Our Sin Revealed and Forgiven in the Light of Christ (1 John 1:1-10)

 

(Revised and re-titled, May 19, 2025, May 10, 2026)

The apostolic writers know how the believers are encumbered by their own sins, and how they sometimes lose heart or even despair.  But, pay attention to how the Apostle John draws the attention of  sin-troubled believers toward the eternal, spiritual and righteous beauty of Christ.  He does not give sin-troubled believers an exposition of the Law which condemns them, but he strikes hope into their hearts by preaching the living and saving glory of the Son of God:

The Incarnation of the Word of Life  (1 John 1, NIV)  My comments are in square brackets.

1 That 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.  ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  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. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete. 

Then John writes to show that the most beautiful and living One is the most righteous One who can communicate to us his own righteousness.

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

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.  ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness [not in the Light of Christ, uncaring of our sin], we lie and do not live out 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, [continually] purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth [of the gospel] is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

John preaches the way of life to those who believe in Jesus and who, by his light, see not only his righteousness, but also their own sins, and they are built up in him through faith, confession of sin and love of Christ and God the Father, to become in the end of all things full of the righteousness of Christ in eternal life.  On the other hand, those who reject the light and walk in darkness, careless of their sins, have no cleansing and prove that the saving and regenerating word of God does not shine within them.

A Word of Testimony

In the days of my early Christianity, I was taught that 1 John 1:9 was truly a key text for building our fellowship with God the Father and God the Son.  So important was this text to me and so great was the evidence to myself of my own sin (as seen in the light of Christ) that I became disheartened by the sinning and the apparent lack of progress in sanctification.  I thought I would be a second-class Christian for life.  The sinning would never stop, and I could not see Christian growth within me.  Was this experience compatible with real Christianity?

But, do read again and believe with me the text quoted from 1 John above:  It is those to whom the brightness of Christ is the greatest light, and therefore is continually the greatest exposer of their own sin -- it is those who are the ones who are continually being forgiven and constantly being cleansed from all unrighteousness.  But those professing Christians who are untroubled by personal sin are living in the most desperate circumstances, unable and unwilling to see their own depravity, and they are therefore doomed until they repent and turn to Christ and admit that they are sinners needing his deliverance.

So, all who are sin-confessors of their own sins -- ones who think often upon how we have failed our Savior -- we are the ones being by his grace made fit for his fellowship in glory.  We are not second-class Christians at all!  And when we see him we shall see what he has wrought in us, for we shall be like him when we see him as he is! (1 John 3:2)

A Word of Exhortation

In the midst of our duty to strive to please our Savior, it is vital to understand how the Apostle John teaches that we must retain our consciousness of being a sinner.  In this consciousness there is wisdom, a fuller understanding of the true depth of our depravity, and a fuller sight of the immensity of the the free grace of our Savior, who has delivered us from both the guilt and power of our sins by his death and resurrection.  It is the immensity of this free grace --  coming to us by his Spirit and received by faith which cleanses us in the end from all our unrighteousness.  Confession leads to cleansing.  It is a gift.