1 John 1 is the shortest chapter of 1 John, only 10 verses long. I believe that this chapter can be divided evenly in half into two sections. True, most Bible translations will make the section splits between verse 4 and verse 5, but I believe verse 5 belongs more with the first 4 verses than it does with the last 5 verses. It all has to do with seeing 1 John 1:1-5 as a prologue. If you can recollect from my studies on 1 John, I displayed how John 1 (John 1 broadly, John 1:1-18 specifically) served as a prologue to the Gospel of John. 1 John 1:1-15 will also become a prologue. Any reader can be certain of this, for it has many parallels to John 1:1-18. If you want to, you can go back and re-read John 1:1-18 to find these parallels. But if you rather not, let me give you my paraphrase of John 1:1-18…
“In the beginning was the Word. The Word was the same as God, and yet the Word was different than God at the same time. The Word was there since the beginning of the creation, and the Word created everything. The Word created life and the Word created goodness. The Word gave goodness to the life in the world known as humankind, but humankind rejected it for sin and evil. So the Word, goodness incarnate, became flesh. We knew him as Jesus. Jesus presented goodness to mankind, but mankind also rejected the goodness that was Jesus and killed him. There are some, however, that received Jesus, and thus have eternal life. Such men are John the Baptist, who testified about Jesus before Jesus, and John the disciple, who testified about Jesus after Jesus. These men were not the good news, but they testified about the good news.”
And I was finishing my paraphrase of John 1:1-18, I looked back on 1 John 1:1-5 and I almost stopped and deleted it. For if you look at 1 John 1:1-5, you’ll notice it says everything John 1 was saying in 5 verses. 1 John 1:1-5 is the perfect paraphrase of John 1:1-18. Just like in John 1:1, John starts out 1 John in 1 John 1:1 by talking about the Word. This time, in 1 John, John decides to add the prepositional phrase, “of life.” Many scholars have attempted to distinguish “the Word of life” as different or separate from “the Word,” but all I think John is simply doing is reminding the audience that life (and eternal life!) is from the Word. Once again, John reminds us that the Word was present since the dawn of time. When John uses phrases like “seen with our eyes” and “our hands have touched” in 1 John 1:1, John is reinforcing that the Word became flesh, as stated in John 1:14. Moving into 1 John 1:2, the word “testify” appears. It parallels John 1, where John the Baptist is the one testifying about Jesus before Jesus came. Now that Jesus has come and gone, it’s the disciples who are now testifying about Jesus. Also, in verse 2, notice the phrase “…which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” Clearly, John has finally gotten that to see Jesus was to see the Father, and to know Jesus was to know the Father. 1 John 1:3 states because Christians can know and see the Father through Jesus, Christians can have a relationship with God the Father, and fellowship with him.
Now here comes 1 John 1:5. I truly believe that 1 John 1:5 belongs with the prologue. My biggest proof would be its parallels to the prologue in John 1. If you can recall in my studies of the Gospel of John, I suggested that John 1:1-18 not only states that Jesus is the Word incarnate, but it also states that Jesus is the True Light incarnate. Looking at John 1 alone, this suggestion would be merely a theory, for John does not explicitly say in John 1 that Jesus is the True Light who became flesh. 1 John 1:5 does say that a little more explicitly. 1 John 1:5 says that God is Light. Notice the equitive sentence: “God is light.” I did look this up in the Greek, and even the Greek manuscripts have no article for “light.” God is not a light. God is not the light. God is light. Follow my logic. If God is light, and Jesus is God, then Jesus is light. The same principle applies to Jesus. Jesus is not a light. Jesus is not the light. Jesus is light. Jesus is light incarnate. In this way 1 John 1:5 parallels John 1:1-18, so I see it as fitting best in the prologue.
