Fellowship Requires Consecration (1 John 1:5-7)

In the preface to his letter (1:1-4), the apostle John had stressed that Christian fellowship is always with the Father and the Son. Such fellowship involves interaction with the Father and the Son around the various features of Christian doctrine and living in which they delight. In our previous study, we considered how we can have such communion in a wide variety of ways. Some of these aspects are referred to by John elsewhere in this letter. For example, he describes in 1:5-7 how consecration contributes to fellowship, and later in the chapter he will point out the connection between confession of sin and fellowship with God. As is well-known, John also shows throughout his letter that true fellowship involves practical expressions of brotherly love.

Jesus’ Message about God

When we want to share important matters with a person, we need to know that he is reliable. The only ways by which we can discover this feature is by information from a dependable source and by a description of the person’s character. John here reveals that his information about God came from Jesus Christ; during his three years of public ministry the Saviour had instructed his apostles about the nature of God. Of course, Jesus is the trustworthiest authority that a person can have because he possesses infallible information about God.

An illustration may help us understand these two aspects. Several institutions have infallible information about me on their files. The registrar in the town where I was born and later married has the necessary details on file and could show them to anyone who wanted to see them. My doctor has details about me in his files as well. Yet while the registrar and the doctor can give infallible information about me, they cannot really say a great deal about me. Instead the person who can say the most about me is my wife. Companionship or permanent presence with a person qualifies one to describe that person. In the case of Jesus, he possesses both an exact description of God and an eternal relationship in God as a member of the Trinity. So he is qualified to say who God is and what he is like.

So what did Jesus say about God? He taught many things about God and we can read what he said in the Gospels. It is not clear if John here is citing a specific statement that Jesus used or if he is giving a summary of what Jesus said. I suspect that the answer to the uncertainty is that both options are true. While the statement that ‘God is light’ is not recorded in the Gospels, it is the case that Jesus referred to himself as light. In any case, the phrase is a short, concise description of God.

The imagery of light and darkness is a frequent one in the Bible. For example, it is used to describe the two eternal destinations of heaven (light) and hell (darkness). It is also used to explain the difference between the Christian life (light) and the non-Christian life (darkness). Further, it contrasts the person of Christ (light) and the enemy Satan (darkness). And here it is used to describe God.

Another matter to consider is to ask from where John took his illustration. It may be that he took it from the natural world in which there is an obvious connection between the sun as light and the darkness which disappears when the sun is risen. Or perhaps he is taking his illustration from the tabernacle/temple because in them there was permanent light, and in it the priests worked together (had fellowship) and were protected by the sacrifice (the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin).

The imagery of light fits in with several of God’s attributes. For example, when the sun rises, light is present everywhere; or when we switch on a light in a room, the whole room is full of light. This is a reminder of God’s omnipresence, how he is everywhere simultaneously. Again, both the sun and a light in a room reveal everything that was unseen previously and this feature points to God’s knowledge or omniscience, that nothing is hidden from him.

When John says that God is light without darkness he is stating that God is marked by perfect purity. In other words, God is permanently holy, always without defect. This perfection includes his knowledge (he knows everything) and his actions, but it also extends to his character. This means that it is impossible for God to commit sin, to tolerate sin, to ignore sin. Sin is an offence to him and he is obligated to punish it.

Further, the illustration of light points to heat and warmth, and darkness points to cold. From this point of view, light reminds us that God loves strongly and deeply. There are no defects in his love, no fluctuations in its expression. Of course, his love includes a strong commitment to his own glory, which means that he will not tolerate even the minutest adverse reflection against it. This is why God is so determined to oppose sin – the reason is that he loves what is according to his character and he is against all that contradicts his character.

John is reminding his readers that their estimation of God will inevitably produce a certain kind of lifestyle. When a person fails to recognise or remember that God is pure, then their behaviour will tolerate sin; when a person fails to remember that God is full of love, then their behaviour will be marked by fear and dread of God rather than by a sense of intimacy with God.

John’s Refutation of Sinful Practices

It is clear that the false teaching which was affecting the churches to whom John was writing allowed its adherents to practice wrong behaviour. No matter how logical it seemed to them, it was evidence that they were not true Christians. There are several important deductions that we can make from John’s refutation.

First, there is the insufficiency of a mere verbal profession. We all know how common it is for persons in the public eye to profess an attitude and then for events to reveal that their conduct denied their claim. Countless politicians have supported particular ideas, such as supporting the importance of the family, and then been caught acting unfaithfully towards their spouses. The list of such incidents is almost endless. Yet the possibility of inconsistency is not limited to people outside the church. It happens within the church when a person who claims to be a Christian does not live a consecrated life.

Second, there is the implication of such inconsistency. John says that such a failure means the individual concerned is denying his profession in a twofold way: he denies it with his lips (his claim is a lie) and he denies it with his life. Now John is not describing a believer who falls into a temptation and then repents of it; nor is he talking about a professing Christian who persists in wrong behaviour, who lives for the things of this world. His illustration is that of walking, which indicates a pattern of life. But it also indicates direction, of walking in a particular path. Those who walk in unholy practices are not walking with God.

The darkness in which such a person walks is both inward and outward. In a sense, the outward is easy to recognise – it is the world and all its sinful activities and ambitions. We can see such things and say that they are darkness. But there is also an inner darkness, a darkness of the heart. What would be the features of such a dark soul? The person in this state seldom thinks about God in his perfect character, seldom thinks about Jesus and seldom expresses love and thankfulness to him, seldom is concerned if his actions are grieving the Spirit, and exists happily without the fellowship of Christians.

The lack of an outward conformity to God’s law is a very strong indication of the absence of an inner change in the person’s heart. This is a very solemn reality, and one which we all need to take on board. The proof of salvation is the righteous behaviour of a person.

John’s Recognition of Righteous Living

In contrast to the hypocritical lifestyle, there is a genuine one and John describes it in verse 7. He points out that true Christian living takes place in the presence of God. When we think of the presence of God we must recognise that the Bible presents its meaning in two ways. First, there is his general presence that is called omnipresence, in which he is everywhere in the universe and beyond it simultaneously. Second, there is his special presence and it occurs when he draws near to those who trust in him. It is this second aspect of God’s presence that is intended by John in verse 7.

We can note several details about this special presence of God as far as believers are concerned. First, they are marked by progress – they are walking in a certain place and they are walking towards a certain place. The location where they walk is the same place where God is found – in the light, and the location to which they are walking is the place where God lives – heaven. There is no such creature as a static Christian, one who remains in the same spiritual state continually. Every Christian is either going back or going forward, sometimes a bit of both. I once heard an illustration which helped me understand this. A preacher said that the Christian life is like climbing a mountain. Going up a mountain can involve taking wrong turns and when that happens the climbers have to go back to the right path; it can involve slipping on steep inclines, with climbers taking two steps up, then one step down, then two steps up, then one step down….; nevertheless eventually the climbers reach the top. That is what the Christian life is like.

Further, this passage says that it is abnormal to find solitary Christians. Notice that John uses plural pronouns when describing the walk that is taken. Just as those who walk in darkness share the experience of worldliness, so those who walk in the light are surrounded by companions. Solitariness is different from engaging in personal activities. For example, it is essential that a Christian engage in personal devotions. Yet he cannot make such an activity a substitute for meeting with and having fellowship with other disciples of Jesus. Christians are to make progress together.

In addition, those who walk in the light have communion. It is not entirely clear what John means when he writes that ‘we have fellowship with one another’. Often, an initial response is to read the clause as if he meant that Christians have fellowship with one another, and it is true that they do. Yet that interpretation could be an example of a genuine doctrine replacing proper exegesis because the context suggests that the ‘one another’ refers to God and his people. This is a reminder that consecrated fellowship is marked by peace between the participants. They enjoy one another’s company.

While there is great delight between Christians when they share the things of God together, there is often also a sense of surprise when they consider their differences of background, intellect, status etc.  Yet the greatest delight is experienced when God reveals that he is present, and that is when the greatest surprise occurs as well. They marvel that God enjoys their company. Nevertheless, that is the case: as Malachi said, the Lord takes great interest in those who meet together to think and speak about his name (Mal. 3:16).

Another surprise that believers have is that the holy God can continue to meet with them. One of the features of maturity in a Christian is his sense of indwelling sin. Perhaps at his conversion he was aware of certain outward traits and even of some inward tendencies that were wrong. Yet as they have made progress in the paths of light in the company of the God of salvation, they see more and more defects within themselves. Even their best actions are tainted by sin and they wonder how can such as them continue to meet with God. John gives the answer to that dilemma when he writes that ‘the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin’.

What was true of the person in darkness is also true of the person in the light. They each have desires and behaviour appropriate to their spiritual environment. The one who walks in the light not only has a holy lifestyle, he also has holy desires. He thinks about matters that are of interest to God, and the believer is able to think about them with increasing measures of light. They grow in understanding, in knowledge, and in experience. Often the path of the just is like the shining light that increases more and more until the perfect day (Prov. 4:18), until they reach the city of which God is the everlasting light, and they will walk in that light forever.

Of course, the question that comes to each of us is not, ‘What do we say?’ Instead it is, ‘Where do we walk?’