Bible Study on 1John 1, verses 5 to 7, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all

 

1John 1:5 ¶  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. 6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 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.

John states that he is repeating the message that the Lord Jesus Christ presented to HIM. God is light, pure light, in which there is no darkness. Here are some examples of that thought in John’s gospel and in one of Paul’s letters.

John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.,,9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

1Thessalonians 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

John is addressing issues of sin within the church and seems intent on correcting errors in thinking and doctrine that have come about. To say that one is in fellowship with Christ when one walks in darkness is to make that person’s declaration a lie. As a preacher once put it, it is impossible to pursue righteousness when one is zealously clinging to error.

But those who walk in Christ’s light have fellowship not only with Him but all other believers and it is Christ’s blood that cleanses us from the taint of sin. Again, an apostle has to weed out the tares, as Paul did in Hebrews, warning those who are only fooling themselves that to walk in sin is to betray one’s confession of faith in Christ. We are saved by the blood of Christ in that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Why then, would we walk in sin, in darkness, and not in the light given by Christ?