1 John 1
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CHAPTER 1
The Word of Life (1:1-4)
1 The Word of life is Christ Himself. In John 1:1, Christ is also called the Word. God’s Word—that is, Christ—has been with God from the beginning. Indeed, Christ has been with God not just from the beginning but from before the beginning, because God has no beginning. God has always been, and so has Christ.
The Word (God’s Word) became flesh and lived for a while among us (John 1:14). God’s Word—Christ—came into the world as God’s one true incarnation.1 God’s Word became “flesh”—that is, became a man. John and the other apostles saw Christ with their own eyes. They touched Him with their own hands. Christ was no vision or spirit. The apostles touched Him not only before His death but also after He had risen from the dead (Luke 24:39). Therefore, John knows without doubt that Jesus the Son of God was also fully a man.
2 The life (Christ) appeared. In this verse, John calls Christ the eternal life. John writes in his Gospel: In him was life, and that life was the light of men (John 1:4). Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). To all who believe in Him, Jesus gives eternal life (John 3:16). This same Jesus was with the Father, and then He appeared to men. John writes here: … we proclaim to you the eternal life. In the same way, we too must proclaim eternal life to our relatives, friends, and neighbors. Have we been doing so?
3 John had seen and heard that life (verse 2)—that is, Christ—with his own eyes and ears. But those to whom this letter was sent had never seen and heard Christ. Therefore, John explains about Christ to his readers so that they may have fellowship with us—that is, so that they may have fellowship with John, with other believers, and with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Fellowship with the Father and Son means that God and Jesus come to us and dwell with us (John 14:23). When we have fellowship with God and Christ, then we shall also have fellowship with other believers.
4 When believers have fellowship with God, they also have joy. If the readers of this letter come into fellowship with God, then John will have joy and his readers will have joy too. Then our2 joy—that is, John and the readers’ joy—will be complete.
Christ’s Gospel brings joy. Jesus said: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
Walking in the Light (1:5-10)
5 God is light. Light stands for holiness and righteousness. Darkness stands for sin and evil.
When God’s Son Jesus Christ came into the world, He was a light shining in the darkness (John 1:5,9; 3:19; 8:12; 12:46).
6 To have fellowship with God means to know Him, to love Him, and to be His children. If we truly have fellowship with Him, we will walk in the light. Those who walk in darkness—in sin—can have no fellowship with God. If they say, “We have fellowship with God,” they are lying. They are not living by the truth.
The truth is not just something one speaks; truth is something one does, or lives. We must live by the truth (see John 3:21). We must worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:23). Truth is a way of life. Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
7When we walk in the light—that is, in fellowship with God—two things result: first, we have fellowship with one another; second, the blood of Jesus … purifies3 us from all sin.
To have fellowship with one another means to love one another (1 John 4:7,11). In order to have fellowship with one another, we must be able to “see” one another; that is, we must be in the light. If we are living in the darkness of sin, we cannot “see” our brother. We cannot have fellowship with him.
Therefore, in order to be in fellowship with one another, we must first be in fellowship with God. In order to be in fellowship with God, we must walk in the light (verse 6), because God Himself is light (verse 5). We must walk in the light, as he is in the light. We must be perfect, as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
When we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus continually purifies us. The light of God’s holiness is in our hearts. By the blood of Jesus—that is, by His death on the cross—we have, through faith, been cleansed from sin. Christ’s blood purifies us from all sin—no matter how terrible our sin has been. Christ died to take away all our sins.
8 No matter how hard we try, we cannot be completely pure and sinless. There is always some sin left in our lives. God is so holy that it’s impossible for man to reach His high standard. God cannot tolerate any sin or impurity; in him there is no darkness at all (verse 5). Therefore, we can never please Him completely, because we always have some stain, some sin, remaining in us.
In 1 John 3:9, John says: No one who is born of God will continue to sin. In the Greek language, the expression continue to sin means to continually sin without repenting, to continually live in sin. John is saying that the Christian—the one born of God—will not live in sin in this way. The Christian will not knowingly live in sin.
But here in verse 8, John says that from time to time the Christian will fall into sin. The Christian’s old sinful nature occasionally causes him to stumble and fall. However, he doesn’t remain fallen.
These two verses, verse 8 and 1 John 3:9, are both completely true. According to 1 John 3:9, we Christians do not live in bondage to sin. Christ is our master, not Satan. Paul says: … we should no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:6). Again he says: … count yourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11). Sin has no power over Christians.
But even though all this is true, according to verse 8, we Christians do fall into sin. New temptations, new sins, keep springing up in our lives. And we must keep asking to be forgiven for these sins; we must keep on being cleansed of them. Only when we are with Christ in heaven, will we be completely sinless4 (see 1 John 3:6,9 and comment).
9 This is an extremely important verse. All men sin, including Christians; therefore, all men need to be repeatedly purified from all unrighteousness—from all their sins. John has already said that Jesus’ blood purifies us (verse 7), but how does it happen? Is there anything we must do? Yes, there is. We must confess our sins, and turn from them. And God will then erase our sins. He will purify us from all unrighteousness. What a wonderful promise!
Therefore, Christians do not need to despair. Yes, we must mourn for our sins (Matthew 5:4), but we must not become discouraged. For us there is always a means of being forgiven and purified.
We must understand John’s meaning here when he says we must confess our sins. He is talking here about repentance. It is not enough to merely confess our sins with our lips. We must also “confess” them with our actions; that is, we must hate our sins and turn from them. This is true repentance.
Here it is necessary to remember something. When we confess our sins, we must confess specific sins. It is not enough just to say, “I am a sinner.” That’s easy to say, because everyone is a sinner. Rather, we must look at each separate sin we have committed and ask God’s forgiveness for each one. This is why John says here that we must confess our sins—not just sin in general.
God is faithful and just. Why does John say that? Because God has already given the punishment for man’s sin once for all. He has placed the punishment for our sins upon His own Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, He will not punish a second time those who put their faith in Jesus. To give a second punishment would not be just. Christ has already borne our punishment. Therefore, God will not punish us again; rather, He will forgive us and purify us. If He were to condemn us again, He would not be faithful and just (see Romans 3:22-26).
10 Some people say that they have no sin. In saying this, they make God out to be a liar, because God has said that all men are sinners (Romans 3:10-12). Because all men sin, God had to send Christ to save them. If man had no sin, there would have been no need to send Christ. Therefore, the man who says he has no sin is calling God’s word false; he is denying God’s Word—Christ—who came to save him from his sins. There is no place for God’s Word, God’s Son, in the life of such a man.
Every man knows in his heart that he has sinned. God speaks to us about our sins through our conscience. Let us listen to God when He speaks to us; let us not shut out His word. If we shut God’s word out of our heart, we will also shut God out of our life.