If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not live the truth, because God is light with no darkness at all and fellowship with Him cannot coexist with darkness. Walking in darkness is living in transgression of His holy law and refusing to obey His Word, while walking in the light is knowing and obeying the truth with settled purpose to keep all His commandments. It also includes lack of love toward a brother, hatred, selfishness and accusation, and gathering darkness through unholy companionship, evil speaking, surmising and false witness. Walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, and the way out of darkness is to confess sins individually to God who is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. True fellowship requires receiving Christ, walking even as He walked, and becoming daily more like Him in character, for religion is more than talk and profession and must shape thoughts, words and conduct into right actions from pure motives.
Words and Witness
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, so to claim fellowship with Him while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, for fellowship with Him is incompatible with walking in darkness. Only walking in the light as He is in the light gives fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Claiming that fellowship while walking in darkness is speaking falsely and failing to live and practice truthfully, because the message heard from Christ and declared by His witnesses is that God is wholly light.
John wrote this as an old man, nearly one hundred years old, giving the firm, decided spirit and life of his testimony. He wrote as one who from the beginning heard, saw with the eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life, the manifested eternal life that was with the Father. He bore witness to that life and declared it to call others into fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for full joy. That declared eyewitness testimony confirms the teaching of the Old and New Testaments and comes down through the ages so later believers may have fellowship and full joy, with the Holy Spirit bringing all things to remembrance as Christ promised before leaving His disciples. It shows how God can use aged workers, and aged faithful standard-bearers who hold fast to the end have a part like John's.
The first chapter must be read to understand the second chapter about sinning not. The second chapter presents Jesus Christ the righteous as advocate with the Father and propitiation for sin. It teaches knowing God by keeping His commandments, so that claiming to know Him without keeping them is to be a liar without the truth, while keeping His word perfects the love of God in the keeper. All who claim to abide in Him must walk even as Christ walked, for John does not write that believers may continue in sin or transgress the law, and the darkness is past and the true light now shines.
The verse teaches true practical godliness in simple yet deep, positive, decided speech that brings real men and women into contact with a real, living God, showing what God is doing and what man must do to meet God's requirements. Walking in the light is living the truth as a reality. It is to be declared with earnestness and positiveness and persuasive entreaty, and with certainty and authority from the written word, speaking what is known as truth because God has spoken it. It is to be presented as a plain Thus saith the Lord by hearts vitalized by the Spirit of God rather than in a formal or apathetic manner, bringing people to decision and calling them to consecrate heart and mind to Christ Jesus.
False Fellowship Exposed
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not to do, practice, or live the truth. Such a claim is false because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, so fellowship with Him is incompatible with walking in darkness. Only walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. The message heard from Christ and declared by those who heard, saw with the eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life is that God is wholly light, and therefore fellowship with Him must be joined to walking in the light. The verse teaches true practical godliness in simple yet deep, positive and decided speech that brings real people into contact with a real, living God, showing what God is doing and what must be done to meet His requirements.
A claim of fellowship must agree with the life lived. Religion is more than talk and profession, and Christian faith is more than a profession. Outward righteousness is worthless without inward light and love, for truth must enter the inner life to shape thoughts, words, and conduct. Genuine righteousness appears in right actions and good works done from pure, unselfish motives. A life that does not show the practical working of truth misleads both fellow believers and those considering following Christ. Those accepted as sons and daughters of God are given dignity to represent Jesus Christ to a dark, disobedient, sinful world, and those who have the light of grand and holy truths must practice the truth and be its representatives, or else it is no truth to them. Practicing the truth excludes dealing with others in highhanded justice, catching one or another for a supposed wrong in order to judge and condemn, and preaching grace and righteousness is useless unless brought into practical life. Church members are called to live worthily of their calling and to grow beyond spiritual infancy toward maturity in Christ.
True fellowship requires receiving Christ Jesus, walking in His footsteps, and becoming more and more Christlike in character daily. It is God's will that every professed Christian bear testimony to the love revealed in the gift of the Saviour to redeem fallen humanity, glorifying His name with renewed daily expressions of thanksgiving and praise from converted, sanctified lips. A profession of faith is not genuine when a person resists the light, cherishes sin, and refuses to practice the truth, but chooses a life opposed to His teaching. Judas illustrates this contrast between professed discipleship and walking in darkness. Claiming fellowship with God while living for the world is a lie, for those whose affections and interests are fixed on earthly things walk in darkness, cannot discern or enjoy heavenly things, and are alienated from the life of Christ. A Christian name does not make such a life faithful, and professing to belong to God while living for earthly pleasures and interests contradicts the profession, revealing a divided heart that would serve both God and mammon with darkened understanding.
