Walking
in Light; 1 John 1:6-7
1
John 1:6 NASB “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and {yet}
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; [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.
Various
claims were made by the teachers at that time: that they really weren’t
sinners, that they didn’t sin, that the sin didn’t really have an impact on
their relationship with God because if Christ has already paid the penalty for
all of my sins then it really doesn’t matter what I do. So this, then, became a
rationalism of excuse for continuing to sin in a licentious manner without ever
having to honestly deal with the prohibitions of the Scriptures. This is set
forth in several “if” clauses in the English: v. 6, “If we say that we have
fellowship with Him”; v. 7, “If we walk in the light”; v.9, “If we confess”; v.
10, “If we say.” These are called hypothetical or conditional clauses. In
English there is only one way to state and “if” clause. The
“if” clause itself is called the protasis. Then there is the concluding
clause, the “then” clause, and that is called the apodosis. The “if” clause
expresses a condition or a supposition; the “then” clause expresses the results
of the supposition.
The
Greek language is much more precise in the way it expresses conditional
clauses. It has four different ways and each expresses a different nuance. The
first class condition indicates that the condition was more probable or
likely—if, and assuming it is true. In the second class condition the
“if” clause is not viewed as probable—if, and it is not true. The third
class condition is the condition of a possibility—maybe it will, maybe it
won’t; it could go either way. The fourth class condition is a wish—if it
were so, I wish it were, but it is not. There are all kinds of shades of
meaning that we can pack into “if” clauses, and what we have here, down through
verse 10, are five third class conditions: maybe we do this; maybe we do not do
this. These are options in the believer’s life.
“If
we say…” The next question we have to ask exegetically is, who is the “we”?
This is a first person plural pronoun. The “we” is I, John the apostle,
secondarily, but it is not I and the audience, and it is not just anybody. It
we take that “we” as anybody and make it “if anybody says that they have
fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, then they are a liar and don’t
practice the truth.” That is what that would mean, and we could take that and
say it was talking about unbelievers who aren’t saved. If the “we” were to
refer to John and his readers, then it would indicate “if we (you and I) say
that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not
practice the truth,” and John might be using “we” to mean you. Then it could
also be stretched to mean believer and unbeliever, and he would be saying then
that if you claim to have fellowship to God and you are living a certain
lifestyle in darkness and not practicing the truth then maybe you are not
saved. There are those who do that. But once we understand that to be
consistent the “we” here has to mean “I,” John first and foremost and the
apostles as a group with him secondarily, and that is the meaning primarily, it
can’t be applied to an unbeliever. It absolutely excludes believer versus
unbeliever as the issue in 1st John.
More
people get confused over this and end up in going in all kinds of strange
directions in 1st John because they want to make the tests that we
will study in the epistle tests of whether or not we are saved or not. The
implication of that is that if you are committing certain acts or not obeying
Scripture in a certain way then maybe you aren’t really saved to begin with.
This is one of the major planks in the position of what is called “Lordship
salvation.” They interpret these to be tests of faith—how to know whether
or not you are really saved. The problem with all of that is that is that you
really don’t ever know that you are really saved, because what happens ten or
twenty years from now if I start not doing these things or failing these “tests
of faith” that are in 1st John? So there is no real assurance of
faith in what is called Lordship salvation, you don’t really ever know that you
are saved.
1
John 1:6 NASB “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and {yet}
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” John is saying
through the use of a third class condition here that it is possible even for
him as an apostle to make a false claim with relationship to fellowship, and
even as an apostle he cam walk in darkness. That is important because there are
many who think that walking in darkness is tantamount to being an unbeliever.
What we have just demonstrated by looking at the meaning of “we” is that if it
means John then John admits that it is potential for him to walk in darkness.
So walking in darkness, then, can’t be related to salvation but signifies
something other than salvation. That affects verse 7.
1
John 1:7 NASB “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.” So the we and us all relate to the apostolic group.
He is using themselves as an example. This tells us
that this is not talking about believers versus unbelievers.
