Reflections on 1 John 1

1 John 01 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The Word that gives life was from the beginning, and this is the one our message is about. Our ears have heard, our own eyes have seen, and our hands touched this Word.
   
2. The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us.
   
3. We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
   
4. We are writing to tell you these things, because this makes us truly happy.
   
5. Jesus told us that God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.
   
6. If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth.
   
7. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.
   
8. If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn't in our hearts.
   
9. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.
   
10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn't in our hearts.

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From the beginning of his letter, John states its purpose to be fellowship and joy. Fellowship with God and the joy that accompanies it. The truths John is proclaiming about fellowship with God and the accompanying joy are not new. They are truths that were evident from the beginning of the gospel age.

The foundation of these truths John proclaims is that God is light and no darkness can be found in Him. Fellowship with Him is found by walking in the light where He is. Walking in the light equates with living within the truths of God's revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. If we live outside these truths we walk in darkness, and thus, outside fellowship with God. But if we walk in the light we have fellowship with God and "the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1:7)

A key to walking in the light is to agree with God concerning sin. We might state it even more simply: walking in the light is agreement with God. If we do not agree with God and what He teaches, we sin and we walk in darkness. And we cannot disagree with God, and thus walk in darkness, and yet claim to have fellowship with God. Nor, are we walking in the light if we claim to have no sin, for we are disagreeing with God, we are deceiving ourselves, and there is no truth in us. John takes it another step. He says, "If we say, 'We have not sinned,' we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1:10)

Again, the key to walking in the light and to fellowship with God is the acknowledgement of our sin.