1 John Chapter 1 Vs. 5

 

Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

This then is... This is the chief message Christ came to deliver, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Neither Moses nor the prophets ever gave the fullness of this message (John. 1:16-17). Christ Himself is the chief manifestation of God’s light to men (John 1:1-9; 3:16-20; 8:12; 12:35-36).

This then is (καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν)

Rev., correctly and literally, and this. According to the proper reading the verb stands first in order ἐστὶν αὕτη, with emphasis, not merely as a copula, but in the sense there exists this as the message. For a similar use of the substantive verb, see 1Jhn. 5:16,5:17; 2:15; John 8:50.

Message (ἐπαγγελία)

This word, however, is invariably used in the New Testament in the sense of promise. The best texts read ἀγγελία, message, which occurs only at 1Jhn. 3:11; and the corresponding verb, ἀγγέλλω, only at John 10:18.

we have heard... The message that John and the other apostles preached came from God not from men (Gal. 1:12). God is light. In Scripture, light and darkness are very familiar symbols. Intellectually, light refers to biblical truth while darkness refers to error or falsehood. Morally, light refers to holiness or purity while darkness refers to sin or wrongdoing.

We have heard of Him (ἀκηκόαμεν ἀπ' αὐτου)

A form of expression not found elsewhere in John, who commonly uses παρ' αὐτοῦ . See on John 6:46. The phrase here points to the ultimate and not necessarily the immediate source of the message. Not only John, but others in earlier times had heard this message. Compare 1Pet. 1:10, 1:11. Ἁπό points to the source παρά to the giver. Thus, John 5:41, I receive not honor from παρά men. They are not the bestowers of honor upon me. John 5:44, How can ye believe which receive honor from παρά one another; the honor which men have to give and seek not the honor that cometh from παρά God; the honor which God alone bestows. On the other hand, 1Jhn. 3:22, Whatsoever we ask we receive from ἀπό Him, the ultimate source of our gifts. So, Mat. 17:25: Of ἀπό whom do the kings of the earth take custom - of ἀπό their own children or of ἀπό strangers? What is the legitimate and ultimate source of revenue in states?

Declare (ἀναγγέλλομεν)

Compare the simple verb ἀγγέλλειν to bring tidings, John 20:18, and only there. Ἀναγγέλλειν is to bring the tidings up to ἀνά or back to him who receives them. Ἀπαγέλλειν is to announce tidings as coming from ἀπό someone, see Mat. 2:8; John 4:51. Καταγγέλλειν is to proclaim with authority, so as to spread the tidings down among κατά those who hear. See Acts 17:23. Found only in the Acts and in Paul.

God is light... God is a person and dwells in the light that no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen in all His glory nor can see (1Tim 6:16). The phrase God is light does not constitute the being of God. It must be understood in the same sense that we understand God is love, God is good, God is a Spirit, God is a consuming fire, and other statements about Him. In the same sense we understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, or the door (John 10:9; 14:6). These expressions don’t do away with the reality and personality of God and Christ. See John 4:24.

God is Light (Θεὸς φῶς ἐστὶν)

A statement of the absolute nature of God. Not a light, nor the light, with reference to created beings, as the light of men, the light of the world, but simply and absolutely God is light, in His very nature. Compare God is spirit, and see on John 4:24: God is love, 1Jhn. 4:8, 4:16. The expression is not a metaphor. All that we are accustomed to term light in the domain of the creature, whether with a physical or metaphysical meaning, is only an effluence of that one and only primitive Light which appears in the nature of God Ebrard. Light is immaterial, diffusive, pure, and glorious. It is the condition of life.

Physically, it represents glory; intellectually, truth; morally, holiness. As immaterial it corresponds to God as spirit; as diffusive, to God as love; as the condition of life, to God as life; as pure and illuminating, to God as holiness and truth. In the Old Testament, light is often the medium of God's visible revelations to men. It was the first manifestation of God in creation. The burning lamp passed between the pieces of the parted victim in God's covenant with Abraham. God went before Israel in a pillar of fire, descended in fire upon Sinai, and appeared in the luminons cloud which rested on the mercy-seat in the most holy place. In classical Greek φῶς light, is used metaphorically for delight, deliverance, victory, and is applied to persons as a term of admiring affection, as we say that one is the light of our life, or the delight of our eyes. So, Ulysses, on seeing his son Telemachus, says, thou hast come, Telemachus, sweet light γλυκερὸν φάος Homer, Odyssey, xvi., 23. And Electra, greeting her returning brother, Orestes, O dearest light φίλτατον φῶς Sophocles, Electra, 1223. Occasionally, as by Euripides, of the light of truth Iphigenia at Tauris, 1046. No modern writer has developed the idea of God as light with such power and beauty as Dante. His Paradise might truthfully be called a study of light. Light is the only visible expression of God. Radiating from Him, it is diffused through the universe as the principle of life.

