1 John 1:5-7 - No Nuance
- Chad Werkhoven
- Sep 30
- 4 min read
Be reminded of the benefits walking in the light brings.
1 John 1–2:2 (NIV)
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But 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.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 1: The Regenerate Not Entirely Free from Sin
Those people whom God according to his purpose
calls into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord
and regenerates by the Holy Spirit,
God also sets free from
the dominion and slavery of sin,
though not entirely from the flesh and from the body of sin as long as they are in this life.
Summary
John returns to one of his favorite motifs: the contrast between light and darkness, and in doing so he paints a picture of God that might seem hard for many in our society to accept. People - especially young people - in our age highly value nuance. Nothing is ever either black or white, everything is a shade of gray. The good guys in our movies are flawed in some way, and there's always a tinge of goodness even in the baddest of our bad guys.
But God is different. God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. As Karen Jobes explains, "Light is an apt metaphor for God, for it is the first fundamental property of the universe created by God (Gen 1:1), it allows and sustains all life, it makes life far more pleasant and safer than living in the dark, and it reveals what is hidden."
Jobes continues, "Just as light and darkness cannot physically coexist in the same space, John uses this duality to explain what constitutes fellowship with God and what disqualifies a person from fellowship, because sin and righteousness are as mutually exclusive as light and darkness."
Dig Deeper
It's John's explanation of fellowship that's brought us to the first chapter of his first letter this week. We're interested in fellowship because as we begin this final and most comforting doctrine in the Canons, which reminds us that scripture promises us our salvation in Christ is secure, it roots this security in the fellowship we have in Christ.
Yesterday we learned that this Biblical concept of fellowship is far deeper than the way we often think of it. Biblical fellowship (koinōnia) is a profoundly mutual relationship in which we hang onto one another as we each do our best to cling to God. But more importantly, it's Christ who hangs on to us and will never let go.
God's stark uniformity (all light and no darkness), as pleasant and safe as it is, puts constraints on how you live if you claim to have fellowship [this profoundly mutual relationship] with the Light and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. There's absolutely no nuance possible, although we sure like to think there is!
The good news for you today is that if you walk in God's light, not only will enjoy God's eternally secure grip on your life, but you won't walk alone. You'll have fellowship with one another - your fellow members of Christ's Church who will help support you even as you support them.
On top of it all, when you walk in the light as He is in the light, you can be certain that the blood of Jesus, God's Son, purifies you from all sin.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the desire and strength to walk in the light. Pray for opportunities to both support and be supported by those your walking in fellowship with;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 John 2
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