God is Light

When our children were younger, we occasionally played hide-and-seek in our house — in the dark. When you play the game in total darkness, you don’t have to find a hiding place because you can hide anywhere. It can be a little scary groping around the house, not knowing when you might bump into someone you’re trying to find. There were lots of laughs, like when my wife found one of the kids hiding in the shower by turning on the shower. That was a loud scream. I may or may not have been cheating when I pretended to look for someone in the refrigerator. Good thing the fridge light worked; it lit up the whole kitchen.

It was fun playing hide-and-seek in the dark, but I got a few bruises from bumping into things. It may be easier to hide in the dark, but it’s also easier to walk around your house in the light. 

In the first four verses of 1 John, the apostle stated that he was an eyewitness to Jesus and that he has proclaimed the truth of Jesus to his readers. Now he tells them the content of that teaching: God is light.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

John heard Jesus say this about himself on more than one occasion (John 8:12, 9:5). As the light of the world, Jesus Christ exposes sin and lights our way through this dark, confusing place.

Note also the word “is.” God is not holding a light or carrying a light or shining a light. God does not have light as one of his characteristics. God is light. It’s who he is. 

To John, the world of sin is darkness, and God is light. When we walk in darkness, we tend to run into trouble. God’s light shows us how to live. 

Remember that John is writing to his church because some former members were going around teaching false doctrine. Even though they were actually “walking in the darkness,” these false teachers were claiming that they had fellowship with God. In reality, they were living sinful lives and enjoying it. They wanted fellowship with God, but they also wanted to live however they desired. The problem is we can’t have true fellowship with God and wallow in sin at the same time. John wanted his people to know that the false teachers were living a lie. 

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:6)

On the other hand…

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 cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

At first, this verse is confusing. It sounds like John is saying  that we’re cleansed from sin if we live good lives. But that isn’t what John is saying. 

Walking in the light does not mean being perfect. John knows that there are times when we fail. Walking in the light means living with a desire for God instead of living with a desire for darkness and sin. When we walk in darkness, we live for satisfying our desires regardless of what God thinks about them. When we walk in the light, we love God and yearn to live for him. And when we do that, there are two results: fellowship with other believers and cleansing of our sins.

First, when we walk in the light we come to God for salvation. By definition, we then have fellowship with God and with other believers.

We also have forgiveness for our sins. When we accept what Christ offers us, all our sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. There is no condemnation for the child of God, none, zero (Romans 8:1). We’re declared not guilty, we’re made right with God, and nothing can separate us from him. The Bible term for this is “justification” (Romans 5:9). This is the moment when all of our sins are removed from us, we become one of God’s children, and have a relationship with our Father that will last for eternity. 

John is also referring here to the ongoing work of salvation, the work of Christ in growing us to be holy. We’re not just saved from hell and left on our own. God helps us grow less and less fond of sin so that we can be more and more like him. The word for this process is “sanctification,” as the Holy Spirit changes us over time to be all he calls us to be. 

When we walk in the light, when we yearn for God, we are forgiven and, over time, changed from the inside out. 

But we’re certainly not perfect, not in this life. The false teachers were claiming to not only have fellowship with God regardless of how they lived, but they also claimed to have either reached a state where sin didn’t impact them or to have achieved the exalted state of sinlessness. 

John calls that what it is — another great big lie.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8, 10)

John wants his readers to know that the claim of the false teachers to be sinless is a lie. He also wants to reassure his readers that their sins do not put their relationship with God in jeopardy, thus John writes one of the most profound statements in all of the Bible.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Just like he did in verse 7, John here combines both the initial forgiveness we receive at salvation and the ongoing work of God to grow us in holiness. We are Christians, so all our sins are forgiven, including the ones we’ve yet to commit. In that sense, we don’t have to worry about dying with unconfessed sin and losing our salvation at the last minute. As believers, our sins don’t separate us from God. Remember, there is no condemnation. Our relationship with God is secure. 

But we also know that we haven’t reached perfection. We strive for holiness, we want to serve Jesus completely — but we fail. As much as we love Jesus, we still sin. But if all of our sins are forgiven when we accept Christ, why do we have to keep asking God for forgiveness? Remember, the Christian life isn’t just about justification; it’s also about sanctification, or growing in holiness. This is part of the “already, not yet” aspect of our faith. We’re already forgiven, but we’re not yet perfect. As we walk in the light, God continues to show us our sins for what they are, and as we recognize our sins, we confess them. That’s how we grow.

When we sin, God doesn’t strike us down, remove our ticket to heaven, grow weary of us, or give up on us. When we stop defending ourselves and stop making excuses for our behavior, and when we come to God and agree with him that we’ve sinned, he forgives completely, over and over again. He doesn’t forgive as our judge, because that’s already been settled. God forgives us as our loving Father. As a result, we grow more and more like him as we “walk in the light, as he is in the light.” 

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