1 John 1:6
If [for example] we [including myself] claim that we have fellowship with Him yet we walk in the sphere of darkness [then] We are lying to ourselves and are not practicing the truth [Bible Doctrine].
The section we are studying is about Maintaining our Fellowship with God [1:5-2:17]. It is not about how to be saved, but how to walk with God. The Apostle John begins to develop this theme first by noting the Barriers To Fellowship with God [1:5 -2:2]. What hinders us from walking with God? These barriers are formidable. The first barrier is The Character Of God and the second The Character Of Man [see Topic #16].
1 John 1:5
And this keeps on being the message which we [apostles] have heard from Him [Chirst], and it is still ringing in our ears, and we are announcing [it] again to you [to your advantage]; that God [as to His nature] is light and in Him darkness does not exist, not one bit.
Our current study is on the three false claims that people make about fellowshipping with God. These hypotheticals are untrue, and in each, the central idea is about how sin breaks our fellowship with God. Now specifically, there is a denial that personal sin will disrupt our fellowship with God [1 John 1:6,7]. This is the case of a believer who does not see the seriousness of sin. The result of this attitude toward sin breaks our fellowship with God and leads the believer, not just the religious unsaved, down a path of darkness.
Although the concepts are not fully developed, we begin to see a great warning. We not only lose our fellowship with God, but we are now said to be walking in darkness. Walking in darkness is a technical phrase used by John and our Lord.1 It means that these individuals are living under the influence of sin and evil, Satan’s plan rather than walking in the light means that we are living under the influence of the Holy Spirit, God’s plan. The point of this section was to send out a sharp and clear warning to all, if you are not walking in the light, you cannot be in fellowship with God. The darkness is revealed as a sphere where the light is inoperative, and fellowship with God is impossible.
Sadly, the impact of this passage has been neutralized by an inaccurate interpretation of the first-person plural. We asked, “Does John include himself in the WE?” If he does, then this is a message to Christians! It becomes of paramount importance to determine the answer to this question, “Can Christians walk in darkness?” [see topic #17]. The answer is yes! This leads us to our second study in verse 6: The Alarming Contradiction, “And yet WE [this includes John as well] are walking in darkness…”. I concur with Dr. Hodges, who says:
“John is not guilty of an unrealistic view of human nature; he had long since surrendered the facile like notion that there were spiritual failures of which he was somehow quite incapable. The false claim is the easiest for even real Christians to make.” 2
The WE in this phrase is the inclusive use of the first-person plural, meaning this principle covers everyone, religious unbelievers, as well as believers. It also includes all unbelievers, but they are not in view in this text. If you walk in darkness, under the control of the sinful nature, you cannot walk in the light. In John’s mind, light and darkness are mutually exclusive. John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore, we must acknowledge that this is the view of God,” God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
We often want to water down this view by regarding it as a process, but John, our Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who inspired this text treat light and darkness as mutually exclusive. The idea in 1 John is that at any given moment, we are in fellowship or out of fellowship, walking in darkness or walking in the light. There is no middle ground in 1 John. No grays, a little light mixed with some darkness, or a little darkness mixed with light. Again, this has nothing to do with salvation. He is talking about temporal fellowship. Fellowship with God in time. Fellowship with God from the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as Savior until you either join the Lord Jesus Christ in the Rapture or death. In between those two points of time, you are either in fellowship or out of fellowship, walking in the darkness or walking in the light. 3 This passage will teach that if we sin and it remains unconfessed, then the light goes out, and the darkness returns. There is no middle ground, nor fence to straddle. If we do not take sin seriously, the consequence will levy an enormous spiritual toll. Sin pays wages.4 A principle of teaching is to compare Scripture with Scripture. What does the Bible say in other places as well? Here is a summary:
Colossians 3:25
he who has done wrong [sinned] will receive the consequences
While our sinning does not require us to pay the divine penalty of sin, it does take a spiritual toll and incurs natural penalties.
1. Sin Interrupts Our Fellowship With God (1 John 1:6-7).
To fellowship with God is to live in conscious touch with Him by sharing with Him all that concerns us, drawing from Him all that we need, communicating with Him through prayer and the reading of His Word, participating with Him in His work, living according to His will, and resting on His promises. Our sinning can interrupt this fellowship by turning our heart away from God and bring us His displeasure.
We can have fellowship with God only as we walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1: 7). This does not demand our perfection, but it does require us to conform to His will and adjust to His character. It requires us to be responsive to His Word and to seek to be and do what He desires for us.
It is possible for imperfect people to have fellowship with God because of the means of cleansing and enablement He has provided for us. When the Word or our conscience points to some sin in our life, then we must repent and confess it to God (Revelation. 2:5; 1 John 1:9).
Moreover, we must depend upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to do those things that are pleasing to God (Galatians 5:16). When we fail to do these, our fellowship ceases until we have dealt with our sins and have given ourselves anew to His will. If we sin unknowingly and God does not make this sin known to us, then it seems that the value of the saving work of Christ is automatically applied to us for our cleansing (cp. 1 John 1:7).
However, it is of utmost importance that we deal with known sins when we become aware of them, lest neglecting to do so causes our fellowship with God to cease.
2. It Hinders Certain Ministries Of The Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 4:30.
Sin stifles the Holy Spirit's work, which enables us to experience the fruit of Christian character (Galatians 5:22-23) and to participate in Christian service (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 4:12).
Furthermore, our sinning causes us to be very unhappy, for it grieves the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; cp. Psalm 32:3-4; Matthew 26:75). This a high price to pay when we consider that it is through His work we experience all the blessings of the new life we have in Christ (cp. Ephesians 1:14).
3. It Arrests Spiritual Growth (1 Peter 2:1-2).
It is God's command that we grow in our spiritual lives, for our new life in Christ has this capacity and need just as the physical life does (2 Peter 3 18). This growth occurs in the areas of Christian character (1 Thessalonians 3:12), spiritual knowledge (Colossians 1:10), and spiritual activity (2 Corinthians 9: 8. The purpose of this growth is that we increasingly become like Jesus (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18. However, sin is unlike Christ.
Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers for acting like unsaved people (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) and described them as being "carnal" (ones living under the domination of the sin-principle) and "babes" (infants in spiritual maturity). Peter admonishes his readers to lay aside sin and to desire the Word so that they may grow (1 Peter 2:1-2). God wants us to be mature and strong (Ephesians 4:14-15; 6:10). Sin retards and weakens us.
4. It Brings Us God's Discipline (1 Corinthians 11:28-32; Revelation 3:19).
When we fail to deal with known sins in our life, we invite God's corrective discipline. In chastening His people, God deals with them to correct what He disapproves and to direct them to walk in the way He approves. Not all adversity is the result of unjudged sins, but this must be our first consideration when it strikes (cp. Ruth 1:20-21). If we promptly deal with the sin that is made known to us, then we avoid God's corrective action. We would evade many trials if we kept short accounts with God by dealing promptly with that in our life that displeases Him.
5. It Incurs The Loss Of Reward (2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15).
Since each of us who are saved is Christ's slave and has the responsibility of doing His Will, we must give an account of our stewardship to Him. All that we have done in keeping with His will and in His strength will bring us His approval and reward. However, all else will bring us His reprimand and loss, for not being shared with Him, He had no part in it (John 15:4-5; Romans 14:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Colossians 3:24-25). This is not a judicial judgment but our Master's appraisal of His servants to give them suitable rewards for their lives on earth.
John will provide some examples. For instance, we have the case of a believer who is walking in the light, and his brother in Christ hates him. From John’s viewpoint, if you hate another believer, you cannot love God. This will be seen in the coming studies. Love and hate are mutually exclusive. If the sin of hatred remains unconfessed, your fellowship with God is ended. The believer out of fellowship breaks his fellowship with his Christian brother. His anger turns into bitterness. Filled with pride and seeking revenge, he gossips and slanders his brother. These cluster of sins are especially abhorrent to God:
Proverbs 6:16–19
16) There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17) Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,
18) A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19) A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.
1 John 2:9–10
9) The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
10) The one who loves his brother abides in the Light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
Note the same principle prevails. If you walk in darkness, you cannot walk in the light. John says you are walking in darkness if you hate (personal mental attitude sin) any believer. Notice the absolute nature of this statement. You cannot say, “Well, he started it.” In John’s mind, there are no excuses for failing to keep the royal Law. The royal law came from the King, and He said we are “to love one another with the same kind of love I have had for you.”
John 13:34-35
34) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35) “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Paul would write it differently:
Romans 12:17–20
17) Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
18) If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
19) Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
20) “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Paul is emphatic and states an absolute point of doctrine, “Never!” Not most of the time or sometimes or more than not, I say again, he says, NEVER!
Knowing the nature of sin, understanding how to confess our sins to God, receiving from Him cleansing and forgiveness, restoration to fellowship is essential so that we might keep on walking in the light. All of this is found in 1 John 1:5-2:2.
I participated in a pastoral prayer meeting - there were twelve of us. One brother began to request prayer for protection. It seems there was a group in his church that wants him to leave. They threatened him and his family with physical harm. This is heartbreaking. However, what I heard after was also deeply troubling. There was only one pastor in this group that didn’t have similar circumstances, not to the degree of this pastor, but experienced a gogusmos (Acts 6:1) - a sullen discontent of reverberation within the church. All involved were out of line and walking in darkness. The one pastor who hadn’t experienced a great church fight just started his first ministry. He was still moving into the parsonage. I hope and pray he is spared the awful strife that pastors sometimes face. Is there a cure? Yes, believers must “walk in the light as He is in the light.”
If the above notes do not indicate how serious unconfessed sin is, then consider it may be that you are "walking in darkness," and Satan has blinded your eyes to the truth, 1 John 1:6. 6
ENDNOTES
1 Review the Doctrine of Light and the Doctrine of Darkness found in the reference section of this site.
2 Bibliotheca Sacra: 1955-1995, (Dallas, TX: Dallas Theological Seminary) Fellowship and Confession in 1 John 1:5-10, 1997.
3 The Locative of Sphere
The locative of sphere, walking in the sphere of darkness, suggests that we could illustrate the concept by drawing a circle. Place an X in the center of the circle. The X represents your life in the circle of fellowship. As long as you remain inside the circle, you have fellowship with God, and you are said to be walking in the light. However, as we will learn from the Apostle John, sin interrupts our fellowship with God. Now to represent this idea, you need to show the X, which is inside the circle, now outside the circle. This is where you are when you sin. You are outside the circle of fellowship, and you are now said to be walking (living your life) in darkness. See Illustrations
4 Romans 6:23. It is arrogance to think that our sinning has no consequence. Did not our Lord Jesus bear our sins on the cross? Was he not separated from the Father as He was judged for our sins? Did He not demonstrate that separation by His words, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:46.” A fortiori logic [if the greater is true, the lessor is equally true]. Christ, the greater was separated from God due to the sins of the world, how much more will be the lessor, the sinning Christian, face loss of fellowship when he or she sins.” To think there is no accountability or consequence is blind arrogance.
5 These are some notes taken in my theology class taught by Dr. Floyd H. Barackman. They are practical and explain the importance of what we are studying.
6 Others have written:
What is involved in “walking in the light” is well stated by Dr. C. I. Scofield in his comment on this passage. To quote: “What it is to ‘walk in the light’ is explained by vs. 8–10. ‘All things … are made manifest by the light’ (Eph. 5:13). The presence of God brings the consciousness of sin in the nature (v. 8), and sins in the life (vs. 9, 10). The blood of Christ is the divine provision for both. To walk in the light is to live in fellowship with the Father and the Son. Sin interrupts, but confession restores that fellowship. Immediate confession keeps the fellowship unbroken” (Op. cit., p. 1321). The truth remains that sin is ever sinful even when committed by a believer, and the shed blood of Christ is ever available to cleanse perfectly. Chafer, L. S. (1993). Systematic Theology (Vol. 5, p. 197). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
Preceding this assertion, that God is propitious concerning “our sins,” the Apostle John has brought into view two great questions along with their answers: (1) What is the effect of sin upon the Christian himself who commits it? The answer, stated throughout this Epistle and especially in chapter 1, is that fellowship with the Father and Son is lost, as also all spiritual power and blessing. (2) What is the effect of the Christian’s sin upon God? Chafer, L. S. (1993). Systematic Theology (Vol. 5, p. 198). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
The experience of the saved when they sin is that of being out of fellowship with God (cf. Ps. 32:3–4). Chafer, L. S. (1993). Systematic Theology (Vol. 5, p. 229). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
The effect of the Christian’s sin upon himself is that he loses his fellowship with God, his joy, his peace, and his power. On the other hand, these experiences are restored in infinite grace on the sole ground that he confesses his sin (1 John 1:9). Chafer, L. S. (1993). Systematic Theology (Vol. 5, p. 277). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.