As
we say, realizing there are only five very short chapters in this
letter, we can see the thrust (and narrowness) of his teaching.
Trying
to summarize John's key teaching we might encapsulate it in “God
is love, God loves us, so we love one another. He who loves will
not carry on sinning.”
The
last point needs clarification. He does not say we will never
sin (in fact he makes specific pastoral provision for the occasional
times when we do fail – 1 Jn 2:1) but that ongoing sin
will NOT a part of the life of the child.
In
order to emphasise and pick out particularly important teachings
and see the flow of his teaching, we have underlined parts of
a number of verses which, we suggest, warrant further meditation.
FRAMEWORKS:
1
John 1: Incarnation Life & Light
v.1-4
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
v.5-10
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
[Chapter
Synopsis: The
opening chapter is a powerful testimony of the author, of a witness
who knew Jesus personally. He knew Jesus came to bring light to
people because God is light, and His light showed us up for what
we were before we came to Christ. The way to unity with God is
confession of that state and receiving God's forgiveness and a
new life.]
v.1-4
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
v.1
(a powerful
testimony with echoes of Jn 1:1,14 – the Word, the communication
of God, His Son) 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.
v.2
(with echoes
of Jn 1:4,14 – the Word was the being expressing eternal life)
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.
v.3
(again personal
testimony – it's all about Jesus, the Son of God) 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.
v.4
(he writes to
confirm God's activity) We write
this to make our [your] joy complete.
[Passage
Synopsis: An
amazingly powerful four verses with so many reflections from Jn
1 that there can be little doubt that the author is author of
both Gospel and letter. His language is that of a personal witness
who was there with Jesus.]
v.5-10
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
v.5
(again echoes
of Jn 1:4,59. Everything about God is light - everything in all
creation is revealed in Him, in His goodness, nothing dark or
evil) This is the message we
have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there
is no darkness at all.
v.6
(the Gospel
is all about being reconciled to God, being related to Him [see
Jn 1:14] and being able to fellowship and interact with Him. If
we say that, we can't walk in darkness, allowing anything wrong
in our lives ) If we claim to
have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie
and do not live out the truth.
v.7
(but if we live
in His light we are revealed to one another to be able to fellowship
with one another, Jesus' blood cleaning us from all sin)
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.
v.8
(if our starting
point had been we had no sin, we deceived ourselves) If
we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us.
v.9
(the path to
reconciliation was confession, receiving forgiveness and being
cleansed from any sort of wrong) If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
v.10
(if we started
out saying we didn't need that, we kidded ourselves and make God
out to be a liar.) If we claim
we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word
is not in us.
[
Passage Synopsis: This
short opening chapter is dynamic with so many echoes of John's
Gospel, chapter 1. The thrust that John now brings is that he
is a witness who saw and heard everything with Jesus so he knows
it's all true. [indeed we might ask why skeptics think John might
write in this way if it wasn't true.] The fundamental starting
point, he maintains, is that God is the source of all light and
therefore of all life [imagine a world existing in total darkness
– it can't]. But more than physical light and darkness there is
underlying imagery of good and evil and so if we say we live in
the light of God's total goodness there is no room whatsoever
in our lives for any darkness or evil. Before we came to Christ,
if we denied we had darkness in us, we were deluded and made God
out to be mistaken about us, but the door to entering into this
life of light, was acknowledgement of our state, confessing it
and receiving God's forgiveness and cleansing from the wrong things
that had been in our lives previously.]
Continue
to Chapter 2