1 John 1:3-4 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.
Imagine that you have come on hard times. You’re homeless, penniless, and sleeping on the sidewalk. Your tattered clothes and an old, dirty blanket are barely enough to keep you from freezing at night. Your meals consist of whatever you can find in the dumpsters. You have lost contact with all family and friends.
As you sit on the sidewalk, suddenly the presidential limousine pulls up to the curb. The President gets out and invites you to join him. You get in and are whisked to the airport, where Air Force One is waiting. You fly to Washington, are driven in the presidential motorcade to the White House, where your own room is ready. There are new, clean clothes, all the food you can eat, and servants to meet your every need or whim. But, more than that, to your astonishment, the President treats you as his friend. He shares his heart with you and wants you to share your heart with him.
At first, you’re so dazzled with this incredible change of events that you’re only aware of the President himself. But after a while, you realize that you’re not there alone. There are many others who have experienced the same thing. You suddenly have a large family of brothers and sisters that care for you. As you exchange your stories and talk of how the President has helped each of you, your relationships deepen.
This is an unbelievable fable, right? No, if you’ve come to know Jesus Christ, it’s a true allegory. He found you in the gutter and brought you to His heavenly palace to live with Him and to get to know Him as a friend. You discover brothers and sisters all over the world who have had the same experience. You’re accepted in a huge, loving family where every member has a variation of the same story: “I was lost in sin when Jesus found me and rescued me.” All of the family spends its time enjoying the bounty of the King, and best of all, getting to know Him better and better.
That is the glorious theme that John presents in our text—the joy of fellowship with God and with one another. The greatest joys in life come from loving relationships. We all want such relationships. A credit card ad pictures a family gathered around the Thanksgiving table, with the word, “Priceless!” It’s true!
And yet as we all know, relationships may also be the source of much grief and pain. We’ve all experienced disappointing relationships. Some of you had abusive parents who did not love you. You may have had—or still have—an abusive mate. Perhaps your children have gone astray and are a source of heartache. At the root of all such disappointments is sin, which causes alienation from God and from one another. But in spite of the reality of such painful relationships, we all still know that true joy does not consist in the accumulation of wealth or fame. True joy consists in the experience of true fellowship.
Picture a man on his deathbed, all alone, except for the nurse. He says, “Bring me today’s Wall Street Journal so that I can see how my investments are doing. Get me a phone so that I can call my attorney to see how my lawsuit is going.” There is a poor man! Picture another man on his deathbed, who doesn’t own much. But he’s surrounded by caring family members, who are telling him how much they love him. He is a man who knows God and knows that soon the Savior who loved him and died for him will welcome him into heaven. There is a rich man! He is a man who enjoys fellowship with God and with others. John is telling us that…
True fellowship with one another and with God is the basis for true joy.
“Fellowship” means sharing in common, or sharing together. The idea that we, who were so defiled by sin, could have fellowship—could share together—with the holy God, not just for the few years on this earth, but forever, should overwhelm us! John Calvin captures this (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], on 1 John 1:4, p. 162):
True is that saying, “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.” (Matt. 6:21.) Whosoever, then, really perceives what fellowship with God is, will be satisfied with it alone, and will no more burn with desires for other things. “The Lord is my cup,” says David, “and my heritage; the lines have fallen for me on an excellent lot.” (Ps. 16:5, 6.) In the same manner does Paul declare that all things were deemed by him as dung, in comparison with Christ alone. (Phil. 3:8.) He, therefore, has at length made a proficiency in the Gospel, who esteems himself happy in having communion with God, and acquiesces in that alone; and thus he prefers it to the whole world, so that he is ready for its sake to relinquish all other things.
John begins with fellowship with one another:
1. True fellowship with one another is based on true fellowship with God.
Why does John begin with our fellowship with one another before he proceeds to fellowship with God? I would have thought that first he would lay the foundation, then show the effect. My guess is that he begins with where most people begin. The thought of fellowship with the holy God is a bit more than we can fathom. But we do feel the love of others in the church, perhaps even before we come to know God personally. This is especially true of those who have suffered broken relationships all their lives. They meet a Christian or come to church, and they feel love and acceptance. It’s the first thing that they notice. It’s such a new experience that they are overwhelmed. Then they learn that the source of this love is not in the people, but in the fact that these people have come to know the love of God in Christ.
Note three things about this fellowship with one another:
A. Fellowship with one another not based on fellowship with God is not true Christian fellowship.
Although unbelievers who come in among us should be able to sense the love, they cannot know true fellowship with other believers until they personally come to faith in Jesus Christ and begin to walk with Him on a daily basis. In other words, knowing Christ personally and growing in that relationship is the basis for any true fellowship with others that know Christ. It is Christ Himself that we share in common. True Christian fellowship is when we share together about the riches of Christ and the treasures of His Word. Anything less is not genuine fellowship.
