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1 John 1 Commentary
By Rev. Valerie D. ConleyWe listen to and watch commercials all the time (mostly unwillingly) and believe half of what we hear or see. But when someone we know and trust provides a testimony on the legitimacy of a business’s claim, we pay attention, and if it is something we are interested in we act.John’s testimony about Jesus was that he had personally heard, seen, and touched Jesus. John wanted his readers to know that his teaching on Christ was true, it was accurate, and it was an eyewitness account. The Word became life and was manifested before us, this was John’s words in His gospel account (Jn 1:14). Jesus is the manifestation of God the Father’s glory, He has revealed, shown, and made known the Father to humankind. Christians have fellowship with each other because we are of the light, whereas those who do not put their faith in Jesus are of darkness. So, John’s desire was to share the testimony of Jesus Christ so others could share in the fellowship that he and the disciples shared. And this fellowship that Christians share in is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. We go to the Father in prayer, and thus enter fellowship with Him only through our fellowship with the Son, which is our faith in His being Lord and the Father raising Him from the dead. Our joy is full in knowing that we are reconciled to our heavenly Father through our faith in Jesus.Jesus taught His disciples that His heavenly Father is light and there is no darkness in Him. This is the message John says he heard from Jesus and shared with his readers. John warns us that to truly have fellowship with God we cannot walk in darkness. If a professed Christian is walking in sin (which is darkness) than Christ, who is Truth, is not a part of him or her. This does not mean that we do not sin occasionally because all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23-27), but a person who is walking in God’s light will see their sin because the light will expose it and they will repent of their sin and not continue to commit it. If we are living in sin, meaning repeatedly committing the same offenses, then we are not practicing the truth.We are only in true fellowship with God if we are walking in the light. The light is the love of God, for God is love (1 John 4:8) and love is the fulfillment of God’s Law (Romans 13:10). The blood of Jesus cleanses believers from all sin, but if we say we have no sin, we show that God’s truth is not in us. However, if we confess our sins, God is faithful to His promises and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of our transgression through the blood of Jesus. To deny that we commit sin is to make God a liar and to show that God’s Word does not live in our hearts, and Jesus is the Word that was made flesh, so to deny sin is to show that Christ does not live in our hearts.Reread 1 John 1 and see ifyou hear it in a different way.