People can flatter themselves that they are in the light while walking in darkness. This is a self-satisfied, self-deceived condition in which those who are spiritually sick from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet say they are whole and have no need of a physician. Their lives prove the darkness, for they are deceived by sin and unchristian in words and in works, yet pleased with themselves. This false claim to light is a lie and a deception Satan brings upon human minds.
Darkness Defined by Conduct
Walking in darkness is living in transgression of God's holy law, including breaking the Sabbath of the fourth commandment while claiming to abide in Christ, to be sanctified, and to live without sin, for claiming sanctification is not being sanctified. It is walking contrary to the commandments of God and refusing to obey His Word, wrestling the Scriptures to suit disobedience, making tirades against commandment-keeping people and reproaching messengers sent to show sinners their sin under the inspiration of the great deceiver. To profess union with God while living in such disobedience is to lie and fail to practice truth, a fearful deception plainly warned against in love. Sin is the transgression of the law, and whoever sins has not seen nor known Him and is of the devil who sins from the beginning, while whoever abides in Him does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous. The test of true fellowship and knowledge of God is keeping His commandments and His word, for to say I know Him and not keep His commandments is to be a liar with no truth in him, and John does not teach that believers may continue in sin but that they sin not.
Walking in darkness is a loveless life that withholds compassion and help, living in selfishness, unholy lust, and accusing the brethren. It is hating a brother while saying I do not hate, misunderstanding one's own heart, and acting with hatred or hostility toward a brother even when defended as zeal for God. It turns zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, brings up feelings that have no kinship with love, shows no disposition to harmonize, stands as ready to be at swords' point as not, and lets prejudice and passion bar mind and heart against truth. In this way one who claims to believe the truth may oppose a brother bearing a message from God that is just the light needed for this time and unite with the forces of evil. The claim to fellowship must be proved by a sanctified heart that expels Satan from the soul temple, ceases to transgress the law, abides in Christ, does righteousness, loves the brother, and opens the door of the heart to Jesus to receive blessing and overcome.
Walking in darkness is gathering darkness to the soul through unholy companionship and conversation that is not spiritual and not upon truth and righteousness. It climbs upon the judgment seat, encourages unholy surmisings, and practices evil speaking and false witness, revealing that the fountain of the heart is not pure, for God reads the heart. It forms a union that exchanges doubts and plans a wrong course, which is the enemy's work injuring the soul of all who share in it, mixing selfishness and self-esteem with the false idea of knowing more than is really known and proving that God's ways have not become their ways. It includes meddling in match-making without understanding the people involved, which can bring misery to those unsuited to each other. Having fellowship with Him requires coming up higher into a pure and holy atmosphere, practicing the truth and carrying out its lofty principles in life, with conversation and character fashioned by the divine similitude as a life hid with Christ in God.
Walking in darkness is refusing to confess sin, justifying self, denouncing others, boasting of not confessing, thinking there is nothing to confess, and misleading others thereby. It dwells on the dark side with sighing and groaning and complaining, keeping the eyes fixed on a black cloud and watching for clouds, peering into the dark future for trouble to worry about, while what is talked about decides what is had, so that to talk darkness brings plenty of darkness. It closes the eyes so as not to see, closes the ears so as not to hear, and hardens the heart so as not to receive the rays of heavenly light, though heavenly light keeps shining and grows brighter unto the perfect day, leaving those who refuse it to walk in darkness not knowing where they go while thinking they walk in safe paths and deceiving their own souls. It acts from pride that must hold the first place, refuses equality, leaves appointed work, and practices mind cure that leaves a man dazed. It holds a perverted view while doing wrong, surrounded by increasing darkness with danger of stumbling and falling into traps Satan prepares for the unwary, yet those in this condition must not be given up lightly or met with hasty, abrupt action that increases darkness, but helped by persevering, untiring efforts. Turning from darkness to light requires honest, individual confession to God with a humbled proud heart, no longer blinding the eyes to defects of character, speaking not only in general terms while withholding a specific wrong, believing the promise and pleading until He reveals Himself as a sin-pardoning Saviour who receives the helpless soul.
