(Audio Version)
Introduction
I know that
for many of you it seems like you are daily surrounded by darkness—war, hatred,
strife, immorality, etc. I have been praying for you this week as I have
meditated on the darkness that surrounds all of us from time to time in our sinful,
self-prioritizing world bent on evil and its own destruction. I know that at
times it can seem like the world has been turned upside down. What we have
always taken for granted as being right, we’re now told is wrong. What was so
obviously good for so long, we’re now supposed to believe is bad. Sometimes it
feels like it’s always raining on our lives with darkness pressing in on all
sides. It can prove to be very discouraging at times. However, as Christians,
we have the advantage of being in relationship with the Author of light! It is
precisely when life seems at its darkest, that God’s light shines the brightest
to light the way for believers. Believers don’t have to live in the darkness of
their own sins even as they may have to endure the darkness of the sins of an
unbelieving world. Darkness cannot abide in the life of a true believer because
every true believer is in relationship with the Light of the world. Therefore
every true believer will not live in darkness that is sin but will Walk In The Light because their sins
have been forgiven.
Subject Text
1 John 1:5-10
5This
is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is
light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim
to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and
do not live by the truth. 7But 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. 8If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If
we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Context
This letter
is written by the same John that wrote the Gospel of John. This is a general
pastoral epistle that wasn’t written to anyone or any church in particular.
Instead, it circulated in a number of Gentile churches sometime during the last
two decades of the first century A.D. and was written to Christians in general.
John is particularly fond of using light to describe God and His nature. I have
often wondered why, considering none of the other gospel writers or even Paul
spent much time, if any, describing God as having or being perfect light. I
wonder if it is intended to contrast the darkness of the days during which John
wrote this epistle. The days of this epistle were dark indeed as the Temple had
been completely destroyed possibly less than 10 years before John wrote this
letter. These were dark days not only for the Jews but just a few short years
before the Temple was destroyed, the Roman Emperor Nero embarked on a historic
campaign to destroy Christianity in the Roman Empire. Although the cross was
not a Roman innovation, they appeared to perfect the brutality of its use. Crucifixion
was not just a means of execution, it was also a means of psychological
warfare. Imagine walking the streets of Rome as a Christian with fellow
Christians lining the streets nailed to crosses. Imagine now Christians impaled
on poles, soaked in oil and then set ablaze as human torches used to light
Nero’s gardens in the evenings. Persecution of Christians didn’t end with Nero;
the evil and darkness of those days continued as they have continued even in
our own day.
Text Analysis
The
disciples, particularly John who was one of the three in Jesus’ inner circle,
spent nearly three years with Jesus every day learning from Him about His
mission, God’s Kingdom, and about the nature of God. John is the one Gospel
writer that is explicit in his assertion that Jesus is God—“In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God (Jn 1:1).” In v. 5 John picks up on something Jesus taught the
people about Himself and ties it directly to an attribute of God’s nature that,
“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” Here’s the connection from the
lips of Jesus that is a direct link to John’s teaching in our Subject Text: “When Jesus spoke again
to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever
follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (Jn.
8:12).” Let’s make the connection together using a bit of mathematics called
the transitive law of equality. Here’s how it works theologically in this case:
If Jesus is God and Jesus is light then God is light. This describes an
important attribute in the nature of God in the person of Jesus. “Light
underscores, among other things, God’s glorious character, unsurpassed moral
perfection, utter separateness from creation and absolute truthfulness and
righteousness. It also bespeaks God’s self-revelation and finds its highest
expression in his Son through whom truth is disclosed to the human race. By its
very nature light exposes the true nature of something, usually leading to
judgment. In any event, the entrance of light triggers irreconcilable division
and irresolvable conflict. Darkness conveys its opposite: moral evil,
unrighteousness, falsehood, error, willful ignorance, deceitfulness and
self-deception. By introducing these metaphors John intends to demonstrate the
impossibility of neutrality.”[1]
Spiritual
hypocrisy has been the death of more ministries in the history of Christianity
than can be counted. We so easily wag our fingers and shake our heads when we
read the headlines about another prominent pastor who has lost his ministry
because of sin. I recognize the danger of sin in my own life everyday. Here’s
the difference, I know I’m a sinner and need to seek forgiveness everyday for
my own sins even as I battle to eliminate that sin from my life. I can talk
about the dangers of sin in the lives of others because I am actively engage in
the war against sin in my own life. Spiritual hypocrisy is talking about the
dangers of sin in the lives of others while willfully ignoring the sin in our
own lives. In v. 6, John makes it clear that we can’t on the one hand claim to
have fellowship with; walk with God, who is defined as perfect light, while on
the other hand walk in darkness. What John is saying is that the forgiveness of
our sins does not give us a license to continue to sin even though sin is still
a reality of our daily lives. Willful sin makes Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness
of our sins a farce and makes our claim to be in fellowship with Him a lie. “In
1 Jn., men’s false evaluation of themselves in relation to God means that any
contradiction between the confession of faith and the life of the members of a
congregation involves them in lies. To profess fellowship with Christ is
incompatible with simultaneous disobedience to his commands. To profess to love
God is incompatible with continuing to hate one’s brother. In such cases both
the claims and the life of a Christian become a lie, excluding him from the
truth of God.”[2]
Matthew
records an encounter where one of the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking
him which law is the greatest (Mt 33:34-40). Jesus told the man that the first
greatest law is that we should love God with our entire being. However, Jesus
added that the second greatest law was like the first and that is to love
others as we love ourselves. There is a natural outcome of being in fellowship
with Christ, or as John puts in v. 7 to “Walk
In The Light,” and that is that we will have fellowship with one another.
