Christians: What is your understanding of 1John 1: 5-9 ?

Answer 1

John was declaring the message brought to them and then us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

In the first four verses it is supposed that John was attempting to dispel a few heresies that had crept up in the churches that he felt responsible for. He had to verify the physical and spiritual reality of Jesus:
"which we have looked at and our hands have touched"
(So contrary to one or more heresy - he was physical in body)

So, after settling a few disputes in the first four verses, John begins to tell of the message that Jesus was told to say by the Father:
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.

John was again reaffirming that he himself was there. He saw it and heard it happen. This places him as a reliable source - to which many who were NOT there to see and hear it could be considered unreliable as sources.

He is saying that God is not evil, and does not lie, He tells the truth, and John was there to hear it.

6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.

If we lie about what we know to be the truth, we walk in darkness. And therefore we lie about God and that is not a very God - influenced way to be. If we do not know the truth, yet act like we do, then we are being dark, and the truth of God is not being communicated. Those who do that really don't know Him, though they might say that they do know Him.

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, purifies us from all sin.

This verse quickly explains the relationship to the truth that believers enjoy. We are responding to the truth - that believing in Jesus Christ and trusting Him we are washed clean from all imputation of sin. We are counted as righteous.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Our sin nature won't leave us alone. It is not erased from us, but only the imputation of the penalties of sin in an eternal aspect. God sees us through the spectacles of Jesus, and we are counted as righteous by faith: By trusting Him.

If we say that we are without that sin, we are likely to become self - righteous and hypocritical. We are not seeing the truth about ourselves and begin to preach a perfection doctrine which is not the Gospel.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We need to admit our sins. As we have that sin nature, we are consistently capable of sinning. We may not accept that we are without it. So to God we continue to present ourselves as humble to Him - we have no truth to say that we deserve ANY of His blessings.

Answer 2

Apostal John was inspired to speak concerning hyprocrisy among believers. Some went far as to deny that man has sinned against God and believe none is born in sin . The scriptures says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. As born again baptized children of God we must not practice sin but let all sins even singular be confessed before God and be repented of. Else we are still in darkness and in our sins and salvation has none effect in our life from Jesus. The strange thing about when discussing this book of John many christains leave out what John said sin is. It is the transgression of the law of God(1john 3:4) and also the dividing line between those that are Gods and those that are the devil (1john3:7-10). That is why he states again, that God is light and in him is no darkness. John also is the one that stated christ said, men love darkness rather than light because there deeds are evil and none comes to the light less their deeds be reproved. Reproved means corrected or rebuked so if we treat the Law of God like a mirror we will see where correction is need. Even king David said, in the psalms," the Law is a lamp to my feet." So to keep fellowship we have to make sure we observe the commandments of God because it is the great sin detector. By the way my christain fellow believers all sin must be repented of and that includes the braking of or non-observance of the fourth commandment. God said, REMEMBER THE SABBATHDAY TO KEEP IT HOLY......EXODUS 20:8-11, HEBREWS 4:1-11, 1JOHN 2:3-4. I am not trying to offend but this is as important as the rest of the 10. If we sin in that one too, we must confess it and repent of it too! God bless,Ya prince........(peace)

Answer 3

This passage defines the word fellowship: We have fellowship with Christ when we are walking "in the light", which he defines more in the second chapter as following the commandments of Christ. If we have fellowship with Christ, we are instantly put in fellowship with other people who are also in fellowship with Christ.

Some people believe that we "offer" or "extend" fellowship, when here it is being explained as something that either exists or does not exist, it is not something men offer, but have when they are living as they should.

Here is my own little rhyme to remember it:
He Makes It
We Takes It
I Breaks It

He Makes it - it is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that creates the opportunity for fellowship. This is the Blood of the Covenant mentioned in I John 5:8

We Takes It - we accept the offer of fellowship with God through Christ. We are not creating it, we are taking it. This is taken when we are born again (read as baptized, John 3:1-5, Acts 2:38, the water of I John 5:8).

I Breaks It - Fellowship is broken when we cease to walk in the light. This is the point in I John 1:6-8; our relationship is broken when we do not live as we should, which is not walking in the light. This breaks fellowship with God.

Fellowship with one another is the main thought of the second half, third and fourth chapter. Here are some examples of that in each chapter

1 John 2:1 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Hope this helps

>>>>

Addendum - Sarge said this a little simpler above me......

Answer 4

Basically God is all good... if we say we are a Christian or a believer/follower but spend all our time sinning and not caring and ignoring those in need, we are pretty much lying to ourselves and everyone around us. If we try to follow Him, then we are "walking in the light" and helping out our fellow human beings. That being said, if we say we are perfect, we are once again lying to ourselves...no one is perfect. But if we admit we sin, God will forgive us.

That is my basic understanding. Granted I didn't go and research the original Hebrew words, I just used NIV and went from there, but I figure thats the basic idea :-D

Answer 5

1 John 1:5-9 (Verse by verse)
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

Light=sinlessness
Darkness=sinfulness
God is totally sinless; there is no darkness-no sin in Him

6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

To have fellowship with Him, we must repent of our sin, receiving His forgiveness, and becoming "light".

8 If we say that 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.

We must accept the truth and recognize that we all are sinners, ask God to search our hearts and show us our sin, confess it and we will be cleansed from our unrighteousness, so that we can fellowship, that is have intimate communion with God.

Answer 6

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.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

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.

8 If we say that 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.




What is there to understand? God said it plain enough, I can't elaborate on that.

Answer 7

1 John 1:5-9 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)

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.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

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.

8 If we say that 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.



The Light is Jesus and if we follow Him, we admit we sin and if we follow His commandments for salvation, we can ask for forgiveness for those sins.

The darkness is the devil so anyone who lies and says they don't sin are not acknowledging their sins and are not walking in the Light. We must learn to be truthful and acknowledge our sins if we expect forgiveness.

Answer 8

These verses deal with "walking in the light" and "confession of sin".
That God manifested to us, thru Jesus Christ embodied in flesh proclaimed to us the gift of life. God has no darkness(evil) but only Light (goodness) and wishes fellowship with us. Those who claim to practice truth but have no relationship with Jesus Christ's cleansing blood, walk in the dark. We are to confess our sins, to God for He is faithful to forgive our sins and from that point, put our salvation into practice by seeking the light (His word), and living righteously.
Smile.

Answer 9

O.K. I read the scripture in question, it means "shall we continue in sin because God forgives?, GOD FORBID!. Bro, I just love the way my pastor put it, walk in the spirit and not in the flesh and ye shall not fulfill the deeds of the flesh which are: hatred, jealousy, wickedness,ect...ect...ect... but the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long suffering, etc... against such there is no law, now here is his illustration (this is how you walk in the spirit) it's like standing in a pool of water and trying to submerge a beach ball inflated with air to sit on it, as long as you sit on it your walking in the spirit but each time that it plops out and fly's out into the air your walking in the flesh, so it is with controlling yourself, self control, love, patience, joy, you have to make a choice to rejoice right? and you have to make the effort, so keep putting that ball back into the water trying to keep it there and with each time practice makes you better and better at it. walking in the spirit just means self-control and obedience whereas walking in the flesh means no self-control and disobedience.

Answer 10

It is basically saying that EVERYONE is a sinner whether they believe in God or not and saying they arent a sinner is a lie. And that those who do not believe in God walk in darkness and not in His light. And that we MUST confess our sins to be forgiven

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.

6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7But 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.

8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.