The Word of Life
1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Walking in the Light
5 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. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 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. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (ESV)
this may be my absolute favorite book in the Bible because when you are done reading it, you rally know if you are a Christian or not. all of the verses are filled with instruction. this chapter is so great because it explains if we are indeed Christians, we will walk in the light becuase Jesus Christ has purified our sins and has set us apart from darkness, we are now dead to it. but my favorite verse in this chapter is verse 10
10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
wow. if we claim to be without sin, we call Jesus a liar. i love how it is said straight up. no beating around the bush. if we claim to be without sin then we call Christ a liar, plain and simple. but we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, like Romans 3:23 says. the last part of the verse says the word has NO place in our lves. that last part is straight up as well. we are blessed to have Christ who died so that though we have sinned, we can still have a way of salvation through true repentence and faith in Jesus Christ
5 …God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
These verses make it clear that there is no “backsliding” in the Christian faith. If we still live in a pattern of sin, then we are not saved. We are not perfect (see verse 10), but that doesn’t mean we can use that as an excuse to sin. We need to be fighting sin daily, dying to our desires in order to follow Christ. And we need to acknowledge that in the end, we can’t make it on our own and we need Jesus Christ. But messing up and sinning is a lot different than living a life of unrepentant sin. Anyone who claims to be a Christian but lives such a life is a liar, according to this verse.
(Fairly) New blog on Spiritual Growth!
3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
I really am just floored by the humility and serving heart that John displays. Just like his gospel, he is writing this in order that other people may come to know Christ. His desires for writing this book (and, more importantly, living his life) were solely for the glory of the LORD and to see other people repent and follow Christ. I feel so convicted when I realize the intense passion John had for desiring to see people saved. Let’s proclaim Christ so that we can be like John in praying that one day “[non-Christians] may have fellowship with us” in Christ!!!
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
It is great to know that John, who wrote about the life of Jesus, was an eyewitness to his life. He actually saw Jesus with his own eyes, heard His words with his ears, and touched and felt Jesus with his own two hands. What John wrote was firsthand knowledge and it seems foolish to dismiss it as anything else.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
I like this verse because it really clarifys that there is absolutly no one that is without sin but Jesus. It is just whether or not, as the next verse says, we ask for forgiveness.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Because God does this, we should strive to be without sin in our lives and when we do sin, learn from it!
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
This verse is a great check for those who claim to be Christians yet live a life that is characterized by sin and immorality. We each need to look inside our own hearts and see if this verse is describing us. If we are going to church, part of a Christian family, going to Christian school…none of that matters if we are living a life of sin. We must be sure that if we are claiming to be Christians that we really are…living a life of holiness and obedience to Christ’s commands is great evidence that we really are saved.
Like Cammeron, 1 John is one of my favorite books in the Bible, every time I read it, it encourages me and convicts me.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This is a great promise! As Christians, everytime we sin God will forgive us for disobeying Him and wil continue to make us holy just like Him; this is so encouraging and it gives me hope! Jenaee made a great point, we should use this for motivation to live more like Christ, and not just a free ticket to sin.
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, purifies us from all sin.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives
We should kill sin one by one. Although he falls into sin 7 times the righteous man gets back up but the wicked man stays in his sin.
Ahh…yes! 1 John! This was the first book we preached through at True North and it was very important for many people to find out if they were Christians or not…
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, purifies us from all sin.
Christians will walk in the light. So if we are following Christ in this way it can give us great confidence that our sins are forgiven. Also, we will have genuine fellowship with one another! Praise the Lord for the radical change he works in our lives!
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, purifies us from all sin.
As Christians, we share a common bond, because we walk in the light. We also are all purified by the blood of Christ which takes away our sins. John says we got to share fellowship with other Christians. “Bad company corrupts good character.” Why should we risk becoming more like non-Christians when we can hang around good Christians examples? Especially in high school.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
I’ve known this verse for a long time, but it’s a powerful verse. All we have to do is as simple as confessing and stop doing whatever we repented for. And then Christ will purify us of ALL the bad stuff. This doesn’t mean after we get saved that we become perfect, but we can be clear that we’re covered and will be going to heaven. Why would anyone turn down such a good offer? This could be the perfect verse to use while evangelizing.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
How great is that!How gracious is our God?pretty gracious if i do say so myself!