If we truly love God with our whole being then we will love others as
ourselves. In this way we fulfill the two greatest commandments. However, there
is another, more personal implication to walking in God’s light—all our sins
are forgiven. The implication being that our words are irrelevant if our
actions aren’t reflected in those words. V. 7 is a conditional clause that says
“if” we Walk In The Light, “then” we
will have fellowship with one another “and” we will be purified from our sins.
If the condition of walking in the light is not met then we will not be in
fellowship with one another nor will we be purified from our sins. “To be ‘purified
from all sin’ does not suggest that if a believer does not walk in the light,
his sins are not forgiven in the judicial sense. Nor does it mean that all
believers are completely freed from all sin. Rather, the verb is in the present
tense, suggesting a continuous and progressive action. It might include the
forgiveness and purification from all past sin at the moment of salvation. But
because of the present tense, it goes further to suggest that those who are
walking in the light have sin’s defilement removed and that they experience a progressive
sanctification—a progressive character transformation into the image of Jesus. All sin means every kind of sin and
shows there is no limit to the categories of sin that Christ is willing to
forgive. His sacrificial death made every type of sin forgivable.”[3]
There are
some in our culture that insist humanity is intrinsically good. However,
external forces—political, economical, etc. create obstacles for humanity to
fully express that goodness. As believers, we know this is patently false.
That’s not to say that humanity doesn’t have the capacity for good. Humanity
was created in the image of God so clearly humanity has the capacity for good.
However, unlike God, humanity’s divine image has been grossly distorted by sin.
This is the element that secular humanists refuse to recognize and it’s not new
to our time. Some of the false teachers of John’s day also taught that humanity
had no natural tendency to sin but only did so as a result of external
forces—create the ideal environment and sin would be eliminated. They believed
humanity had the ability to create that ideal environment given sufficient time
and resources and some sort of special knowledge. In a sense, we know this to
be foolishness of the highest degree. However, it’s really deception, or more
specifically, self-deception. In v. 8 John makes it clear that we are simply
deceiving ourselves if we arrogantly claim that humanity is without sin—John
says we are liars. “Regarding sin outside Jewish and Christian circles: pagan
thinking lacked definite, universal, and clear moral standards associated
directly with religion. ‘In general the standard was public opinion and not a
code of conduct,’ religious or otherwise (Ferguson 1987: 118). It was a culture
more concerned about shame than guilt. The important question for them was,
What will people think? not, What is right or wrong according to a revealed
transcendent standard? ‘Cultus had little to do with morality except in cases
of grave offense, and priests did not function as moral guides ([Ferguson]
1987: 53). Part of the reason for this lay in the Greek belief that reason, not
revelation, was the sole foundation for knowing how to live…From a Christian
point of view, no mortally devised scheme of reason or ethics yet has proved
equal to the task of taming the downward proclivities of the human heart.”[4]
At some
point, every Christian has looked in the mirror, real or imagined, and seen
their sin staring back at them. All of us had the choice to look at that image
of sin staring back at us and either say “so what” or “help.” Some of us said
“so what” for a long time before we finally said “help.” However, once we said “help,”
Jesus was right there to help by not only forgiving our sins but also cleansing
us from the unrighteousness that polluted our lives for so long. John says in
v. 9 that all we have to do is confess our sins and Jesus is there to help by
forgiving our sins and wiping our slate clean. Sin has trapped us and God has
provided a way out because He said He would provide a way out. God wants to be
in relationship with us but our sin and unrighteousness bars the way—so God
didn’t just provide any way, He
provided the Way. Because Jesus is
faithful and just, He provided the way through Himself. “Confession is
successful because of the character of God. His forgiveness is not an act of
mercy, as if he were setting aside some usual disposition in response to a
religious act of penitence. God’s character is to be faithful and just. It is
essential not to oppose these two ideas, as if God’s loving-kindness or
faithfulness (Gk. pistos) and his
justice or righteousness (Gk. dikaios)
were at odds. His faithfulness to us has prompted him to make a way for our
purification and thereby satisfy his demand for righteousness. Confession
enjoys the good character of God and is empowered by it. Two consequences
necessarily follow: forgiveness and purification. To forgive (Gk. aphiemi)
really means ‘to let go’ (as a debt, cf. Luke 7:43), and so John