I want to remind you what “light” means in this context. Yes, it can refer to physical light, as Jesus made physical light. But light also takes on a symbolic meaning as well. Symbolically, light also means moral goodness. It does fit the context of 1 John, and even fits the context of the Gospel of John. Both God and Jesus are the symbolic meaning of light, for they holy, or perfectly good. It definitely makes the next part of the verse make more sense, too. The rest of 1 John 1:5 states that God has no darkness. The Greek manuscripts use a double negative. In English, double negatives negate one another and make the statement really positive, but in Greek, a double negative adds more emphasis to the negative. Sometimes double negatives are translated as the word “never.” A literal translation of 1 John 1:15 could be “…in Him there is no darkness – none at all.” Now take the symbolic meaning of that. If light is symbolic for moral goodness, then darkness symbolizes sin and evil. There is no sin or evil in God or Jesus – none at all. 1 John 1:5 reminds of the doctrine that God is holy, and then applies it to Jesus. Jesus is holy. And it doesn’t matter if you see 1 John 1:5 as being with verses 1 to 4 or verses 6 to 10, either way, 1 John 1:5 serves as a perfect transition between the two sections. For if God is morally good, without any sin or evil, then that is what Christians should strive to be.
For the next part, the best way to get across John’s message is to show the parallels John is using. Now this is going to get a little tricky because I know that this blog’s template will not allow me to accurately format a table. But read 1 John 1:6,7 and try to connect like words and phrases.
Also, take into consideration the historical occasion of epistle of 1 John. False teachers are presenting false teachings to the churches. Here, John presents a way to check if the teacher is a true teacher of the gospel or a false teacher. False teachers will continue to walk in darkness. Even if a teacher claims that he is in fellowship with God, if he walks in darkness, he is a false teacher, who teaches only lies. But if a teacher walks in the light, he is a true teacher of the gospel because he is in fellowship with God.
Believe it or not, that was the easier teachings. Now let’s move on to the harder teaching, the one found in 1 John 1:8-10.
Once again, the parallels aren’t as smooth as we would like them to be, so let me once again draw out the parallels. The “If Clauses” of verses 8 and 10 are synonymous, for they mean the same thing. Remember that human beings are sinners 3 times over. First, humans are born as sinners. Second, humans have a sinful nature, driving them to do the sinful more than good. Third, humans commit sins in their deeds, words and thoughts. Therefore, if any human being were to claim to not have sin in one of those ways, the person is also claiming to be sinless (at least in that way). When we do so, as the “Then Clauses” will tell us, we lie twice. Not only do we call God a liar (for God has stated many times in His word that humans are fallen sinners), we lie to ourselves, for God is not a liar, nor are we sinless. If we call God a liar, then we do not deserve the Word of God. The Word of God is truth. If we treat the Word of God as if it is a lie, then we are mistreating and abusing the Word of God, and we do not deserve it.
Before I throw in 1 John 1:9 into the mix, I want to remind everyone of the antithesis (meaning opposition, contrast, etc.) between truth and lies. If you remember from the Gospel of John, Jesus stated that the Devil is the father of lies and lies are the Devil’s language. Therefore, whether a person uses truth or lies shows which side the person is on. If a person lies, then that person is still a slave to Satan and a slave to sin. If the person tells the truth, then that person has God as their Father. That is why 1 John 1:8 says that the people who deceive themselves (accept their lie[s] as truth) do not have the truth. God is truth, and Satan is lies. Those who accept the lies, accept the Devil, and they do not have God.
The lie that 1 John 1:8-10 is one of the biggest lies that the Devil still likes to use today. A widely popular theory floating around about children is that are born good with a clean slate. Thus, Satan declares that we are not sinners from birth, a lie. Another widely popular theory is that humans, when faced with a good decision and an evil decision, will most likely pick the good decision on their own because there is more good in their heart than evil. Thus, the Devil deems that we do not have a sinful nature, a lie. It may not be a philosophy, but all you have to do is turn on your TV and watch court shows (both fictional, like Law & Order, and non-fictional, like Judge Judy) or talk shows, (like Dr. Phil), and you will find people, both the professional and non-professional, the intellectual and the non-intellectual, defend their acts that the Bible clearly declares as sin as justified to do. The prince of demons has once again got humans justifying their evil acts as good, a lie. What does 1 John 1:8-10 say about the people who adapt these philosophies? They have lied to themselves, and have accepted the lie as a truth. Thus, they do not know the truth. If they know the truth, then they do not know God and have no part with God. Ladies and gentlemen, as hard as it is to expose the world of sin, it is necessary, for without the conviction, the world is doomed to condemnation and destruction.
