In the first post on the book of 1st John we learned the purpose of the book.

That you may know you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

And we learned who John wrote to.

Those who believe in the name of the Son of God. (I john 5:13)

The 2nd post addressed John’s statement of faith, his rationale for for his personal faith, and the foundational truths upon which every faith follower of Jesus must begin and end.

Jesus is God. 

Jesus is eternal.

Jesus is eternal life. (1 John 1:1-4)

The author states his message in terms hard to misunderstand. He is proclaiming Jesus Christ as the Godman who himself is eternal life. Fellowship with the Apostles and others of the family of the faith is only possible for those who have Jesus Christ. John says his joy will be filled out when this evidentuary truth is understood and accepted by those who believe on Jesus. (1 John 1:1-4)

Now that the purpose of the book is identified, the audience addressed, and the foundational truths of salvation stated, John begins presenting a series of proofs that separate true Christians from impostors.

How can I know that I have eternal life? How can you know? John begins answering the question.

Light vs darkness

“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.⁶If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.⁷But 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)

“God is light“. Light, thought of in its most elementary meaning, serves a single purpose, it dispels darkness. Where light exists darkness is impossible. In the gospels again and again Jesus identifies himself as being light and the world as being darkness, John 1:4,5,8,9   John 3:19-21  John 5:35  John 8:12 and more.

The contrast is stark and unmistakable. God is light and those who are his walk in the light he is, and those who continue in darkness do not have God and have no place with God’s people. What a man says is not always consistent with what he is. Anyone who claims to be a Christian while he continues to live in darkness is a liar. (1 John 1:6)

You can see this regularly. A person by what he says is a Christian in good standing with God and the church but his life is inconsistent with his lips. How do you know if you are a true faith follower of Jesus, that you have eternal life? You live in the light. Your life is open to full disclosure, in your private and public life there is nothing you are trying to keep hidden from God or his people. What a man is either confirms what he says he is or condemns him as a liar who has no fellowship with God and his people.

Those who live in the light of God’s truth, doing the best they can to stay in the light of God’s revelation have fellowship with God and one another and the blood of Jesus keeps them clean from day to day. These are those who believe on the Son of God.

Unbelievers and make-believers, without regard to what they say have no fellowship with God and his children and you can know it by how they live. A true Christian wants to please God and walk with Him. A Christ rejector, or impostor, cares little about God’s will and lives his life to please himself.

How about you? How about me? Is your life and mine the sort of life that will stand the scrutiny of the light? Are we going to the light or trying to stand in the shadows?

(to be continued…)

For the true Light,

Royce