The doctrine of walking
1.
The key word here is peripateo,
which means to walk. Figuratively the word is used for how one conducts
oneself, to behave in a particular manner, or to live. Walk refers to a
lifestyle. It emphasises that our life is lived one moment at a time, one
decision at a times. Sometimes its metaphorical meaning may extend to the
entire panorama of a person’s life, including thought life and overt action.
Physically, walking is one of then best forms of exercise. Spiritual walking
works all of the spiritual skills from confession of sin all the way through to
inner happiness. It exercises the muscles of the spiritual life, it increases
the circulation of doctrine in the soul, it improves the inhale and exhale of
doctrine, it eliminates the waste of human viewpoint from the soul and replaces
it with divine viewpoint, and it strengthens the soul through the construction
of our soul fortress which protects and defends the soul from the outside
pressure of adversity and prosperity. So walking, therefore, it a term that
encapsulates everything related to spiritual life—our spiritual life and
our spiritual growth.
2.
Walking, then, is a crucial term to describe the
characteristics of the believer’s life and the overall or the general mandate
is to walk worthy. Ephesians 1:4 NASB “Therefore I, the prisoner of
the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you
have been called.” This isn’t legalism, it is responsibility. Colossians 1:10 NASB
“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please {Him} in all
respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God.” Notice that the worthy walk results in bearing fruit and increasing in
the knowledge of God. We only know God by studying the Word. 1 Thessalonians
2:12 NASB “so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who
calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” To break this down into categories,
the first use of the word indicates walking in the sphere or a realm—e)n plus the
dative of sphere or sometimes simply the dative of sphere or location. For
example, in Romans 13:13 we are to walk in the day. In Ephesians 5:8 and 1 John
1:6, in the light, in the sphere of the light. We are to walk in newness of
life, Romans 6:4; in Christ, Colossians 2:6. Ephesians 5:2 and 2 John 6, we are
to walk in love. Ephesians 2:10, we are to walk in good works. Colossians 4:5,
we are to walk in wisdom. 2 John 4, in truth.
3.
The negatives: Ephesians 4:17, we are to walk not in the
emptiness of our minds like the Gentiles. 2 Corinthians 4:2, we are not to walk
in craftiness (deceitful cunning). Walking also involves living by means of
something or action. This is indicated by the instrumental use dative of means.
This emphasises the fact that we are to walk by means of the Holy Spirit, by
means of His Word, by means of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Then we are
to walk according to a norm or a standard, and that norm or standard is
expressed in God’s Word. Galatians 5:16 expresses the overall command to walk
by means of the Holy Spirit. It is contrasted with walking by means of the
flesh.
4.
The basis for the believer’s walk is his new position in
Jesus Christ. Romans 6:4. We are identified with Christ in His baptism so that
we might walk in newness of life. That is the purpose for the believer’s life,
to demonstrate the power of God in sanctification in phase two spirituality.
5.
Another key verse says that a believer is to walk as a child
of light because positionally he is already light. Ephesians 5:8 NASB
“for you were formerly darkness [positional darkness: unbelievers], but now you
are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” When we trust Christ as
saviour we are placed in Christ. This is positional light. Outside of Christ is
positional darkness. Positional light and positional darkness are not the same
as experiential light and experiential darkness. Paul says to the Ephesian believers: “Walk as children of Light.” If walking
in light is the same as being in light, then he wouldn’t say that. When he
tells them they are children of light he still has to tell them to walk as
children of light. So what we see here is the reality that the believer can be
light but not walk as light.
1
John 1:6 NASB “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and {yet}
walk in the darkness [operate on the sin nature], we lie and do not practice
the truth.” In contrast he says [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.” So fellowship, then, is based on a certain type
of lifestyle. As soon as that lifestyle if violated through sin that fellowship
is broken. That last clause in v. 7 establishes the basis for cleansing: “and
the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” This is a reference to
His substitutionary spiritual death on the cross.