we need to also have this attitude towards others.if someone sins against us, for example lies to us, or gossips about us, we need to have a forgiving attitude, just as God has for us.and as bobby preaches the God calls it love sermons, i think we will find out that when you love someone, you keep no record of wrongs, as it says in the love chapter:)
but we also need to realize that when we ask for forgiveness, we should do our best to not do that sin again!how bad would it be if i asked God to forgive me of a sin, like lying, and 20 minutes after i ask for forgiveness, i lie again.that is what we should NOT do.i think people take advantage of Gods great mercy and they continue sinning, because they know God will forgive and forget.but as it says(somewhere…i think in matthew) “be sure your sins will find you out” we need to have a heart that wants to change!
also, as we evangelize, we need to, of course, share the gospel, but also mention that when you become a christian, you need to live 100% fully for God….and that means turning away from your sin and actually doing it!
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
This verse just shows us that our hearts are cesspools of wickedness. We are not perfect or without sin, and if we think we are, then we better think again. There is only one who is perfect and that is our Lord
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
Great comments Mike and Beth! When I read this, it immediately reminded me of all those students at school last year who claimed to be christians, but were unfortunately not living like one! This verse encourages me to be bold and to speak to them more this upcoming school year about following Christ and obeying his commands!! :)
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
This verse pretty much clears it up that we are all sinners, and we are saved by God’s grace. Only Jesus Christ is perfect, holy, and without sin! We should strive and desire to be more like him!
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
It’s amazing just to know that God can do such a powerful thing. We know that God can forgive our sins, but in order for that to actually happen, we must confess to Him. And, I know I need to pray more often which would also help.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
And like these verses tell us, if we don’t lay our sin at Jesus’ feet, we are not forgiven. If we convince ourselves that we are without sin, the truth is not in us (v8) or, we’re not really a Christian. This is also a really powerful verse. And I agree with what Cameron said: After reading this chapter, it’s great that you can realize whether you’re a Christian or not. Verrry awesome.
Bunch of verses in here were super great. Verse 7 is super cool. We have to follow God and walk in the light, living in a way that represents him. When we walk in the light we have fellowship with God and he purifies us which is awesome!
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
ya follow up on what Beth said, we need to be constantly checking our hearts everyday to see if we are right with the Lord. There is so much sin in our lives that are overlooked because we know that Jesus has forgiven us. But our goal should be to stop this sin that keeps us seperated from God. Although we may never be perfect we can still strive to be like Him in righteousness and encourage others daily as each day approaches.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This was encouraging for me because no matter what we do, He is always going to love us and forgive us of the sins that we commit but like what Bobby said before, don’t let God’s grace be a card that you just pull out whenever you sin! :D
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1 John is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I like this verse because God is light so we need to walk in the light if we want a relationship with him. If we are not walking with him we are in darkness and destined for hell. This is why we needd to evangelize to so many people because a lot of people are walking in darkness.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
I used to be this person…..I clamied that I was a Christian and I was in the darkness……I was a liar and I did not live by the truth….But now that I am a Christian, I am no longer living a lie….AND IT IS AWESOME!!!!
8.) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Derek said it, our hearts, as explained by this verse, are cesspools of wickedness. As it says many times throughout the Bible, “there is no one who does good, not even one.” Plain and simple…that is why we need a Savior!!!
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
What a great verse to read right before the beginning of the school year. This is a great verse to memorize going into a high school where a large majority say that they are Christians, but unfortunatly DO NOT live by 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, purifies us from all sin.
This is so true!! All of us who are redeemed have the forgiveness of Christ in common!! It is great coming to church and being surrounded by people that have the same love and desire to obey God that I do. Just being around other Christians is encouraging in itself.
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
A person who fellowships with God will walk in the light. This chapter scared me a lot, and made me reconsider if I was a real Christian a couple of years ago. My life, my attitude, and my thoughts didn’t match up with someone who walks in the light. But thankfully God changes people who repent, and he covers us with the blood of Christ! Amazing!
4We write this to make our joy complete.
If we really love other people, then we would want to see them saved. But a lot of times we don’t talk to people because we think they might get upset. But really that’s not showing love because we are just watching them go off to Hell without doing anything about it. We need to show our love like John and proclaim the Gospel to them and ask God to change their hearts so that they might be saved.
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
This verse is intense. We are so sinful and have such a gracious God who sent His only son to die on the cross for our sins. We are soo undeserving! We have such a perfect and holy God and we need to make sure we are confessing our sins daily, to become more like Him!
