Living by the Truth
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 1 John 1:5-6 CSB
As a reminder from yesterday, John is sharing essential truth about salvation. Believing Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life will lead one to experience the light. This is what John is declaring from the text: “God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.” Dark versus light are prominent metaphors throughout John’s writings. This statement here is a parallel to John 1:4-5 talking about Jesus saying, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.” John notes these moments when Jesus spoke of Himself as light (John 9:5, 12:46). The most notable was one of Jesus’ “I am” statements in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” When we get to 1 John with this statement by John, he is making the connection together that Jesus is God, refuting one of the false teacher’s beliefs that Jesus is not God. Also, with God being light and having absolutely no darkness within Him, this means that God is righteousness, truth and knowledge and He has no falsehood and no sin within Him. So, because God is light and there is no darkness in Him, to claim that one has fellowship with the Lord, and yet perpetually sins, that individual is a liar and is not living according to the truth. Once a believer has accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they should strive to follow Jesus’ commands every day, doing their best to not sin anymore. Paul says in Romans 6:6-7, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin.” Now, does this mean that believers, when they become saved, they will sin no more? Not at all. No one is perfect except Jesus, and we still have the desire to sin within ourselves. The difference now is that the Holy Spirit resides in every believer, pushing them to not give into the temptation of sin. And if they do succumb, the Holy Spirt pushes the believer to repentance. As Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:14, “Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in His sight, at peace.” Pursue the light and go away from the darkness. Pursue God and go away from the sins that previously bound you.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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