1 John 1 - Chapter 1 of John's Letter Explained

As an example, let’s consider this; everyone is in church on a Sunday and a Spiritual message (sermon) is delivered by the preacher. Now this message maybe for those new to The Faith or it maybe for Spiritual children or it maybe for mature believers; some will say “is there a difference?” Well Paul certainly thought there was because he withheld his meaty teaching from certain congregations because they weren’t ready for it:

1 Corinthians 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Here above we have an example of what I am saying and these people that Paul is speaking to are all converted yet are still Spiritual babies. I have only ever met one minister who differentiated or separated his flock for teaching. Why did he do this? After I have explained 1 John 1 I hope you will understand why he did.

So if 1 John 1 is not aimed at Born Again Believers, to whom is it aimed and what is the issue at stake here in this passage of Holy Scripture? Is the issue sin? Well yes, of course it is, but then again, no, it’s more than that. The emphasis is more to do with attitude toward sin, a preparedness to admit to being a sinner, a willingness to confess those sins for the first time – honesty and truthfulness. Being prepared to not live in a state of denial; a state of mind of not kidding oneself – Truth, but before I get into the meat of this passage we need to understand the opening verses of 1 John 1.

1 John 1:1-5 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; Verse 2; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us Verse 3; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Verse 4; And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. Verse 5; This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”

Look at these opening verses carefully. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard…” John is immediately setting the scene, style and approach of this letter or as some have commented – this sermon – a letter to be read aloud to the Churches, but what is the style or approach of this letter? It’s as if it is all new to the listeners and, of course, it is, because the first five verses amount to a declaration and the word ‘declare’ appears twice in verses 3 & 5. Now we must be clear on this point, for only new news is declared – no one ever declares old news, so these opening verses must be for the benefit of those who have not heard this message before; they were new to this message and teaching. Why would John ‘declare’ this news to Church members already converted? They already believe, don’t they? Have they not heard this message before? Of course they have, they knew very well that the Apostle John was an original learner (disciple) of Yashua Anointed (the Lord Jesus Christ). Have you noticed, too, the other important point here, a point more important than it being a declaration? I have emboldened it along with the word ‘declare’ – “That you also may have fellowship with us”. We need to understand this crucial point! This is telling us that these people were not yet in fellowship with the brethren of that Church; they were not yet in fellowship with the congregation of that church and if you ignore this Truth then you do so at your peril, for this crucial information affects the whole chapter.

OK, let’s now move on to the meaty part of this chapter, and notice, John opens it with the word ‘IF’ (the biggest word in the world!) and he says it five times. So let’s go through these five verses, one by one, and reveal the real message or Truth within them:

1) Verse 6: “IF we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not The Truth:”

Straight away, John is stating an obvious fact; how can we say we have fellowship with Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ) and walk in darkness at the same time; it’s impossible and it is a total contradiction in terms and in the Spiritual reality of what it means to be Born Again? So who are they that walk in darkness? Who do you think they are; the fairies at the bottom of your garden!!?? Why, it’s those who are still in the world and are of the world and are not saved – they are the lost, they are those who live in darkness and they walk in darkness and, therefore, cannot “do The Truth”. Why can’t they “do The Truth”? Answer: because The Truth is not in them. Why and how is the Truth not in them, because they have not been called of the Father to His Son, Yashua Anointed through His Holy Spirit!? They are not Born Again or Born from above. So why did John make this challenging, opening statement? Why, to help these potential new converts to examine themselves to see if the Father was calling them to His Son or not – to see if they had the desire for “doing The Truth”. Furthermore, if we say we have fellowship with Him and we are not called of The Father and chosen learners (disciples) or Born Again, then we are liars – plain and simple and we cannot “do The Truth.”

2) Verse 7: “But IF we walk in the light, as He is in The Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from ALL sin.” (Emphasis mine)

Now what is John saying here when he says: “If we walk in The Light, as He is in the Light”? Let’s be clear, the second usage of the word ‘in’ here is a poor translation, because Yashua Anointed (the Lord Jesus Christ) is The Light, so He has to be able to walk ‘in’ the light for all The Light emanates from Him in the first place. Yashua Anointed never walked ‘in’ light that came from elsewhere or from another source, and I will rewrite verse 5 for the proof of this fact:

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

Returning to verse 7, what is John saying here? He is saying “If we walk in The Light.” Well, do we or don’t we, do we walk in The Light or not, or perhaps more importantly; how can we walk in The Light? That’s easy, or maybe it’s not so easy. We begin to walk in The Light by confessing our sins, being baptised and receiving the Holy Spirit – becoming a Born Again son or daughter of God – a new creation. Now we walk in The Light. Now we have fellowship one with another as brothers and sisters as Yashua Anointed’s Blood has cleansed us from; now notice this – ALL SIN. All sin means ALL sin, not some of our sins but all of them!! Past, present and future, and don’t let any blasphemer tell you otherwise. Contrariwise if we are lost how can we walk in The Light? We can’t – period.