(:
Woohoo i am so excited to read through 1 John!!!!!! This chapter is filled with important topics and valuble information….well the whole Bible is but this one is awesome for such a short chapter! I love how it starts out with “reminding” us how Jesus, the only way we can get eternal life, was from the beginning and was seen heard and touched by people. Then it says that we must proclaim these things so that “you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” And if God uses us to lead a lost person to him then what great joy we will have when we know that one more person will be saved from eternal hell.
hey. wow haven’t posted in awhile it sucked not getting connection on my trip. I am thrilled to read through 1 John!!!!!!!!! I love v. 5.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
I love this verse because i have been to caught up with all my soccer and haven’t been really walking in the light. It made me realize I need to put God above soccer even though it’s hard.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
Verse 6 is a really good verse to start off anything with sports or school coming up :(.
If we claim to be a Christian we should be out sharing the Word and not being afraid to talk about it and God. i am a Christian and i believe we should share the Word more then just sitting at home.
I am going to put God 1st and share the Word more among my soccer friends.
God Bless
OOO man what a great passage!!! i love these verses!!!
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
I find this verse to be veryy comforting!! Every time we ask for forgiveness, God will give us full forgiveness! he will completely purify us!!! even though God will constantly forgive us we should not think o well i can sin because God will forgive me….NO!!
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, purifies us from all sin.
It is a blessing we will always be forgiven but we should not take advantage of that! like this verse says we should walk in the light just as God does…we need to strive to be more like Him!! He died for our sins, its the least we can do right!!
Great comments again every one!!! i really enjoyed reading all of them!!
3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
A Christian’s life is for fellowship with God. When I was in middle school (I think…) my pastor preached a sermon called “Living the Life of a Loofa” in which he discussed how Christians – like loofas – are only created for one purpose. Like a loofa is not meant to brush your teeth, Christians are not meant to continue lives of habitual sin.
As Christians, we need to take our personal relationships with Christ seriously. Do you consider everything else worthless in comparison to Christ? What competes with your devotion to Christ? Do you boast about God as the best thing about you? Do you seek Christ first and nothing else second? Because we are nowhere near perfect, there is always room for improvement toward living for Christ 24/7.
I am pumped to read 1 John! Lots of good stuff in there.
4 We write this to make our joy complete.
In this first chapter the excitement and joy John has in starting this letter really jumped out at me. This man is excited to serve the Lord. That causes me to think……Hmmm I wasn’t really excited the last time I did the dishes when my Mom asked me. Now I know that we should serve others with an excitement to serve the Lord
Yeah!! we’re starting 1 John!!
8. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
I agree with Brett and Derek.. We are full of sin!! And, we are in no way shape or form perfect. That’s why we need our Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him, we are nothing!!
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
This is the truest and simplest of all the things said in this chapter. God is light so he cannot mingle with darkness. We must carry our cross and deny oursleves so that we may be forgiven and become light as well. Only then can we be with God..
8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Okay cmon. Someone has got to be kidding me if they said this to me and were being truthful about it. There is no one on this whole entire earth who is without sin. There is one person who ever walked on this earth and is in the hall of fame for being sinless and that is Jesus Christ. Obviously if someone says they are sinless and they just do good things all the time, then they are very lost and do not have the truth in them. This verse is very simple to understand, but just know that whoever says this really needs help.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
this verse stood out to me because there are so many people who think they should go to church because they think they are christians. Then they go to school and they think they can just do whatever they want and not read the bible to know how to live there life for God and not spend any quiet time with him. They just want to live life the way they want to during the week.
Let me just say….. God is no liar
10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
I sin and we all sin, so if we deny that we sin, we claim God to be a liar, so basically we are lying right there which is sin, so ya kinda self-explanatory haha
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
This verse is so true! There has only been one person without sin and that is Jesus Christ. Nobody else is perfect, and everyone sins in one way or another; it’s just a fact of life no matter how hard you try. Great chapter :)
This is such a great chapter, and great book! This chapter says flat out, that everyone sins and if you are walking in the dark, you aren’t saved for Jesus is light. This is, like Bre said, a great chapter to read right before school starts because so many people claim to be Christians but live by the world, and these verses say you can’t be a Christian and follow the world.
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, purifies us from all sin.
Wow, what a great verse! This description of being in the light and fellowship and experiencing purity from sin…what a motivation to keep walking in Him!