1 John 1:5-7 New Revised Standard Version
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
First Impression?
- This is often my favorite part of the study when the others share their first impressions. It is before the caffeine kicks in and I learn a lot. For me the point about truth sticks out and the idea of how we twist things to make ourselves feel better. As I found in Peters letters, John has packed a whole lot into a relatively short document.
Bite size chunks, maybe – basically me reading it over again.
- God is light
- In Him there is no darkness at all
- Fellowship with Him
- Walking in darkness
- We lie
- Do not do what is true
- Walk in the light
- As He Himself is in the light
- Fellowship with one another
- The Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin
How do you hold the concept of darkness in your mind?
- When I first wrote out the lesson I had light before dark, but I swapped. My mind only understand darkness as the absence of God and His light.
How do you hold in your mind the concept of God is light?
- God is the source of everything good and God is light is the defining of everything good as light.
Good, pure, true, holy, reliable. The study guides attempt to define light. Do you feel that you understand the “definition” of God is light well enough to tell it to another believer? A seeking non-believer? A non-believer in full denial?
- As expected, my group was ready and expected themselves to treat every discussion equally with the weight appropriate. The idea was that the fundamental aspect of these should not let anyone think the simple statements of God is Light and without darkness should scare you away from discussing them with anyone.
No darkness at all. What is darkness when you compare it to your definition of light?
- Same as above.
What does light do to darkness? And how has it made you a better Christian?
- Eliminate it. Bringing God into a situation eliminates the darkness and should eliminate the sin. At worst it reveals it and prevents it from being hidden.
John’s first part of the message “we” are to pass along is that God is light and there is no darkness at all in Him. What issue was at hand that John led with this concept of no darkness in God at all?
- We got way sidetracked by the background of false teaching and the sources for it. I have been coming back to the need to challenge false teaching when we hear it and the group continues to come back that the goal is to win the person with love and not the argument over misunderstanding.
From verse 6, the topic is walking in darkness as compared to having fellowship with God. In essence, false teachers were saying that if you were saved, you could sin all you wanted because you were still going to heaven so trying to be good or trying not to be bad had no consequence. Therefore, they wanted to live sinful lives and not be called out for it. Does this concept resonate with Christians today?
- Absolutely.
To lie. What is the difference between saying I did not steal that candy and saying stealing that candy was not a sin?
- This ended the progress on the lesson as we camped out on how we each individually respond to God’s call on our individual lives. This discussion is why I love doing this. Although I missed the mark on an action this morning, my failure became a lesson in how we can avoid failure by redefining our path to success. I probably could not do justice to all I learned, but the ideal for the study was that if we can put aside trying to do good or trying to not sin and simply try to love God and fellowship with Him, then we can lead lives full of love and the sin is removed by the focus on God through the cleansing of Christ.
I challenge each of you to join a bible study and fellowship with other Christians and God in order to learn to love more.
Questions we did not get to in the gathering:
Do not do what is true. This battle between doing good or doing evil; do you have methods to discern your path for choosing good over evil, or what is true over what is false, or what is not a sin and what also not a sin?
- I personally rely on the ideas my heart has from studying God’s Word and experience trying to do so.
I read Leviticus 1 today and it spoke about the sacrifice being an atonement. The blood of the sacrifice cleanses us. How do you explain the concept in verse 7 that if we walk in the light, then His blood cleanses us from all sin?
- In my mind, we can only walk in the light by accepting Christ as savior. Nothing else fills the logic.
What is the difference between being saved and choosing to walk in the light or the darkness?
- Based on walking in the light being equal to being saved, then choosing to walk in the darkness is just us choosing to live sinning.
One guide has a list of Mega themes. How can there be a number of mega themes in a little letter?
- Say treatise. Megathemes include Sin, Love, Family of God, Truth and Error, and Assurance.
How does the concept of megathemes work as you read the bible? Memorize the bible? Study the bible?
- In my mind, these are the big ideas we have to hold in our mind in order to dig into the details underlying them.
How often do you realize you are choosing to walk in fellowship with good and do what is true over just doing it on your own? How often do you recognize that you do not do something to avoid sin?
- For me, I am all over the place based on whether I have just prayed or allowed the events of the day to knock me off the path. I often find my self stopping from doing something because it is a sin, but less often think I should do something because it is specifically good. I want to be better on this one.