indicates that our sins are removed from God’s accounting. To purify carries a
different nuance and suggests a removal of the residual effects of sin,
consequences that linger (such as a stain). Therefor there is hope. The past
and its errors as well as the future and its propensity toward sinfulness are
both addressed.”[5]
Most
unbelievers and some believers hate talking about sin; theirs or anyone else’s
for that matter. When presented with the need for forgiveness in an evangelistic
setting, many unbelievers refuse God’s offer of forgiveness because they
consider themselves a “good person.” That’s a quaint sentiment but who defines
“good?” Society? Government? The individual? How about the church? The answer
is none of those things—not even the church defines what is good. The church
might be able to convey or uphold what is good but only God defines what is good. Too many people
believe that unless they are actively engaged in some kind of sinful activity
then they are not sinners. In v. 10, John’s language is not intended to be
limited to those who are currently engaged in sin but includes anyone who as
ever sinned. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says that all have sinned and
fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). If God has determined that we are all
sinners then what does it say when we claim that we haven’t sinned? It says
that either we are liars or God is a liar. It we confess that we are liars then
there is hope for us. Otherwise the only option left is that we are saying God
is a liar and therefore has no place in our lives. However, what we are really
saying when we call God a liar by denying that we have sinned is that objective
truth has no place in our lives; the Word has no place in our lives. “A person
may recognize ‘the natural permanence of sin as a power within’ and ‘may deny
that he personally has sinned.’…It is possible that there were people who both
denied present sinfulness (v. 8) and past acts of sin (v. 10): even if you
claim not to sin now, you certainly sinned in the past, may be the thought in
John’s mind. Perhaps, however, we should regard the two claims as virtually
identical; if so, John is making the point that those who make such claims do
not merely deceive themselves (v. 8); they actually make God a liar (v. 10) by
denying his verdict on men that they are sinners. Paul’s statement that ‘all
have sinned’ (Rom 3:23) is not an isolated mark; it sums up the teaching of
Scripture on the universality of sin. Not only so; the scriptural revelation of
God emphasizes his character as a God who forgives sin, and this description would
be pointless if men had no sins to be forgiven. Those who deny their sin thus
fall into the serious sin of making God out to be a liar. By no stretch of the
imagination can they be said to have his word in them.”[6]
Application
Have you
ever thought about the power of light versus the power of darkness? Think about
it—you can bring light into a dark room but you can’t bring dark into a lighted
room. Darkness is dependent on the absence of light but light is not dependent
on absence of darkness. Instead light creates the absence of darkness. Isn’t
that what John is teaching us here? All sinners reside in darkness—not just
spiritual darkness but ethical darkness as well. However, Christians have
confessed their sin, which is the equivalent of letting light into darkness.
Christians allow God’s light to shine on their sins and forgive them. Although
there is a one-time salvation event when we trust Jesus to deal with our sins,
the life of faith necessitates that we daily expose the darkness in our lives
to the light of God’s truth revealed in the person of Jesus and through the divine
word given to us in the Scriptures. Wherever we see evil in the world, we will
see people walking in the darkness of their sins and unbelief. Sometimes we
don’t have to look far; sometimes we need only look in the mirror. However,
God’s light can shine into the darkest corners of the world and into the
darkest corners of our lives. There is no evil or sin that God’s light cannot
expose. We are not safe because we try to cloak our sin darkness. We are safe
and we are saved when we allow God’s light to expose our sin and thereafter
commit to Walk In The Light.
[1]
Lelabnd Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III, gen. eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, (Downers
Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1998), p. 457.
[2]
Colin Brown, gen. ed., New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1986), p. 473.
[3]
David Walls and Max Anders, I & II
Peter, I, II, & III John, Jude—Holman New Testament Commentary,
(Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 157.
[4]
Robert W. Yarbrough, 1-3 John—Baker
Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,
2008), p. 68)
[5]
Gary M. Burge, Letters of John—The
NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), pp. 82-83.
[6]
I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John—The
New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), pp. 114-115.
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