Podcast: 1 John: Walking in the Light

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This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
-1 John 1:5-7

John has jumped right into some pretty interesting ideas very early in his letter. We should first remind ourselves of what has come before. In the first few verses he reminds us that he was an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, and it is this life He now teaches and proclaims. This is the Gospel, the good news, that he is proclaiming.

And we’re going to start getting a taste of the power of that gospel. You know, I’ve heard John’s epistles described, along side of that of James and those of Peter, as more focused on how we should live, while Paul teaches more on what we should believe. There is obviously overlap, but for John, I’m not so quick to place his work in either camp. John does tell us how we should act as Christians, but he is so wonderfully careful to remind us how our actions come out of our beliefs. In theological terms, our orthopraxy, or our actions, flow naturally out of our orthodoxy, or our beliefs. To an extent, all of the Apostles teach this, but John is really interesting because of the way all of it merges together as one. In a single passage, he will talk about our beliefs, our actions, God’s actions, and the Gospel message all at once. It’s the truth of the Christian life – God has initiated, drawn us to Him, forgiven us by the Blood of Jesus, so that our beliefs are changed and conformed to Him, and thus our deeds are conformed as well.

John does something very interesting here, and not just here, but in all of his writings. He writes very often in extended metaphors. In his Gospel, he speaks of Jesus as “the Word.” At the beginning of this letter, he calls Jesus “the word of life,” and also, “the life.” Now he will say that “God is light.”

It’s fascinating, because John’s Greek is probably the simplest in all of the New Testament. His vocabulary is not immense, and he doesn’t use very many big words. And yet the words he does use have such depth to them that we are often astonished in his statements. “In the beginning was the word,” begins his Gospel. Rather a simple sentence, but the philosophy here seems like it would take a lifetime to fully understand. So to here. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” is a very simple statement, but it comes with meaning that could fill a book.

What does he mean when he says that God is light? For one, that God is without sin. There is no imperfection in Him. There is no blemish of immorality. Second, that He is able to guide us. John speaks of this too, when he says that we can “walk in the light.” You know, it’s much easier to walk a path in the day than in the night. Why? Obviously, it is because the way is lit up. With the truth of God before us, our way becomes clear.

John means to speak of salvation and life. This word is used elsewhere in the Bible to speak of the understanding that leads to salvation. Paul says in Acts 13:47, “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Now, God here has made Paul a light to a certain people, but notice that John says that God IS light.

And the light separates God’s own from others. We see here that the followers of Jesus are in the light. That is a distinguishing feature amongst them. In fact, John suggests, no one who follows Christ remains in darkness, and someone who is in darkness lies if he says he is a Christian.

What does this mean? Does it mean I’m a good person? Is that what walking in the light is all about? To find our answer, let’s look more into John’s other writings.

This light/dark dichotomy comes directly from the words of Jesus. So much of what John writes in his epistles are reactions to what Jesus said, and I really encourage you to be reading the Gospel of John while studying the epistle of 1 John. But listen here to Jesus from John 3:18-21, and I think things will make more sense to you:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Here again we talk about those who are in the light and those in the darkness, but notice that Jesus is calling Himself the light. He is identifying Himself as this light. We see this in our passage from 1 John, when we are told to “walk in the light, as he is in the light.”

This then is our dividing line. This then is the judgment spoken of by Jesus. It’s not whether we are a good person or not (though being in the light will necessarily result in good works). It is not by keeping the Law or by circumcision. It is by Jesus. Look back in John with me to the phrase that begins this section. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” The different between those of the light and those of the darkness is belief.

Again, Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, that it is belief that separates us.

“Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’”
-John 6:28-29

This belief produces something in us. This belief changes us. It is not that we are saved by works, but our faith, that which saves us, produces works. Remember that with John, these things are connected. We can turn back to the words of Jesus too. He told us at the beginning that it is belief that will condemn us or save us. But at the end of that very section, He states that “whoever does what is true comes to the light.” Now we’re talking action and not belief. If we are walking in the light as He is in the light, that is we have crossed over in faith, we will produce the fruit that John will talk about in the next part of his letter.

But let’s talk a little more about this light. When you turn on a light, it does not mean that all the mess of the room will disappear. No, the light just exposes it. And that is what we do when we repent and believe in Jesus. We have seen Jesus in the light, but we want to hide in the darkness to keep our sin concealed. But in repentance, it is as though we are running into the light, and in so doing exposes them.

Walking in the light will almost certainly cause you to walk a little straighter in the future, but let us not be confused on this point. We may still sin while in the light, as John will blatantly state in our next section. But in the light, that sin is exposed to Christ, who covers it in His Blood. If we are in the darkness, we still try to hide our sin from Him.

And that is where John goes with it. Two characteristics he gives us about those who walk in the light. It’s not that they are morally perfect, I assure you. It’s that they hang out with one another, and that their sins are forgiven in Christ. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

This is a truly wonderful picture. No longer do we need to hide our sins. Jesus has paid for them already. No longer do we need to worry about fitting in. When walking with Christ, we walk with Christians of all nations and social classes. We are a Church, a unified body of believers, and He is our Savior. By His light is our path made more straight. It is a light that exposes us for who we are, but also drives away the sin in our lives. It is a light that forces us to walk away from that which is comfortable and familiar, but also places us with a family of believers. It is a light that forces us to confess our faults, but also forgives us of them.