Sometimes we chat with one another about the weather, sports, or the news. While there’s nothing wrong with talking about such things, that isn’t true fellowship. J. Vernon McGee once spoke at a Rotary Club meeting, where a banner read, “Food, Fun, Fellowship.” He said that the food was nothing to brag about—embalmed chicken and peas. The fun was a few corny jokes. The fellowship consisted of one man patting the other on the back and saying, “Hi, Bill, how’s business?” Or, “how’s the wife?” That was their idea of fellowship (First John [Thomas Nelson], p. 21).
McGee goes on to say that what is called “Christian” fellowship often isn’t much different. We get together for a potluck supper and talk about everything under the sun, except that which would provide true fellowship, namely, all that we share together in Christ. True Christian fellowship centers on fellowship with God.
B. Fellowship with one another based on true fellowship with God is the core of true Christian unity.
John did not advocate “fellowship” with the heretics. These men, no doubt, still claimed to believe in Jesus, but just not in the same way that the apostles understood things. Even though John emphasizes love, he never encourages love and fellowship with these heretics. Quite the opposite, he makes it clear that we should not welcome them even with a warm greeting. To do so would be to participate in their evil deeds (2 John 10-11).
There is a lot of sloppy thinking in Christian circles about the subject of unity in Christ. Clearly, it is an important topic. Jesus prayed that His followers would be one, so that the world would know that the Father sent Him (John 17:23). Those trying to promote unity often say, “The world will know that we follow Jesus by our love, not by our doctrine.” So they say, “Let’s come together in areas where we agree, and set aside the matters where we disagree.” Such thinking leads men like Charles Colson and Max Lucado to urge Protestants to accept Roman Catholics as brothers in Christ.
I dare to say that John would be aghast! True Christian unity must be based on true fellowship with God, which must be based on faith in the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone. I know that there are some Roman Catholics who believe the true gospel, but they believe it in spite of what their church teaches, not because of it. The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church denies that we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (See The Councils of Trent, Session 6, Canons 9, 12, 24, 30, cited in my sermon, “Justification by Faith Alone” [8/11/96].) They are committing the Galatian heresy, which added our works to faith in what Christ did on the cross. Paul bluntly says, “Let them be accursed” (see Gal. 1:8, 9).
In Ephesians 4, Paul mentions two kinds of unity. He says (4:3) that we should be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The unity of the Spirit already exists; it must be preserved. But he goes on to say (4:12) that the pastor-teachers are to equip the saints, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God…” (4:13). The unity of the faith does not yet exist. We attain to it as we grow to know Jesus Christ better through the study and teaching of the Word.
When you know Christ, you experience genuine unity and fellowship with other Christians, even though there may be significant differences in background, personality, social status, or race. Among the apostles, Simon the Zealot was from a radical political group whose hobby was killing tax collectors. Matthew was a tax collector! Jesus brought them together and said, “Love one another!” Paul emphasizes that in the church, there are no distinctions between slaves and freemen, or Jews and Gentiles, but “Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).
So true Christian unity at the basic level consists in mutually knowing Christ through the gospel (Eph. 4:3). Such unity deepens as we grow to know Him better through His Word (Eph. 4:13).
C. True fellowship with God and with one another is the basis for laboring together in the gospel.
John was not advocating joining with the heretics in a crusade to win Ephesus for Christ! Far from it! We should not join together in evangelistic efforts with churches or organizations that blur the gospel. Paul commended the Philippians for their “participation [Greek = koinonea, “fellowship”] in the gospel” with him (Phil. 1:6). A few verses later, he exhorts them (1:27), “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind [lit., “soul”] striving together for the faith of the gospel.”
If you want to experience true fellowship with other believers, join together in laboring for the gospel. Yes, there is increased potential for disagreements and conflict. Paul and Barnabas split up over their differences in how to go about their mission. But, there is also the potential for deeper fellowship. Just as soldiers who fought together and survived later feel a close bond, so those who labor together for Christ will know true fellowship.
2. True fellowship with God is based on the truth that God has revealed about His Son.
John says (1:3), “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” As we saw in the introductory study, one of John’s main themes in all three epistles is, believing in the truth about Jesus Christ (see 2 John 1-4, where he uses “truth” five times, and 3 John 1-4, where he uses “truth” four times). This has three important implications:
A. Fellowship not based on the revealed truth about Jesus Christ is not true fellowship.
Often those who try to promote Christian unity will say, “Doctrine divides. We should set aside our doctrines and just love one another.” John would say, “Nonsense!” Sound doctrine unites, as Paul teaches in Ephesians 4:13. True fellowship centers on the truth of the apostolic testimony about Jesus Christ. If we depart from that, we have left the biblical foundation for unity.
