Light & Darkness - 1 John 1

1:1-10 - Just like the gospel of John is structured differently, these epistles of John to the saints that would read his words. The IM described it as, “1 John is more of a doctrinal essay or treatise than an epistle to a specific Christian congregation.” John wrote a lot about false teachers, as Peter and others, because there was a specific religious rival theology Docetism which was an off shoot of Gnosticism. The IM explains, “A core teaching in many forms of Gnosticism was that the spirit was wholly good and that matter, including the physical body, was wholly evil. Follows of Gnosticism believed that salvation was not achieved by being freed from sin but rather by freeing the spirit from matter, meaning the physical body.” Because of these beliefs, they “overemphasized Jesus’ spiritual nature to the point that they rejected the idea that He came to earth in actual bodily form. They believed that God was invisible, immortal, all-knowing, and immaterial.” We see this is some Christian denominations today so it was clearly a prevalent belief system. John’s letter begins with a significant JST, saying, “Brethren, this is the testimony which we give of that which was from the beginning.” As far as I know, this John was Jesus’ cousin so they probably grew up together and I think he’s called “John the Beloved,” because of his exceptionally close personal relationship with Jesus, and not just because He’s the Savior, but because they were children together. It must have been such a mind shift to go from “I love my cousin so much” to “this man is the Son of God and the Savior of the entire universe.” John testifies that he has “seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled.” These are all physical sensations that testify that Jesus was not simply a spirit, but a man of flesh and blood like us. John’s purpose in writing isn’t rebuke or farewell like Paul and Peter, but “that your joy may be full.” I love that he focuses on the happiness and light and positive aspects of the gospel. Of the “light” John says “God is light, and in him is no darkness.” When I first read this, my initial thought was that people who claim to be God’s servants, but knowingly commit sin can be understood to be not relied on to teach the truth. It’s a “by their fruits you shall know them,” kind of situation. And if we “walk in darkness” or willingly commit sin, then we are not part of God’s light. It is only in this light, or as we strive to keep the commandments as best as we can, so “we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” We all have sin and to deny that is to “deceive ourselves,” but if we “confess our sins,” then God has promised that he will “forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Like all cleansing, it is a process, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves, but instead work with the Spirit to walk along our personal path to salvation.