But wait! There’s hope! Now look at 1 John 1:9. First, let me start by saying that the “If Clause” of 1 John 1:9 are antithetically parallel, or they contrast one another. The opposite of claiming to be without sin is to claim to be with sin. To claim to be with sin is to confess sin. What John is doing is providing an alternative. You don’t have to claim to be without sin, as the false teachers would do. You can confess your sins. In that case, God will forgive you and purify you from all unrighteousness. When God does, you will have fellowship with God.
Once again, consider the historical context. Most of false teachers were teaching that since Jesus died on the cross and paid for your sins, God doesn’t care whether you sin or not because all sin has been paid for. False teachers taught that all the way back in the 1st century, and false teachers today in the 21st century still preach that message. Many people today believe that all you have to do is believe Jesus Christ existed and paid for you sins, and you can then live whatever lifestyle you choose, even if it’s sinful, because Jesus has paid the price for you. Once again, for an example, I will have you recall a Xanga site banner that said, “Sex is a sin, but sin is forgiven, so let’s begin!” Those who do believe that become a liberal Christian, believing that all God wants is for you to be happy and live any lifestyle you want. While I do believe God wants us to be happy, I believe part of the deception this world has fallen into is that we’ve traded the true meaning of happiness and joy for a lie, a fake happiness that is only temporary. Even John says in 1 John 1:4 that these teachings, no matter how hard or tough, will give a complete joy to the Christian’s life. God does want us to be happy, but He doesn’t want us to gain happiness over the hurt of others or the hurt of ourselves. And sin will always lead to the hurt of others or the hurt of ourselves.
Believe it or not, I don’t think this false teaching was merely a brand new, made up teaching. Instead, the teacher was a misguided or incorrect view of the atonement that Jesus paid on the cross. A lot of false teachings use this method. They will use familiar language, like “Christian-ese” to make it sound Christian, but really, it isn’t. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons thrive on this. They will insist that they are just another denomination of Christian because they have God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, Satan and demons. In reality, a closer look at their beliefs will reveal they are far from it. Here’s an illustration I like to us. Imagine you went up to someone and ask, “Do you believe in Santa Claus?” The person replies, “Of course I believe in Santa. How could I not? After all, Santa Claus is the man who lurks in the night in October and scares and beats little children that don’t listen to their parents. But the few children who always listen to their parents, Santa Claus turns their eggs into chocolate!” Now, after giving this person a few odd looks, the first thought that would come to your mind would be, “That’s not Santa Claus. Are you insane?” Yet Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons do the exact same thing to Jesus, and some people still yet insist they are Christians, no more or less than any other denomination. Well, in my mind, they are far from orthodox Christianity, too far away to be considered Christian. Yet they are not too far off, so far off that they need to be taught from scratch. Instead, they simply need to be re-taught, or have their false teaching corrected into true teachings.