The heretics claimed to be the truly enlightened, walking in the real light, but John denied that because they do not recognize their sin. About that basic reality, they were unenlightened.

no darkness at... With this phrase John forcefully affirms that God is absolutely perfect, and nothing exists in God’s character that impinges upon His truth and holiness (Jas. 1:17).

In Him is no darkness at all (καὶ σκοτία οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδεμία)

It is characteristic of John to express the same idea positively and negatively. See John 1:7, 1:8, 1:20; 3:15, 3:17, 3:20; 4:42; 5:24; 8:35; 10:28; 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8; 2:4, 2:27; 5:12. According to the Greek order, the rendering is: And darkness there is not in Him, no, not in any way. For a similar addition of οὐδείς not one, to a complete sentence, see John 6:63; 11:19; 19:11. On σκοτία darkness, see on John 1:5.

darkness

As the source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and truth, God cannot have the least degree of ignorance, imperfection, sinfulness, and darkness. God is to man what the sun is to our world, hence the importance of the message that God is light and no darkness at all.

Again, John implies his eyewitness status, having heard of Him, that is, Jesus. John passes on to the church teaching he first received from Jesus. Light and darkness here have ethical overtones. John is saying that God is perfect and good; there is thus no sin or evil in Him. This will have implications for followers of the God in the following verses.

Notice in this, that God is not a Light. He is Light. He is the source of all Light. Light does away with darkness. There is no darkness at all where there is God. Light destroys darkness.

We hear some say that Christians can be possessed of devil spirits. This cannot be, because Christians have the Light of the world dwelling inside of them. They are possessed of the Light. This Light does away with darkness. Devil spirits are of darkness.

You cannot be possessed of darkness and Light at the same time. Light does away with darkness. A Christian can be oppressed from without, but not possessed from within. God does not give light, He is Light. We Christians give off His Light. Christ in me is the hope of glory.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. If He is in me, I am consumed with His Light. Christian, let His Light shine forth from you so brightly that the Father will be glorified in your works. To “declare” is more than just tell. It means it is so. He (John) is stating a fact.

Simplicity of God... Simplicity means that God is not complex, compounded, or divisible in His nature. Simplicity does not deny the three distinct persons of the Trinity. The three distinct persons all share in the same essence of God. Neither does this mean that it is easy to understand all that is to be known of God because.

(1) sin has a limiting effect upon human understanding. And

(2) man’s understanding is finite, whereas God is infinite.

Basic Principles

Since fellowship is the objective of John’s letter, it was natural for him to begin with a discussion of this subject. So, in 1:5-2:11 he will enunciate some fundamental principles which lie at the root of all genuine fellowship with God. These principles are of immense practical value to the everyday lives of all Christians. By these principles believers may test the reality of their personal communion with God. They may also discern whether they have come to know the God with whom they commune.

Basic principles of fellowship

In the prologue the author asserted that he was writing about things he had heard, seen, and touched. Here he began with something he had heard. This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you. By the words from Him, John no doubt meant from the Lord Jesus Christ whose Incarnation he had just referred to (1Jhn. 1:1-2). The content of this message, as John expressed it, is that God is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all. This precise statement is not found in the recorded words of Jesus, but the author was an apostle who heard much more than was written down cf. John 21:25. There is no reason to think that John did not mean just what he said. This is a truth he had learned from the Lord.

In describing God as Light, which John frequently did (John 1:4-5, 1:7-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36, 12:46; Rev. 21:23), he was no doubt thinking of God as the Revealer of His holiness. Both aspects of the divine nature figure in the discussion of sin and fellowship in 1Jhn. 1:6-10. As Light, God both exposes man’s sin and condemns it. If anyone walks in darkness, he is hiding from the truth which the Light reveals cf. John 3:19-20. Thus revelatory terms such as the truth and His Word are prominent in 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8, 1:10.

It is important that the message John had heard is the one he directed to his readers we… declare to you. Some scholars have maintained that the false assertions which are condemned in 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8, and 1Jhn. 1:10 are those of the false teachers, or antichrists, about whom John wrote later. But there is no proof of this. The writer continued to use the word we throughout as though both he and his readership were in view. When carefully considered, the kind of claims which John refuted are precisely the kind which may be made by Christians who lose touch with spiritual realities and with God. The effort to find in 1Jhn. 1:6-10 the doctrinal beliefs of heretical teachers lack adequate exegetical foundation.