1 John 1:5-7
God is Light
“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. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 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.” - 1 John 1:5-7
Introduction
After telling us about the person of Christ and the purpose of his writing, John moves to the message Jesus gave for us; and this is the mark of Apostolic Christianity, that it restates the one faith delivered through Jesus. John heard Christ proclaim, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12), and that those who love truth come to the light (John 3:21). Now, John applies that message of Christ to us on a pastoral level. We are to know who God is, what God is like, and how that is to affect the way we walk out our Christian faith day to day.
Once there was a crippled boy who was forced to spend a good chunk of his childhood indoors for his disability. Sadly enough, the boy had never seen the sun for many years; he had read about the sun, heard about the sun, and knew that light had to come from somewhere, but he had never beheld it with his own eyes. When he finally had the chance to leave his home, he was taken first to a city at night. When he saw the lights of the city, he was impressed, but had to ask himself, “Is this really the sun? It can’t be.” Next, they took him to an open field to observe the stars. He was amazed at the dazzling beauty of the night sky, but still wondered if this was the sun. The stars didn’t measure up to the light he had read about. Finally, the next morning he was taken out at first light, and he saw the sun. Upon beholding it’s blazing splendor, there was no question in his mind that this was the light he had heard and read about, for nothing could possibly be brighter than this.
While many things in this world reflect God’s nature and character, nothing ultimately compares to Him. Our God shines in such glory that all other created things are left straggling behind, weighed in the balance, and found wanting. He is “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). We should not be satisfied with His reflection, or a mere profession of faith on our own part. There ought to be a longing in our hearts to live in the light as He is in the light, and never be content until we awake in His likeness (Psalm 17:15). In this chapter, I’d like to further explore the light of God, the lie of false converts, and the life of true Christians.
The Light of God, v. 5
First, we need to contextually understand what John means when he says, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” Remember the heresy of gnosticism that was rampant in the early church at this time. False teachers had produced countless false professors of Christianity who believed salvation was found in hidden and secret knowledge of God. They taught that our physical world was sinful in and of itself, and that everything spiritual was good merely because it was immaterial. They were constantly on the hunt for deeper knowledge of God outside of what the Apostles taught. In fact, some of them went so far as to teach that the God of the Old Testament was a foolish deity to be blamed for the brokenness of our world.
By declaring “God is light,” John was rebuking the gnostic heretics; as if to say, “Our God is not hidden!” God doesn’t have secret counsel meetings with super-spiritual people where He gives them inside information no one else is allowed to hear. God doesn’t have non-disclosure agreements, or hidden meanings in the truth He has revealed. Everything about God is public access. It’s all in the light. Now, we do need to recognize and remember His thoughts and ways are as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). There are certain things about God we will never understand in their entirety. But as the old theologians used to say, just because we can’t know God fully, doesn’t mean we can know Him truly. God has made everything we need to know about Him, salvation, and the obedience of faithful discipleship known in the Scriptures.
With that said, this is primarily a statement about the nature and character of God. “Light” marks out all that is just and true, holy and righteous, pure and faithful. God doesn’t just have light, He is light; and this is where the message of the gospel begins. I think the average Evangelical preacher today would begin their salvation sermon with statements about the fallen nature of human beings, and our need for redemption. Not John. John knew the gospel doesn’t begin with us and our needs, but God and His holiness. Later in chapter 4 verse 8, he will tell us “God is love,” but there is a reason he doesn’t begin with that statement here. The old hymn sings, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” We can’t perceive grace as something truly amazing without a sense of our sin, and we can’t know our sinfulness without it being exposed by God’s holiness. We must grasp the reality that God is light before we can appreciate the reality that God is love.
When reading this text for the first time, a person may be tempted to think, “God is light! That’s wonderful, I can’t wait to meet Him!” This is, however, a naive way of thinking. C.S. Lewis puts it this way:
“Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger - according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.”
The holiness and perfection of God ought to first sound an alarm and convict us before it comforts us. In a sense, this is the most terrifying thing about God. A good judge would never merely forgive a criminal, for that would compromise his justice. The goodness of God demands the destruction of evil. The holiness of God demands a righteous retribution. The light of God must dispel darkness, which means punishing sinners like you and me.
This is why the message of the cross and Christ’s cleansing blood is the best news in the universe! Christ took all of our darkness, sin, and dead works to Golgotha, and there He bore the punishment we had earned. By His death and resurrection, the perfect standard God’s holiness demands has been met by Jesus in our place. If we repent of our sin and place our faith in Him, there is new life and fellowship to be had with God that would have never been possible on our own. Now remember, 1 John was written for those who profess such faith and fellowship with God. What we read in the next two verses is the first of many tests meant to distinguish those whose profession of faith stems from regenerate hearts, from those who are just empty talkers.
The Lie of False Converts, v. 6
Before electric lights could brighten our homes, the dark corners of many houses were unattended to. “If it can’t be seen, why should it be clean?” Or so the average person thought back then. One day, a house maid noticed these new glass bulbs scattered throughout a home she regularly took care of; she didn’t know what they were, and continued with her job as usual. When the family returned home, they flipped a switch and filled the home with the brightness of the electric light bulbs for the first time. The family was shocked to see so many corners and back parts of each room filled with dust and filth. When they asked the maid why these parts of the home hadn’t been attended to, she replied, “Don’t blame me! If it weren’t for the light, the house would’ve been completely clean!”
