Scripture meditation – 1 John: 1-10
October 9th 3:56 pm.
I’m here at the Memorial union at NDSU, on a Thursday afternoon. The fatigue from a relatively busy work week has started to set in. I grind away at one of the many tasks I had to complete and before moving to the next one, I decide to open the Bible app on my phone and read. The verse of the day is 1 John 1:9. I read it and then go on to read the full chapter, after asking the Lord Jesus to ‘open up’ the scripture to me. It’s amazing and a blessing how each time The Lord shows Himself to be true and does ‘open’ up the His Word to me.
This happens in several different ways, sometimes leading me to see and observe new things that I didn’t see before. Another time, He opens up my mind to understand things completely differently, helping me connect the dots within the context of the passage. This was one of those readings. I believe, as Christians, we get in a certain habit or mental tone of reading Scripture – reading with a sense of presuming its meaning because we have read it so many times before, or just reading the specific verse without bringing to mind the particular context its written in. Maybe we get too much into the words and the in-betweens that we miss the obvious meaning glaring at our faces. But I’ve found that sometimes, reading the words of Scripture, leaving behind the presumptuous mindset can help us see the obvious and this was one of those days for me. I decided to just simply read the text for what it said.
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“ The Incarnation of the Word of Life
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.
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, 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, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth 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.” – 1 John 1-10.
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The text begins by describing who Jesus is. He is the Word, the Word of Life, who was with the Father in the beginning. By whom all things were made. And this text simply lets its reader know that that very Word of Life was made manifest in flesh, which is Jesus Christ our Lord.
He goes on to say that they (the disciples) saw Him, touched Him and witnessed His Glory. And he highlights the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ and His oneness with the Father, the Godhead who they worship and have fellowship with.
This simple explanation in this piece of scripture (verses 1 and 2) quite simply yet powerfully shows who Jesus is. He is the very Life, through Whom we have received life. And more than that, He is the Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and who appeared to John and the disciples. The Eternal Life came into this world.
Now on to the part where the Lord helped me connect the dots…
The second part (verse 5 and beyod) seems to be an admonition given by John to his readers. Through the things he says and the Truths he speaks about light and darkness, it looks like his readers thought light and darkness could be mixed together. As a result, he seems to be warning them – “…God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
He warns them that – “ 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, 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, purifies us from all sin.”
He appears to be directly addressing the ‘double life’ his readers were living – walking in darkness, while claiming to have God’s light. He also goes on to say however, that if his readers infact walk in the light, they are in fellowship with the believers and disciples of Christ Jesus ( see verse 3 – “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us”). When believers walk in light of the Lord Jesus, they have true fellowship with one another.
Next, John appears to be confronting another fatal error of his readers, while also providing a remedy – “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth 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.” (Verses 8 through 10).
When considered altogether, one can begin to see that in this passage, John appears to be confronting lies and errs while proclaiming and affirming the Truth, to exhort his readers. I find that it’s easy to miss the conversations within the texts in the Bible during our day-to-day reading of the Word if we are not paying attention. Many verses or passages we read (sometimes in isolation) can come off solely as ‘commands’ (which they are! And are meant to be kept with all our heart, mind and strength), recognizing the context and element of conversation in the text can allow the Word to percolate deeper within the soil of our hearts and for it to become personal to us, magnifying its meaning in our life.
May all the Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ!