Book of 1 John Chapter 1 Vs. 7

Walking in the Light

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

God is light (verse 5). To walk in this light, which is to live free from bondage to sin (Rom. 6:18), is to make true communion between believers possible. Jesus’ violent death on the cross, which is what blood signifies, is the initial antidote for and ultimate defense against sin’s presence and power.

We walk in the light (ἐν τῷ φωτὶ περιπατῶμεν)

The phrase occurs only in the First Epistle. Walk, as above. In the light, having our life in God, who is light.

A Christian walk habitually in the light truth and holiness, not in darkness falsehood and sin. Their walk also results in cleansing from sin as the Lord continually forgives His own.

He is in the light.

God is forever and unchangeable in perfect light. Compare Psm. 104:2; 1Tim. 6:16. We walk, advancing in the light and by means of the light to more light. The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Prov. 4:18).

Since those walking in the light share in the character of God, they will be habitually characterized by His holiness (3Jhn. 11), indicating their true fellowship with Him (Jas. 1:27). A genuine Christian does not walk in darkness but only in the light and cleansing from sin continually occurs (verse 9).

One with another (μετ' ἀλλήλων)

Not, we with God and God with us, but with our brethren. Fellowship with God exhibits and proves itself by fellowship with Christians. See 1Jhn. 4:7, 4:12; 3:11, 3:23.

I see in this the need for Christians to have friends who are Christians too. We must remain in the Light of God. Walk daily with Jesus and other Christians, and the world will get dimmer and dimmer.

blood of Jesus... We are cleansed from all sin from the time of confession of sin (1Jhn. 1:9) and as long as we walk in the light (1Jhn. 1:7). Notice the blood of Jesus Christ continuing to cleanse us from all sin, when we are in the Light. The more we walk the Christian walk, the easier it gets to stay in the narrow path of Light that leads to Him.

Of Jesus Christ His Son

Omit Christ. The human name, Jesus, shows that His blood is available for man. The divine name, His Son, shows that it is efficacious. I shall be rendering a service to students of John's Epistles by giving, in a condensed form, Canon Westcott's note, classifying the several names of our Lord and their uses in the Epistles.

The name in John, as in the Bible elsewhere, has two distinct, but closely connected meanings.

1. The Revelation of the Divine Being by a special title.

2. The whole sum of the manifold revelations gathered up so as to form one supreme revelation.

The latter sense is illustrated in 3Jhn. 1:7, where the name absolutely includes the essential elements of the Christian creed, the complete revelation of Christ's work in relation to God and man. Compare John 20:31; Acts 5:41.

In 1Jhn. 2:12, the term is more limited, referring to Christ as He lived on earth and gave Himself for the brethren. In 1Jhn. 3:23; 5:13, the exact sense is defined by what follows.

Actual Names Used.

(I.) His Son Jesus Christ. 1Jhn. 1:3; 3:23; 5:20. The divine antecedent is differently described in each case, and the difference colors the phrase. In 1Jhn. 1:2-3, the Father (compare John 3). In 1Jhn. 3:23, God. In 1Jhn. 5:20, He that is true. Thus the sonship of Christ is regarded in relation to God as Father, as God, and as satisfying the divine ideal which man is able to form. The whole phrase, His Son Jesus Christ, includes the two elements of the confessions which John makes prominent.

1. Jesus is the Son of God (John 4:15; 5:5).

2. Jesus is the Christ (John 2:22; 5:1).

The constituents of the compressed phrase are all used separately by John.

(1.) Jesus. 1Jhn. 2:22; 5:1; 1Jhn. 4:3 where the correct reading omits Christ. The thought is that of the Lord in His perfect historic humanity.

(2.) Christ. 2Jhn. 1:9. Pointing to the preparation made under the old covenant.

(3). Jesus Christ. 1Jhn. 2:1; 5:6; 2Jhn. 1:7. Combining the ideas of true humanity and messianic position.

In 1Jhn. 4:15, the reading is doubtful: Jesus or Jesus Christ.

On 1Jhn. 4:2, That Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (Ἱησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα)

Lit., Jesus Christ having come, etc. The whole phrase forms the direct object of the verb confesseth.

(4.) The Son. 1Jhn. 2:22, 2:23, 2:24; 4:14; 5:12. The absolute relation of Sonship to Fatherhood.

(5.) The Son of God. 1Jhn. 3:8; 5:10, 5:12, 5:13, 5:20. Compare His Son (1Jhn. 4:10; 5:9), where the immediate antecedent is ὁ Θεός God; and 1Jhn. 5:18, He that was begotten of God. Combination of the ideas of Christ's divine dignity and divine sonship.

(6.) Jesus His (God's) Son. 1Jhn. 1:7. Two truths. The blood of Christ is available and efficacious.

(7). His (God's) Son, His only Son. 1Jhn. 4:9. The uniqueness of the gift is the manifestation of love.

The Son in various forms is eminently characteristic of the First and Second Epistles, in which it occurs more times than in all Paul's Epistles.

Κύριος Lord, is not found in the Epistles (omit from 2Jhn. 1:3), but occurs in the Gospel, and often in Revelation.

The expression, the blood of Jesus His Son, is chosen with a profound insight. Though Ignatius uses the phrase blood of God, yet the word blood is inappropriate to the Son conceived in His divine nature. The word Jesus brings out His human nature, in which He assumed a real body of flesh and blood, which blood was shed for us.

Cleanseth (καθαρίζει)

See on Mark 7:19. Not only forgives but removes. Compare Tit. 2:14; Heb. 9:13 sq.; Heb. 9:22 sq.; Eph. 5:26 sq.; Mat. 5:8; 1Jhn. 3:3. Compare also 1Jhn. 1:9, where forgive ἀφῇ and cleanse καθαρίσῃ occur, with an obvious difference of meaning. Note the present tense cleanseth. The cleansing is present and continuous. Alexander (Bishop of Derry) cites a striking passage from Victor Hugo (Le Parricide). The usurper Canute, who has had a share in his father's death, expiring after a virtuous and glorious reign, walks towards the light of heaven. But first he cuts with his sword a shroud of snow from the top of Mt. Savo. As he advances towards heaven, a cloud forms, and drop by drop his shroud is soaked with a rain of blood.

All sin (πάσης ἁμαρτίας)

The principle of sin in all its forms and manifestations; not the separate manifestations. Compare all joy (Jas. 1:2); all patience (2Cor. 7:12); all wisdom (Eph. 1:8); all diligence (2Pet. 1:5).

Again, there can be only one sphere of real communion with God - the light itself. Thus John insisted that this is where a Christian will find that communion: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. It is strange that many commentators have understood the expression with one another as a reference to fellowship with other Christians. But this is not what the author is discussing here. The Greek pronoun for one another allēlōn may refer to the two parties God and the Christian named in the first part of the statement. John’s point is that if Christians live in the light where God is, then there is mutual fellowship between Himself and them. That is, they have fellowship with Him and He has fellowship with them. The light itself is the fundamental reality which they share. Thus true communion with God is living in the sphere where one’s experience is illumined by the truth of what God is. It is to live open to His revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. As John soon stated (1Jhn. 1:9), this entails believers’ acknowledging whatever the light reveals is revealing the wrong in their lives.

It is significant that John talked of walking in the light, rather than according to the light. To walk according to the light would require sinless perfection and would make fellowship with God impossible for sinful humans. To walk in it, however, suggests instead openness and responsiveness to the light. John did not think of Christians as sinless, even though they are walking in the light, as is made clear in the last part of this verse. For John added that the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from every sin. This statement is grammatically coordinate with the preceding one, We have fellowship with one another. The statement of 1Jhn. 1:7, in its entirety, affirms that two things are true of believers who walk in the light: (a) they are in fellowship with God and (b) they are being cleansed from every sin. So long as there is true openness to the light of divine truth, Christians’ failures are under the cleansing power of the shed blood of Christ. Indeed, only in virtue of the Savior’s work on the cross can there be any fellowship between imperfect creatures and the infinitely perfect God.