This is why we cannot have true fellowship with liberals, who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. What do we share in common? Nothing! They supposedly believe in Jesus or His moral teachings. But the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus of the apostles. This is also why a believer should not marry an unbeliever. Although in the context, Paul includes much more than marriage, it is certainly included when he writes (2 Cor. 6:14), “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” He goes on to ask (6:15), “or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” If you don’t share the truth about Christ together, you do not have the basis for true Christian fellowship.
B. Fellowship with God exists only through the blood of His Son.
In the next section, John presents us with a serious dilemma. God is absolutely holy (1:5), but we are not. How can sinners have fellowship with such a holy God? John’s answer, in line with the whole Bible, is that the only way a sinner can draw near to the holy God is if his sin is atoned for. The only thing that can atone for our sin is the blood of God’s perfect Son, Jesus Christ. If someone claims to know God, but denies the need for the blood of Jesus Christ to atone for sin, in John’s language, he is a liar and deceiver. He does not know God and there is no basis for true fellowship.
C. Fellowship based on the truth about Jesus Christ is a matter of shared life in Him.
As we saw last week, John relays to us the message about “the Word of Life” (1:1), “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us” (1:2). This means that fellowship with God and with one another is not just a matter of subscribing to correct doctrines about Jesus. It is a matter of receiving new life through the new birth. This new life leads to a growing, deepening fellowship with God and with His people.
Picture a new baby, born into a family. Life is not peripheral to his entering into fellowship with that family! It’s absolutely essential! Without new life, there cannot be any fellowship. But when there is new life, that child will grow and begin to communicate with his parents and with his brothers and sisters. It’s always such a joy as parents when your children begin to talk with you! As the child grows, he comes to understand more of how much his parents love and care for him. Even though I knew that my parents loved me, I didn’t know how much they loved me until I had my own children.
If you have experienced new life in Christ, then the Father lovingly cares for every aspect of your life. He has given you all that you need for life and godliness through the promises of His Word (2 Pet. 1:3-4). He encourages you to cast all your cares on Him, knowing that He cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7). He sympathizes with your weaknesses and invites you to come to His throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help in your times of need (Heb. 4:14-16). So you can share every burden, every struggle, and every thought openly with Him and know that He welcomes you!
Such fellowship with God through Christ is not automatic or effortless. Relationships take time and effort. There is no such thing as a good marriage that just happens spontaneously. If you see a good marriage, it’s because the couple makes it a priority to spend time together and to work at being close. They are committed to work through any difficulties or hurt feelings. They work hard at communication and they avoid temptations that would create distance or divide them.
Fellowship with God is no different. You’ve got to work at it, make time for it, and turn away from things that would create distance between you and God. Of course, sin hinders fellowship, but so do other things. The enemy will try to get you to anything except spend time alone with God. It may be TV, the newspaper, work, hobbies, or time with your friends. But if you allow these things to crowd out consistent time in God’s Word and in prayer, you will not grow close to God in genuine fellowship.
As you grow in fellowship with God, you will find that increasingly, His purposes and desires become your purposes and desires. If His purpose is to be glorified by saving some from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev. 5:9), then you will find great joy when you hear news of the gospel advancing around the world. If you don’t care about missions and you yawn when you hear of someone coming to Christ, but you hear of the score of a sports event and come alive with excitement, you may want to examine whether you enjoy true fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. This leads to John’s final point:
3. True fellowship with one another and with God is the source of true joy.
As we saw last time, the original text (1:4) probably read “our joy,” not “your joy.” But both are true. When a sinner comes to Christ, it brings great joy to those who already know Christ, but it also brings great joy to the sinner who is saved. And as our fellowship with God and with one another deepens, the joy deepens. In commenting on the fact that God has given us eternal life, Calvin exclaims (ibid., p. 157), “But if we consider how miserable and horrible a condition death is, and also what is the kingdom and the glory of immortality, we shall perceive that there is something here more magnificent than what can be expressed in any words.”
And so as God’s children we are obligated to seek our greatest joy in Him. If we seek joy in lesser things, we miss the greatest joy of all and we do not glorify the God who rescued us from the ravages of sin and death.