Consider another illustration. (I know this illustration is going to seem far-fetched when it comes to the distances of the locations, but I picked the locations because they will be easy to picture in the mind or easy to locate on a map.) Imagine I am touring with a group of Bible scholars around the continental U.S. to promote Bible literacy. We have just completed a weekend tour in New York City, and we are ready to continue our tour to the next location: Miami, Florida. The group calculated that it would cheaper to drive down to Miami than it would be to fly, so we all begin to drive down to Miami. As I pass Philadelphia on the highway, I realize that I forgot my suitcase in New York City! Not only did that suitcase have my clothes and my toiletries for the week, it also had my notes and the books I used for sources! There is no way I can do any of my work without it, and I don’t have the time or money to get it shipped down to Miami. So I make the next possible legal u-turn, turn around, and head back to New York City. Now consider my u-turn. How is my driving journey the same as before I made the u-turn? It is the same because I am passing through the same cities. How is it different? It is different because I am going a different direction. Instead of going south, I am going north. A person under false teachings does not need totally start from new. The person merely has to make a u-turn, and take a different look at their doctrinal stances.
A shorter illustration I could use is a spin on an old adage. When a teacher asked you a question in school, and you were sort of close, but not exactly right, did your teacher say, “You’re on the right track!” My teachers would say that to me, and I would reply, “Right track, wrong train.” And it technically did work, as in, “Right track of thought, wrong train of thought.” I think that describes people who follow false teachings. They are on the right track, but they are on the wrong train, or their train of thought is going in the wrong direction. They simply need to be put on the right train of thought, the train of thought going in the right direction.
Coming full circle, I believe the false teachers who are teaching that God doesn’t care about sin are only on the wrong train of thought or are going the wrong direction. They understand that God’s atonement means that our sins are forgiven, so well that God does not remember them. Yet that does not give us a “free to sin” card or permission slip. Instead, it rather means that if we do slip up, make a mistake and sin, it’s not the end of the world. Even though we are saved, we’re still battling that sinful nature. And occasionally, we’ll fall into temptation, we’ll make a mistake and we’ll sin. That doesn’t mean our salvation is in question. All we have to do is confess and repent, and we will be forgiven. I think that’s why John did throw in 1 John 1:9. If John did not include verse 9, and he only included verses 8 and 10, we would have Christians falling into guilt, and having the other Christians surrounding them fall into legalism.
Even now, as I promote here Christians not falling into sin, I must be careful to not give a mindset or legalism. In order to do so, I give another illustration. I believe the sanctification process of a Christian is like a mother and a father teaching their young child how to work. You can all picture the scene in your head. One parent is at the one end of the room, and the other parent is at the other end of the room. Most likely, one of the parents has video camera in hand. Then the parent at the far end of the room beckons the child to leave his one parent’s arms to walk into the arms of the other parents at the other side of the room. Rarely will the child make the trek on his or her own two feet in the first try. Most of the time, the child will fall even before he or she makes the halfway point. If you are a parent, and you’ve gone through this experience at least once, you could probably relate. Now tell me, when your child falls, do you punish the child? Do you send the child to his or her room? Do you put the child in time out? Do you spank the child? No! You dust the child off, put him or her back at the start, and try again. I could also use the analogy of teaching an older child to ride a bike, for it works the same way. A parent won’t punish the child for falling off the bike. The parent would just help dust the child off and help the child start over again. I really believe that is how our sanctification works. God the Father, our Father, beckons off to leave our life of sin and to come over to holiness that God has. We won’t make it over in this lifetime. We’ll stumble and fall. Yet God does not disown us because we do. He’ll just dust us off, forgive us, and have us try again. All God asks is that we at least leave that life of sin before we were saved, and He expects it from us.
So who are the people that the Bible calls pathological liars spiritually? The spiritual pathological liars are the ones who sin and walk in darkness and yet claim to be without sin and in fellowship with God. In essence, a pathological liar is someone who deceives himself/herself. Satan is the king of deception, so Satan is the king of the spiritual pathological liars, for Satan convinces the world that his lies are the truth. It is like Satan is pathological lying incarnate. If anyone is pathological liar spiritually, he/she is walking the same path Satan is walking. But if a person is willing to confess that he/she is not the source of truth, but God is the source of truth, he/she will come into the light and have fellowship with God. Let us throw off the postmodern mindset the lifts up our truth as absolute, and we must humble ourselves to accept God’s truth the absolute truth.
The Contextual Literalist 