You and I can hold ourselves to whatever standards we please, and justify ourselves in a hundred different ways, but God’s holiness is the only measurement that ultimately matters. When our lives are placed before the light of His all-revealing goodness, we will always find that we fall short in some way. That’s why it’s much easier to say we know God than to let genuine fellowship with Him affect our lives. If God is light, then it is impossible to walk with Him without our sin being exposed, and darkness expelled. Many professors of religion are content with their profession alone, rather than Christ alone. They want to look like a Christian, while living in the dark. Does that describe you?
When John uses the word “walk,” he speaks of a general pattern of life; the way we walk out our faith from day to day. I think time would fail to count the amount of people who believe themselves to be saved because they attended church as children, or make time for God at Christmas or Easter. Even those who appear to be spiritual by every outward standard may be living their lives in darkness. The most famous Christian apologist of my lifetime was just discovered to be guilty of sexual misconduct for the majority of his life. He would speak at large conferences, and then coerce his massage therapists into committing acts of immorality in the evenings. He would go overseas to write books for months at a time, and keep mistresses in neighboring apartment rooms with him. On the outside, he was the gentleman's gentleman, but he lived a lie, harboring sin in darkness.
You may not be sinning on that level, but if you cherish pet sins in darkness while claiming to be a disciple of Christ, you are no different. You are lying to yourself, to your church, to your community, and most of all to God if you say “I am a Christian” while unrepentantly living in secret sin as a style of life. What fellowship does light have with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)? How can we who died to sin continue to live any longer in it (Romans 6:2)? It’s very easy to look good for one hour a week at church. It’s easy to have a one-time emotional experience during the invitation at church. But there is a kingdom of light, and a kingdom of darkness. To have your citizenship transferred from one kingdom to the other, and live there permanently, that is another thing entirely.
The Life of True Christians, v. 7
In the Pilgrim’s Progress, when Christian first recognized his sinfulness, he encountered Evangelist. Evangelist told him to flee from the wrath to come, and stop standing still. Despairing for his soul, Christian informed Evangelist that he didn’t know where to go or what to do. From there the story reads:
“Then said Evangelist, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, Do you see yonder Wicket Gate? The man said, No. Then said the other, Do you see yonder Shining Light? He said, I think I do. Then said Evangelist, Keep that Light in your eye, and go directly thereto, so shalt thou see the Gate; at which thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do.”
Christian was confused and broken, unsure of the future and his own condition, but he walked in the light. By virtue of that truth alone, he was on the right track.
True believers are those who live their lives by the light of God’s Word in a manner that is open to all, especially God. In fact, the Christian life begins with light shining through the darkness of the human heart in such a way that only the creation of the universe can rival. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul says, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The same supernatural power of creation in Genesis chapter one is put on display every time a person gets born again. It’s not that we were made better by our own choices, we were made new by God’s grace! It’s not that we were transferred from bad to good, but death to life by resurrection power. A Christian is one who shines through the grace of the gospel that has been revealed to them. A Christian cannot help but shine. The light is part of their very nature by virtue of the new birth.
John specifically mentions being cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, along with walking in the light. These two things speak of the personal experience of salvation (justification), along with the fruit it produces (sanctification). When considering this test of faith (“walking in light”), I think it’s vitally important to remember John is not giving us the requirement of salvation, but the result of salvation. We are to look back on our lives like detectives, hunting for evidence of experiential grace as we read this text; we are not to read this like slaves, thinking if we just worked harder we’d finally be free. We can not work/”walk” our way to the cleaning of Christ’s blood. We must be cleansed by the blood through faith first; we “walk” from the place of being cleansed, not toward it. If we see a pattern of walking in light throughout our Christian lives, it ought to give some level of assurance that our sins really have been cleansed.
I have no doubt that many humble saints may hear this and begin to condemn themselves. These humble ones may think of a sin they committed, or have repeatedly fallen to, and immediately think they are consumed with darkness. If this is you, remember John is not talking about single instances, but the overarching disposition of life. Every Christian would be condemned if they were only judged by snapshots of their lowest moments. But if you could see the documentary footage of your entire life, rather than still frames, you would have much better evidence of God’s saving work. The Baptist Confession describes sanctification as a constant war, one filled with defeat and failure, but one where ultimate victory is promised. It reads:
“In [this] war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome; and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after an heavenly life, in evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King, in his Word has prescribed to them.”
Dear Christian, don’t despair for lost battles, continue fighting for the final triumph. It’s not the missed step that defines you, but the next step you choose to take after sinning. Proverbs 24:16 says, “a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” If repentance, confession, and renewed faith are found as frequently as your failures, then your lifestyle is the definition of walking in light. Such traits would not mark you if the blood of Jesus had not already cleansed you from all sin.
Conclusion
There’s a scene in the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast where the main character Belle negotiates with the Beast for the freedom of her father. As the two of them conversed, the Beast circled her in darkness, filling the atmosphere with dread. When they were finally about to strike a deal, Belle fearfully implored, “come into the light.” The Beast slowly inched his way forward, and when his monstrous face was finally exposed, Belle shrieked in dismay. The Beast already hated his cursed appearance, and her response only added insult to injury.
The worst kind of culture a church could possibly cultivate would be one where people are shamed for coming into the light. It’s no shameful thing to get real about sin, it is a shameful thing to hide and continue living in it. Dear friend, I beckon you, come into the light. Don’t be afraid of your mess or monstrous sinful nature being exposed. It’s better to live free, than “get away with it” this side of eternity. Your sin will be exposed one way or another; it will find you out (Numbers 32:23). Jesus will not be shocked to see the beastly side of you, in fact, He already knows your deepest secrets. He’s waiting for you to understand the good news of His grace, so that you will finally let that good news propel you to Him for more mercy. Jesus said:
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:18-21).