Conclusion
Fellowship with God and with one another really are just the two Great Commandments, to love God with all your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself (see Matt. 22:37-40). The aim of the entire Bible is to help us glorify God as we experience the deep joy of a close relationship with Him and close relationships with one another. As grow in obedience to these two Great Commandments, we will grow in great joy, not only in this life, but also for all eternity!
I encourage you, work on your relationship with God. Don’t settle for occasional, distant fellowship. Make time daily to spend with Him in His Word and in prayer. Read books that help you to know Him better. Cut out of your life anything that hinders fellowship with Him.
And, work at your relationships with other believers. In this sinful world, such relationships will never be perfect, but they can be good. But they won’t be good without effort! The payoff is that true fellowship with one another and true fellowship with God will bring you true joy.
John knew Christ personally. Having walked with Him, talked with Him, and worked with Him, he was motivated by a loving concern to declare to everyone possible “That which we have seen and heard.” And once you have experienced this exciting life that is real, you will want to share it with other people, just as John wanted to “declare” it to all his readers in the first century.
Many people (including some Christians) have the idea that “witnessing” means wrangling over the differences in religious beliefs, or sitting down and comparing churches.
That isn’t what John had in mind! He tells us that witnessing means sharing our spiritual experiences with others—both by the lives that we live and by the words that we speak.
John wrote this letter to share Christ with us. This word fellowship is an important one in the vocabulary of a Christian.
( Greek Word: κοινωνία Transliteration: koinōnia). The word means “to have in common.” As sinners, men have nothing in common with the holy God. But God in His grace sent Christ to have something in common with men. Christ took on Himself a human body and became a man. Then He went to the cross and took on that body the sins of the world. Because He paid the price for our sins, the way is open for God to forgive us and take us into His family.
When we trust Christ through baptism to receive forgiveness off sins, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Greek Word: κοινωνός Transliteration: koinōnos . The term translated “partakers” in Peter’s epistle is from the same Greek root that is translated “fellowship” in 1 John 1:3.
The Christian life begins with “seeing” and “hearing” Christ. As one realizes who Christ is and humbly submits to His lordship, untold blessing will result. This is our only approach to eternal life.
When God saves a person, He goes to the source of the problem, the sinful heart. The repentant believer is changed by the power of God from the inside out.
No human can change his sinful heart. He may change his outward appearance, but his heart will remain the same. Unlike the tree, however, God can change a person’s heart. When one trusts in Christ, God performs a mighty miracle and the heart of the repentant believer is transformed. The Lord is doing this constantly. Those who come to Him receive new motives, new desires, and new habits. Paul described this wonderful experience: (2 Corinthians 5:17 ) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
The new life is not merely for our enjoyment; it is to be shared with others. God never intended that redemption be kept a secret. Those who are truly saved find a joy such as they have never known before. But joy is not the basic purpose for which we are saved; it is simply one of the by-products of salvation. We are saved to tell others so they, too, might enter into the joys of everlasting life.
Who of us could receive an inheritance of a million dollars without sharing this news with our friends? Who would be unreasonable enough, after being cured of cancer, to refuse to reveal the name of the surgeon or remedy? Why is it that in the lesser experiences of life we are ready to talk for hours with gratitude and pleasure? Why do we not with the same enthusiasm share Christ with those who need Him? If “we have seen and heard” Christ, we should “declare” Him.
A worthy test of one’s personal experience with the Lord is what happens afterward. Is there an earnest desire to bring others to the light? Is the heart burdened to lead friends and neighbors to Christ? God says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107: 2). The believer should grasp every opportunity to “declare” Christ.
One of the reasons why we should declare Christ is that the lost “may have fellowship with us.” What an amazing fellowship this is! No club, organization, or lodge is comparable to the fellowship of believers in Christ Jesus. Like everyone else, Christians have their weaknesses. They get tired and fussy. They become nervous and irritable at times. But when they are Spirit led and Spirit-controlled, their fellowship is unparalleled.
As true friends, they are always ready and willing to help each other in any time of need. They pray for each other and share each other’s burdens. There is a common bond of love among them as the result of their relationship through Christ. Because of His blood, shed at Calvary, Christians are one in Him, regardless of race, social status, educational background, or ability.
A saintly woman lay dying. Her loved ones were gathered around her bed. Believing she was unable to hear, one of the relatives said quietly, “She’s sinking fast.” But the aged saint, half opening her eyes, shook her head feebly and whispered, “Oh, no, I’m not sinking. You can’t sink through a Rock.”
Christ is the believer’s Rock. If we know Him, we are secure. We may depend upon Him for everything. His sufficiency is adequate. We are His, and He is ours.
Jesus Christ came that men might have fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ and with one another. This is the most wonderful declaration, for it means that God is not far off in outer space someplace. God is not disinterested and uncaring about what happens to man. God has not left us to fend for ourselves upon earth with nothing but death and the grave to look forward to.
The apostle is concerned that believers do more than enter into fellowship with Christ. He wants them to enjoy the fullness of the blessing of being children of God: “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” There are some believers who possess the assurance of salvation, yet are devoid of the fullness of joy which is theirs in Christ. The fact that some believers possess more joy than others is not that God is more favorable to some. It is a matter of submission to the Lord’s control. The more yielded one is to Christ, the greater will be his enjoyment of the things of the Spirit.
God never intended that His people be of a sour or doleful disposition. He wants us to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8).
Fellowship is Christ’s answer to the loneliness of life. Joy is His answer to the emptiness, the hollowness of life.
There are many Christians who have never entered into this fullness of joy in Christ. They are saved but always struggling. Instead of living above their circumstances, they are bogged down by them. They are given to worry and frequent complaining. Occasionally they are joyful, but not very often. God would have us to understand that fullness of joy can be ours, regardless of our surroundings.
1:3 We are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. The plural pronoun “we,” used throughout the prologue, refers, at times, to John and the other apostles (for whom John was acting as spokesman) and also to John and any other believers who had seen Jesus Christ in bodily form. These people had actually seen and heard Jesus Christ; they told about it so that others may have fellowship with them. The apostles’ testimony became the gospel, the truth about Jesus Christ. Accepting this truth was the “touchpoint” for believers in Christ. During his earthly ministry, Jesus introduced the Father to the disciples and initiated them into fellowship. The Greek word translated “fellowship” is koinonia. In the New Testament, this word refers to the life (spiritual and eternal) that all Christians share in a living relationship or partnership. This life became available to believers through Jesus Christ, who came as eternal life in a human body. In his Gospel, John wrote: “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (John 17:3 ). Jesus was the source and substance of this eternal life. When the disciples were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they actually entered into fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Having been brought into this living union, the apostles became the new initiators—introducing this fellowship to others and encouraging them to enter into fellowship with them. Whoever would enter into the fellowship with the apostles would actually be entering into their fellowship with the Father and the Son. John knew about fellowship with Jesus. In the last hours before his crucifixion, Jesus asked John, along with Peter and James, to pray with him at Gethsemane. In the supreme crisis of Jesus’ life, he asked for fellowship and prayer.
PERSONAL TESTIMONY
John testified to a personal, eyewitness experience with Christ. He did not build this relationship on wishful thinking, mystical mumbo jumbo, or a secondhand report. He and the other disciples had heard Christ speak. They had seen him with their eyes. They had looked at (continuously contemplated) and touched him. To underline the reality of this three-year encounter with the Son of God, John used even more sensory/experiential language in the next couple of verses. His point? Jesus Christ is a fact of history, and the lives of the disciples intersected with him in an objective, undeniable way.
What is your experience? You can know with certainty that Christ lives and that he lives in you. Meet Christ today in a personal and intimate way through the pages of the Gospels.
The first twelve disciples had private, personal fellowship with Jesus Christ. That fellowship did not stop when Jesus died, nor did it end with the Twelve. They shared the message of salvation in Jesus so that others could join this “fellowship” also. This corporate identity and relationship passed on from generation to generation. As believers fellowship with one another today, they participate in the same faith of the apostles and so “share the fellowship” with them and with the Father and the Son.
Four principles undergird true Christian fellowship:
- Christian fellowship is grounded in the testimony of God’s Word. Without this underlying foundation, togetherness would be impossible.
- Christian fellowship is mutual, depending on the unity of believers.
- Christian fellowship is renewed daily through the Holy Spirit. True fellowship combines social and spiritual interaction and is made possible only through a living relationship with Christ.
- Christian fellowship demands adherence to truth. In this case, it required loyalty to Jesus as the truth, rather than to the esoteric knowledge of the heretics.
As an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry, John was qualified to teach the truth about him. The readers of this letter had not seen and heard Jesus themselves, but they could trust that what John wrote was accurate. Believers today are like those second- and third-generation Christians. Though they have not personally seen, heard, or touched Jesus, they have the New Testament record of his eyewitnesses, and they can trust that these eyewitnesses spoke the truth about him.
(1:4) Joy (chara): an inner gladness; a deep seated pleasure. It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior.
(1 John 1:5-7 ) 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 yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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.
Obviously it is the antinomian heresy that is in mind here. The teaching that one could be a Christian while continuing to live in sin had become quite popular. The truth of God was being disregarded, which resulted in widespread disobedience among professed believers.
John sought to combat their error by describing God’s true nature: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” Throughout the Scriptures, light is used as a symbol of purity and holiness while darkness represents sin and wickedness. It is not possible for the Lord Jehovah to be associated with sin, for “God is light.” This means that He is holy in every respect of His being.
If one professes Christ and does not live for the Lord, all his talk and activity for God are meaningless. God’s people are saved from the darkness of sin to walk in the light. It would be well for all who are in Christ to consider, “Is the life I am now living worth the price Christ paid for it?”
How important that we ask ourselves frequently, “Am I real, or am I only pretending?” Do we really know Christ? “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”
Truth must not only be spoken, but lived. They claim to “have fellowship with God,” but “walk in darkness.” John says they are lying. Of course, they are not deceiving God; they are deceiving themselves.
How does the believer sustain his fellowship with the Lord? John says, “Walk in the light, as He is in the light.”
It is easy to distinguish the devil’s way from God’s, for sin is always part of the devil’s way. Never is this the case when “we walk in the light, as He is in the light.” God’s way is without lying, cheating, immorality, unkindness, or sin of any kind.
It is without meaning to the hypocrite, but to the one who is sincere before God, there is continual forgiveness at any time and at any place. Christ’s blood keeps on cleansing from sin. It never stops.
It speaks to the “habit of the life.” And when sin does occur, what is the attitude toward it? Do we make light of it? Do we do something about it?
The real motive to “walk in the light, as [God] is in the light,” is that we might have fellowship with God. Some have thought erroneously that the reason Christians no longer do the things they used to do is because of the fear of being punished by God. Not only does one receive victory to refrain from former sins following conversion, even more, he has a desire to please the Lord. This is born out of love, not fear.
While refusing to do wrong, a little boy was taunted by his friend, “You are afraid that your dad will hurt you.” “Not really,” said the boy. “I am afraid that I will hurt him.”
Born-again believers are in fellowship with God Almighty. Because of this, they are not fearful of being punished by God; their punishment was absorbed by Christ at the cross. They “walk in the light” that they might please the Lord and do His will. True believers know the joy of obedience.
As an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry, John was qualified to teach the truth about him. The readers of this letter had not seen and heard Jesus themselves, but they could trust that what John wrote was accurate. Believers today are like those second- and third-generation Christians. Though they have not personally seen, heard, or touched Jesus, they have the New Testament record of his eyewitnesses, and they can trust that these eyewitnesses spoke the truth about him.
1:4 We are writing these things so that our joy will be complete. This is a rendering of a Greek variant reading found in several reliable manuscripts. Other manuscripts read “that your joy may be complete.” The reading “our joy” is preferred. John was most likely thinking of the mutual happiness of all believers. In other words, just as the proclamation of the gospel message was for others to join the fellowship (1:3), so he was writing these things so that [their] joy will be complete. John wrote this letter to encourage the readers’ participation in both the fellowship and the joy that he (John) and the other believers were experiencing. Proclamation produces fellowship; fellowship produces joy. John’s joy would be complete if his readers remained in the fellowship and did not wander off into false teaching. John, caretaker of the churches and “spiritual father” to many of the believers in and around Ephesus, would only be able to experience “complete joy” if his “children” were experiencing the blessings of fellowship with one another and with God.
GOOD NEWS IS FOR SHARING
John considered his encounter with Christ to have been a joyful experience—the best thing that ever happened to him. What do we do when good things happen to us? We immediately pick up the phone. Or we run down the street to a friend’s house. Something about good news practically demands that we share it. How much more the wonderful and marvelous truth that God sent Christ into the world to bring lost and empty people back into a rich relationship with himself?
Note in the introductory verses of this epistle the number of times and ways John mentions his passion to communicate the gospel to others. Have you lost the passion to tell the Good News? Identify someone who you feel is ready to hear about Christ. Plan to relate Christ’s love to that person in both word and action.
Jesus spoke about this joy. It is the constantly overflowing life expressed as “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10 ). It is the exuberance found in being near a loved one (John 3:29), or the joy of anticipation (John 15:11; see also 20:20). In a parable, Jesus portrayed joy as the gratification of workers who see the harvest. In his final words to the disciples, Jesus described to them the joy that they would experience (italics ours):
- “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11 )
- “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:22–24)
- “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” (John 17:13 )
In Galatians 5:22, joy is a fruit or by-product of the Holy Spirit’s work in believers’ lives. Joy also comes as the result of harmonious relationships among believers (Acts 13:52; Philippians 2:2).
LIVING IN THE LIGHT OF GOD / 1:5–2:11
When Jesus was on earth, his divine life illuminated the inner lives of his followers. Everywhere he was present, he gave light. This light penetrated people—exposing their sin and revealing divine truth. No one could come into contact with Jesus without being enlightened.
So it is for the Christian who is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ. In his presence, we see our sin and his glory. Of course, a person can refuse to receive the light and can remain in darkness (a term John used to characterize the realm of Satan in the world). But whoever comes to Jesus will see his dazzling moral and spiritual excellence and purity.
1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Just as Christ passed on the message he heard from the Father, so the apostles in turn were passing on the same message that they heard from the Son. John did not use the term “gospel,” but he did use such words as “witness,” “testimony,” “word,” “truth,” and “message.”
John’s message emphasized that God is light. Light enables people to do their work. It produces growth in crops; it reveals beauty and provides safety. Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable. Light reveals; light shines. God is so completely “light” that in Him is no darkness at all. “Darkness” represents what is sinful and evil. The Greek could be translated literally as “darkness is not in him ever.” God is untainted by any evil or sin. Thus, “God is light” means that God is perfectly holy and true and that he alone can guide people out of the darkness of sin. Genesis 1:3 records God’s expression of his nature and will in the statement “Let there be light.” Jesus declared himself to be the “light of the world” (John 8:12). In 1 Timothy 6:16, Paul expressed that God “lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him” (). This light signifies Christ’s moral excellence and purity. John was one of only three eyewitnesses to Jesus’ transfiguration (see Matthew 17:1–13) where Jesus was described as being “dazzling white.” The light reflected God’s essence.
LIGHT VS. DARKNESS
In many places in Scripture, the realm of God and the realm of evil are contrasted by the differences between light and darkness:
| Darkness |
Light |
Reference |
| Despairing condition |
Hopeful condition |
Isaiah 9:2 |
| Inability to recognize the light |
Ability to enlighten the world |
John 1:4–5, 9 |
| The power of Satan |
The power of God |
Acts 26:18 |
| Evil deeds |
Good deeds |
Romans 13:12–14 |
| Natural heart condition |
Gift from God |
2 Corinthians 4:6 |
| Fruitless works |
Source of all that is good |
Ephesians 5:8–11 |
| Spiritual forces of evil |
Armor of God |
Ephesians 6:12–13 |
| Powerful captivity |
Kingdom of the Son, redemption, forgiveness |
Colossians 1:12–14 |
| Inability to exist in God’s presence |
God’s presence, fellowship with God |
1 John 1:5, 7 |
| Transient nature |
Permanent nature |
1 John 2:8–11 |
Light also relates to truth because light exposes whatever exists, whether it is good or bad. In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished. Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God. “Darkness” can also picture a certain hiddenness and secrecy. The false teachers claimed to have received special knowledge that God only gives to a certain few. The nature of light, however, is to flood and fill. That God has “no darkness” means that nothing is hiding in shadows or kept in secret.
1:6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. “God is light” and there is no darkness at all in him (1:5). While “light” has many connotations, this reference points specifically to God’s purity. Therefore, those who claim to have fellowship with God are living in God’s light, trying to live holy and pure lives for him. To claim to belong to God but then to go out and live in sin is hypocritical. In fact, John says that people are lying if they claim fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. Christ will expose and judge such deceit.
JOHN COUNTERS FALSE TEACHINGS
John countered two major false teachings of the heretics in this letter:
| 1:6, 8, 10 |
They denied the reality of sin. John wrote that those who continue in sin do not belong to God. Those who say they have no sin only fool themselves and refuse to accept the truth. |
| 2:22:4:1–3 |
They denied that Jesus was the Messiah-God in the flesh. John said that those who believe that Jesus is God incarnate and trust him for salvation are children of God. |
Here John was confronting the first of three claims (see also 1:8 and 1:10) of the false teachers: that people can have fellowship with God and still walk in sin. False teachers who thought that the physical body was evil or worthless taught one of two approaches to behavior: either they insisted on denying bodily desires through rigid discipline, or they approved of gratifying every physical lust because the body was going to be destroyed anyway. Here John was stating that no one can claim to be a Christian and still live in evil and immorality. The false teachers claimed to be living in God, but they failed to reflect God’s moral purity.
Those who claim to know God must also be living in the light, for darkness and light are incompatible. People cannot live both in the darkness of sin and in the light of fellowship with God, in whom is “no darkness at all” (1:5). John often used “darkness” to refer to sin (1:5, 6; 2:8, 9, 11). Thus, one cannot live a sinful life and simultaneously claim to be a Christian.
1:7 But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. NLT Because “God is light” (1:5), the Son of God lives in pure light and contains the light of God in himself. Those who claim to follow the Son cannot live in spiritual darkness (see 1:6, meaning ignorance and immorality); instead, they must be living in the light of God’s presence. They must be illumined by the truth of God’s character. To “live in the light” requires constant contact with God and no tolerance for dishonesty, hypocrisy, or sin. Living in the light pictures a life of complete transparency, with no attempts to conceal anything from “the Light.” To “walk in the light” (as it is translated in and ) cannot come from imitating other Christians; instead, it comes from continuous effort to take on Christ’s qualities. This involves complete transformation from within.
COMING OUT
John wanted his readers to understand how to discern between true and false teachers. Because some had left the congregations to follow false teachers and start their own churches, many of the believers had been left confused. John said, first of all, that they should look at whether a leader’s teaching and behavior were consistent with each other and then consider whether the teaching was consistent with the message the apostles had given them. It is a lie to claim to be a Christian but deny its moral foundation by living in sin and immorality. Today many Christians profess Christ but live so enmeshed in the values and attitudes of non-Christians that they are indistinguishable from them. If you love Christ, come out of the dark shadows and back alleys of sin and immorality. Stand in the light with all your imperfections and look to Christ, your perfect Light.
Walking in the light leads to fellowship with each other. This fellowship among believers results from each believer’s having fellowship with God. By living in the light, John did not intend that all Christians should be hermits or mystics, living in solitary contemplation of God. Instead, their fellowship with Christ should produce the desire to join others in loving devotion. John’s overall argument stresses this: True spirituality manifests itself in community fellowship. One cannot say that he or she communes with God and then refuse to commune with God’s people. Such was the case with some of the false teachers of John’s day, and this situation exists among false cults today. Often their followers and leaders claim to have special relationships with God, but they don’t affiliate with other believers. They stay isolated and withdraw from everyone else. John’s point is that the natural result of living in the light (in fellowship with God) should be joyful relationships with other Christians.
Another result of walking in the light is that the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. John emphasized that the death of Christ (“the blood of Jesus”) saves people, not the false teachers’ knowledge. The verb “cleanses” also means “purifies.” Sin is not only forgiven, it is erased. How does Jesus’ blood do that? In Old Testament times, believers would symbolically transfer their sins to an animal, which they then would sacrifice (see a description of this ceremony in Leviticus 4). The animal died in their place to pay for their sin and to allow them to continue living in God’s favor. God graciously forgave them because of their faith in him and because they obeyed his commandments concerning the sacrifice. Those sacrifices anticipated the day when Christ would completely remove sin. Real cleansing from sin came with Jesus, the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Sin, by its very nature, brings death—that is a fact as certain as the law of gravity. Jesus did not die for his own sins; he had none. Instead, by a transaction that humans may never fully understand, he died for the sins of all who will believe. When people commit their lives to Christ and thus identify themselves with him, his death becomes theirs. He has paid the penalty for their sins, and his blood has cleansed them.
THE FELLOWSHIP FACTOR
John’s letter is filled with references to “fellowship.” Fellowship means more than a superficial conversation after church or a midweek meal together. The biblical term conveys the idea of a deep sharing of life, partnership together in a common cause, and spiritual oneness. Remember that the intimacy and fulfillment of biblical fellowship (whether with God or with others) first require a relationship. This six-question test will help determine the quality of the fellowship within a relationship:
- Are there any unresolved tensions or conflicts in the relationship? (If so, these must be addressed.)
- Are we spending adequate time together? (If not, there can never be intimacy!)
- Are we communicating openly and honestly? (The sharing of thoughts, concerns, feelings, plans—even motives—is indispensable to true fellowship.)
- Do we share the same vision? (If we are going in two different directions, it will be impossible to be partners.)
- Are we committed to this relationship? (If the relationship is not a priority, then fellowship will never be a reality!)
- Are we laying aside our own agendas and looking out for the best interests of others? (Self-centeredness cannot coexist with fellowship).
Those who “walk in the light,” the true believers, will still find themselves at times in sin. Christians will not be made completely perfect until Jesus returns and brings them into his kingdom. Until then, however, they desire to walk in the light and so refuse to consciously harbor sin. When they do sin, however, God has already made provision to deal with those sins through the blood of his Son. He died, not just for their past sins, but for all their sins that will be committed until the day of his return. These also are taken care of by his blood. That provision allows God’s people to continue to walk in the light—dealing with sin through confession and receiving his forgiveness so that fellowship with God and with others can remain unhindered.[1]
Scripture quotations marked are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
[1] Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, 1, 2 & 3 John, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1998), 21–24.
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