1 John is one of the most powerful books of the bible. In no uncertain terms, John unpackages the concept of fellowship and pulls no punches in what it means to be a Christian, what it means to follow, and how it is important for us to look at ourselves in a stark and unflinching manner to understand how, and if, we are truly following.
CHAPTER 1 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
John first begins this journey in discussing the Moral Test of Fellowship. In order to understand if we are truly following, we first have to understand the relationship between the father and son. If we go to Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1, we see a similar story play out. First, in Genesis, we see God creating the heavens and Earth. In John 1, there is a distinction, and this is where we can draw an interesting parallel between the two: Jesus is present in the creation. Both Jesus (The Word) , God and the Holy Spirit (The Trinity) are all present before creation. Why is this important? Because the trinity, alive before creation, needed a focus to their love. This focus is creation itself, us. God’s love needed to have an object, so he created us to be the recipient of His love.
It is important to understand that the son was also present. This topic will be picked up later in Chapter 2, but we must understand something very important: if we don’t have the son, we don have the father. The belief and following is mutually exclusive. We must follow God, through Jesus, in order to understand God. For they were together at the beginning, before time.
John had a personal relationship with Jesus. This is also important to note because John is a first-person witness to the Son of God. John relays that the Word was made real. As followers, we must understand this relationship first, because if we follow any other variation we are in error. Fundamentally we must believe in Jesus. Then we can understand God. God is love (John 4:8). God is light (1 John 1:5). God is eternal (Rev 22:13). Love, before creation, was isolated. Is love any good if it lives in isolation? What good is love if it is hidden away, like in a monastery or temple. We have personal fulfillment, but love has nowhere to go. Have you ever been to a funeral where the priest says the deceased was a devout follower of God, and you turn to someone and say, “I didn’t know that?” If we hide away our relationship, our love for God, and suspend it for others, then we end up isolating that love.
We are not meant to live in isolation. We are built, by God, in three broad ways:
Our need to dwell inside these three areas in our life is important. If we are deficient in any of these areas, we break down a little. God built us specifically in these ways, and we can’t keep ourselves in isolation. Otherwise the system breaks down.
Have you ever walked through life wondering why you have a hole inside you? If you go back to these very elemental ways you are built, perhaps one of these items is out of whack. Sometimes we have two elements that are working just fine. Maybe you have great work and great friends. But you still have a need in you that is unfulfilled. And in that, you will move through life with an emptiness that is difficult to reconcile, unless you know what you are looking for. In this scenario, you may take years to come to the conclusion that your relationship with God is the missing element.
What John is talking about is fellowship. Koinonia (Grk), means sharing, communion, bond, loving relationship, common life. Understanding that fellowship is as essential to us as food or water is a great start to understand where God wants us.
The result of this, John says in verse 4, is joy. Joy is an optimism that is based on God. Happiness, by contrast, is based on circumstance Joy must be anchored in the relationship we have with God, and nothing else.
In another case, perhaps you have the work and you have the fellowship with God. But do you really? If it isn’t being shared on some level, then is it true fellowship? That is a question Johnbegins to tackle in the next set of powerful verses.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not have the truth in us: 7 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.
Verse 5 begins what we call the “Claims” of John. First, he again reiterates who God is. God is light. In Him there is no darkness. So we must understand something extremely important: the problem is not with God, but with us.
How many times do we want to shake our fist at God and curse our situation, that He put us in. It’s His fault, after all. Well, if there is not darkness in God, then the problem cannot be there. We can blame other things - the devil, the world - and some of that contributes to our issues, but it always comes back to the same conclusion: the problem is us.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not have the truth in us:
If we claim fellowship, yet still walk in darknes, we lie and the truth does not live in us. This is a heavy statement, and can only be fully understood when we break it down. Our claim is that we have fellowship with God, meaning that we have a relationship with Him. But if we truly have an intimate relationship, and live in a pattern of sinful living, can that really be true? That is what John is getting at. Do we simply say we are a follower of Christ but live a double life? The heart of what John is getting at is this: If you say you are a Christian and hold a relationship with God in esteem (fellowship), but live in sinful, unrepentant sin (walk in the darkness), then you are a hypocrite. This is a strong statement, but one we all need to hear.
Sometimes, as Christians, we go on cruise control. We may have accepted Christ back in our teens, and perhaps that was emotional and life-changing, but as we get older, can we say that we are genuinely following. Do we genuinely have the relationship, or is it just something we’ve grown used to saying? A good way to understand if you are or aren’t a hypocrite is to look at your life. Do you have sin that you have just resigned to “I’m just being me” or “that’s how God made me” or “I tried to quit, didn’t work so I’ll just go with it,” or did you try rationalizing, excusing or defending the sin so much that it doesn’t seem like a big deal?
Here’s the deal: we are masters of excusing ourself from sin by giving it a plethora of different names. We play a semantics game of dismissing our shortcomings and this gives us enough leeway to say “I’m not really a sinner” and enough power to keep the sin going. John says that you need to take a look at the relationship and ask yourself a heard question. But with each difficult question, there is a promise that shows us the proper way to fall back into fellowship.
7 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.
If we ask ourself the question “Do I really follow?” and the answer comes back no, it isn’t the end of you. In fact, God is the God of multiple chances. To turn back to him means everything (see the “lost” parables of Luke 15). Turning back is beneficial: If we walk in the light (general obedience, not perfect obedience), without harboring known sin or resisting the Holy Spirit, the relationship can be restored.
Sin is a barrier in the relationship. If you have a husband or wife, you know this principle well. When you have a fight with your spouse, there is a barrier in the relationship. You can feel it. The only way to remove the barrier is to come together and discuss and arrive at a conclusion. It is the same with our Relationship with God. Sin is the barrier that we need to remove in order to restore the relationship.
Fellowship helps in many ways. It helps to reinforce our walk, helps us to learn and grow and helps us to reassign our relationships to positive ones.
John says, that if we walk in the light (relationship), then the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. This is the most important piece to the relationship puzzle. It we have authentic relationship, then we have the ability for our sins to be forgiven. All of our sins to be forgiven. It’s only done through authentic relationship.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
It seems very apparent that none of us would willingly come out and say we are sinless. But do we do this in a subversive way? John says that if we deny our sin, the truth is not in us, meaning that if we aren’t copping to our broken nature, then we can’t take the first step toward relationship.
We defend our sin. We excuse it too. We rationalize our sin. We also hide it. So, in effect, we play a semantics game. We don’t call it sin. We call it something else: “the devil made me do it,”, “I’m only human,”, “I made a mistake”, “I’m not perfect”. These are all disguised ways we don’t admit our sin. We run away from the idea of being a sinner and hide it so the world sees our perfection.
Here’s the big problem: if we can’t authentically admit to our sinful nature, then we can’t ever be truly saved. God’s grace and mercy is extended to sinners. We can’t take the free gift if we can never admit to our needing the gift.
In verse 9, John says that if we confess our sins, then God will mercifully forgive us. Confession, by default, means that we have come to a conclusion about our actions, regret them, and want to bring them before God. Can’t get to confession, for this great gift of unburdening, if we aren’t able to admit our guilt.
Sin is present in our life, but it need not hinder our relationship. Confession shows us that we are willing to see things as God does (Luke 18:10-14). It is about accountability to God and is vital for our relationship with God.
Verse 10 is like a person who double-downs on a platitude. If you refuse to see your sin, then Jesus is not in you. You are denying God’s word, his truth.