3) Verse 8: “IF we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

OK, here’s a question: What type of person is going to say they have no sin? Is a non believer going to say this or someone the Father has called and chosen? Or, in this case, are these potential converts going to admit that they are sinners or not; are they going to say that they have no sin or confess that they do have sin? If they are going to say they have no sin they are then deceiving themselves. In this scenario of 1 John 1 the Father is probably calling some of them, and this question will challenge them and convict them, but not the others. Some of them will not have The Truth and some of them will have The Truth, so who is not going to be truthful? Now notice the last part “The Truth is not in us”. If The Truth is not in someone, then they are of the world – lost and not Born Again; they do not have the indwelling of The Holy Spirit. Now, if the Father is calling someone [John 6:44], this potential convert’s awareness of sin is automatically enlivened; he or she will be made aware of their sins for the first time in their lives. Anyone reading this passage of Scripture, too, will also be convicted of their sins for the first time in their lives if they are being called by The Father to His Son. This is the whole purpose of 1 John 1 and this verse in particular.

If, on the other hand, we think this verse applies to True Believers or to those Born Again, let’s try and apply it to them and see if it makes any sense. As an aside, I ask this question, for there are multiple thousands of mainstream Christians out there, who have been Baptised (albeit erroneously into the trinity) and who do believe that this verse applies to them, and then they wonder why they find no relief from guilt and no peace – the peace that passeth all understanding. This means they do not live under Grace and still see themselves as sinners.

OK, I’ve digressed a little there, but a necessary digression. So, is a Born Again son or daughter of God going to say they have no sin? Hello! Excuse me! Well, the first thing a switched on believer will say to this question is something like this: I have a dead body of sin that sins, but I, the Born Again Spiritual new man, do not sin because I cannot sin, so that means I can tell you quite plainly that I have no sin, apart from the sin in my dead body of sin which is no longer me, it’s just a dead vessel that I reside in until I am resurrected and my dead body of sin is no more. This also means that by telling you I have no sin I cannot be deceiving myself and the Truth is definitely in me. Please read my articles: “The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ – His True Grace, Not the Watered Down Religious Version!” and “Was the Apostle Paul a Schizophrenic? – Romans 7:14-25″, for a full explanation of what it means to be truly forgiven, sinless and living free under His glorious grace.

Now bearing all this in mind, can you now see the nonsense of trying to apply this verse to Born Again believers? This verse can only apply to those approaching Yashua Anointed (the Lord Jesus Christ) for the first time i.e. potential new converts. John is using this statement to invoke or prompt repentance within the hearts of these new people whom the Father may, or may not, be calling to His Son.

4) Verse 9: “IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

John says, if we confess our sins. Now when do we do that? Well we know don’t we, at the time of our calling and/or at the time of our Baptism? We need to understand, too, that confession of sins is a one off event, repetitive confession of sins is not required of Born Again sons and daughters of God. Please see my article for the proof of this Biblical truth: “Is Repetitive Confession of Sins, Biblical?” Moving on, John then tells us that if we do confess our sins Yashua Anointed (the Lord Jesus Christ) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness, not some or only part of our unrighteousness, but all our unrighteousness.

Born Again sons and daughters of God have already confessed their sins, they are now walking in The Light and The Truth is now in them, so why would John re-teach this fundamental again, is he into preaching to the converted? No. True Believers who keep on believing are cleansed of all their sins and this cleansing initially takes place at Baptism. This verse, as with the whole of 1 John 1, can only apply to those new to the Faith and/or non believers being called. John here is encouraging those who were hearing the message to confess their sins for the first and only time.

5) Verse 10: “IF we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.”

This verse just confirms and sums up what has already been said with the added dimension of telling the new converts that if they profess to be of Yashua Anointed (The Lord Jesus Christ) and they say that they have not sinned they make Our Lord out to be a liar as well, and His Word and Truth is not in them. By contrast, how could this verse apply to Born Again sons and daughters of God? Quite simply, it couldn’t, because those Born of God cannot sin, so this statement could only be aimed at or only apply to those being called out of this world of sin and into His glorious Light.

Finally, I will leave you with these magnificent Holy Scriptures upon which to meditate, for having read the above article they should now make sense to you and not cause any contradictions: