proper relationship with Him, because the blood of Jesus His son, will 'keep on cleansing' from all sin. We should note that a happy fellowship with God is not dependent on a perfectly sinless life. Verse 8 plainly states that no one lives in a condition of 'sinless perfection,' and anyone who claims to have attained such a state has already demonstrated the falsity of his claim! On the other hand, if we confess the sins which we commit in daily life, whilst trying to 'walk in the light,' forgiveness will not be denied us. The 'confession' in this verse is not confession to a priest, nor to another Christian, nor to church leaders, nor even to the Church itself. Occasions may arise when the confession of one's faults - or sins - to a fellow-believer is beneficial. But there is no promise of forgiveness attached to this in the Scriptures. That is not where forgiveness is to be found. And there may be times when to confess one's sin to the Church is both appropriate and essential, especially if the sin involved is one which has brought the good name of the Church into disrepute. The biblical principle is that the acknowledgement of sin should be as extensive as the knowledge of the sin. This means that publicly-committed sin should be publicly acknowledged, whilst privately committed sins should be confessed privately - and that, to God Himself. The principle in dealing with sin, as laid down by the Lord Jesus himself, in Matt. 18 vv 15-17, is clearly one of containment. But, in the context of verse 9 of First John, since God is the main subject of the passage, we must conclude that the confession referred to, is confession to Him. Frank Worgan ------------------------------ 1 John 1:7 1 John 1:7 Man's problem comes from walking in the darkness of sin. No one can deny having sin - it is universal ( Romans 3:23-26 ). The only remedy to sin is the blood of Christ and the only access to its cleansing power is to follow in the steps of His submission and obey His glorious gospel - to walk in the light ( Hebrews 5:8,9; Ephesians 5:7-14 ). Then we can thank the Father ..."who delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins ( Colossians 1:13,14 ). J.Lee Roberts ------------------------------ 1 John 1:3,6,7 1 John 1:3,6,7 What is meant by fellowship in these verses? As I understand it, fellowship is a spiritual relationship that is enjoyed by a person when he or she is added to the church (Acts 2:41-47). It is the glue that binds us to the work of our Lord and to each other in that work. It is not a fleshly linkage, as some would insist, but it is that divine association that endears us to each other and to God. Though it secures an eternal blessedness for us, it can be forfeited through refusal to "walk in the light," which can result in having one's name removed from the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 21:27): "and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life." Howard Justice