Walking in darkness is professing to believe the light God has given, including the testimonies of His Spirit, while refusing the essential changes in character it requires, so that light neglected and not walked in becomes darkness to the neglecter. It is not bringing God's Word daily into the lifework and having no saving knowledge of God or of Christ, so that not living the truth leads to inventing sophistries that occupy time and absorb attention that ought to be given to studying God's Word. It carries the influence of the world and selfishness while professing to follow the Bible, walking in sin's darkness with an influence that chills and harms others, requiring separation for safety. It joins indulgence of appetite and lustful practices that sacrifice health and life, and does wrong with a perverted view in danger of stumbling into Satan's traps. Anyone who teaches others the way into the light must be advancing in that light himself, for to claim fellowship while walking in darkness makes one a false guide, and ministers who claim to represent Christ but labor from self rather than Christ do not represent His spirit.
Light and Its Blessings
Walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, for God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. That fellowship is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and this way of life brings the fellowship of love which the Spirit bestows. By contrast, to claim that fellowship while walking in darkness is to lie and not do, practice, or live the truth.
The way out of darkness is to individually confess sins to God, humble the proud heart, stop blinding the eyes to defects of character, believe the promise, plead with God and refuse to let go until He reveals Himself as a sin-pardoning Saviour who receives the helpless soul. He is faithful and just to forgive sins and to cleanse from all unrighteousness, and to the repentant soul Christ who died is an argument that cannot be refuted, leading the penitent upward step by step, giving His peace to the mind, while angels guard the penitent believing soul so evil angels cannot intrude. To say there is no sin, to say we have no sin, or to say we have not sinned is to deceive self, to make God a liar, and to show His word is not in us, and those who think they have nothing to confess mislead others. This call belongs with contrition and with Christ's forgiveness and saving power, and with the manifested eternal life that was with the Father being declared so hearers may have fellowship and full joy.
Walking in the light is knowing and obeying the truth with the settled purpose of a sanctified mind to be obedient to all the commandments of God, following the path of true obedience under the Holy Spirit, abiding in Christ, doing righteousness, loving the brother, and treating one another as children of God in true Christlike love. Fellowship with God cannot be separated from a holy life, because sanctification takes in the whole being and the gospel requirement fits all periods and all relations of life. Walking in darkness is committing sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, while Christ was manifested to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil, so whoever abides in Him does not sin but does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous. The test of true fellowship and knowledge of God is keeping His commandments and keeping His word, by which the love of God is perfected and the one abiding in Him walks even as Christ walked, because the darkness is past and the true light now shines.
Walking in the light means taking in every divine ray of God's Word and passing it on, including by giving publications to others as sowing seed in expectation of a harvest. It means talking light and faith rather than darkness, watching for blessings with gratitude, prizing the least favor of God and dwelling on it, spending time in prayer, seeking God earnestly and trusting Him wholly, and talking faith and hope at home and in meeting and everywhere. It means resolving, exercising thought, and exerting will-power in earnest endeavor to represent Christ in sweetness of character, putting away gloom, losing sight of self, beholding Jesus to be changed into His likeness, advancing and progressing in spiritual attainments, forgetting what is behind and reaching forth to what is before, and growing beyond spiritual infancy and immaturity to maturity in Christ. Those who walk uprightly, in the way of the Lord, by faith, in the Spirit, in the truth, in love, in newness of life, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, live worthily of their calling and shine as lights in the world by good works that reveal Christ's glory, while bringing shadow and gloom darkens the pathway of others, and what is talked about decides what is had.
Doctrine and Scripture Harmony
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, and the verse gives definite instruction about the knowledge God desires that every soul may experience it. Walking in darkness is committing sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, so that whoever sins has not seen or known Him. Whoever commits sin is of the devil, who sins from the beginning, but Christ was manifested to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil. Whoever abides in Him does not continue in sin but does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous, while walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son.
Sin has made human beings aliens from God through unbelief in Christ and unwillingness to accept the truths He came to proclaim. True fellowship requires taking hold of God's strength to make peace with Him and believing in Christ as a personal Saviour, the only salvation provided for the sinner. It rests on His death to make atonement for sins and on His present pleading at His Father's right hand, by which all who receive Him are given power to become sons of God, have their sins taken away, are kept from falling, and shall live because He lives if they are obedient to His will. It means sanctification through the truth in unreserved surrender with continuous and progressive increase until grace is lost in glory.
True fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Word of life and the eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested and heard, seen with the eyes, looked upon, and handled by eyewitnesses. Their declared testimony confirms the teaching of the Old and New Testaments and comes down through the ages so that later believers may have fellowship with them and have full joy. The Holy Spirit brings all things to remembrance as Christ promised before leaving His disciples.
The verse belongs to this time as a charge to call sin by its right name, since charity is too pure to cover unconfessed sin. It rebukes unconverted men who hinder the work by seeking their own glory and wanting to be thought originators of new theories presented as truth, which if received would deny the truth God has given His people for the past fifty years and substantiated by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. All are warned to beware of the character of such work and to fall into line for their own souls and the souls of others, rather than using Scripture to substantiate error and lead minds into confusion away from truths to be indelibly impressed on the minds of God's people that they may hold fast to the faith. True sanctification does not claim sinlessness but seeks perfection by walking in the light of God's countenance in obedience, breaking the divine law being incompatible with fellowship. Love for souls for whom Christ died and labor for their salvation must not compromise with sin or unite with the rebellious, but stand unflinchingly for the right in opposition to soul-destroying errors amid the perils of the last days.
Present Call to Obedience
The verse lays individual accountability on each soul for service to God, calling for singleness of purpose because the time to work is short, for wisdom from Christ who is sanctification and righteousness, for walking in the knowledge of the truth as a partaker of the divine nature, for keeping the mind from crowded variety in order to grasp the plain Thus saith the Lord, for gaining a genuine experience of more value than is recognized, and for walking humbly with God so as to be called faithful in that which is least, which is worth more than gold or silver or precious stones. It lays on everyone the obligation to strive for mastery over self, refusing to be led by inclination or selfish desires. Claiming fellowship while walking in darkness is a lie and not the truth, so those who make the claim must bear truthful witness through the way they live.
Anyone who teaches others the way into the light must be advancing in that light himself, for to claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness makes a person a false guide. Ministers who claim to represent Christ but labor from self rather than from Christ do not represent His spirit and are walking in darkness. Those accepted as sons and daughters of God are given dignity to represent Jesus Christ to a dark, disobedient, sinful world, and preaching grace and righteousness is useless unless brought into practical life. Those who have the light of grand and holy truths must practice the truth and be representatives of the truth, else it is no truth to them, and practicing the truth excludes dealing with others in highhanded justice, catching one or another for a supposed wrong to judge and condemn him. Claiming fellowship with God while not bringing His Word daily into the lifework is lying, because such teachers walk in darkness and have no saving knowledge of God or of Christ, and not doing the truth means not living the truth, while those who do not live the truth are most inclined to invent sophistries that occupy time and absorb attention that ought to be given to studying God's Word.
God's people are to walk in the light, and this means choosing good and living as reformers rather than persisting in evil. Those who have received light must walk in it, for refusing it brings confusion and darkness that shapes actions. Walking in the light means following the path of true obedience under the Holy Spirit. Choosing evil and walking in darkness is incompatible with claiming fellowship with God or living by the truth.
The verse applies to people warned to walk in the light who persist in their own course, whose deceitful words and conduct show that they are not living in fellowship with God. To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, and walking in darkness includes lack of love for Jesus and for one another, hating a brother while saying there is no hate, misunderstanding one's own heart, turning zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, bringing up feelings that have no kinship with love, showing no disposition to harmonize, being as ready to be at swords' point as not, and letting prejudice and passion bar mind and heart against truth. This applies where one who claims to believe the truth opposes a brother who is bearing a message from God that is just the light needed for this time, and unites with the forces of evil. Saying one has fellowship with God while doing wrong is walking in darkness and not walking in the light, with a perverted view of things, surrounded by darkness that can increase and brings danger of stumbling and falling into traps prepared for the unwary. Those in this condition must not be given up lightly or dealt with by hasty, abrupt action that increases the darkness around them, but must be helped by persevering, untiring efforts to save them from grave mistakes.
For those living in the last days this demands remembering, repenting, and doing the first works instead of continuing darkened and alienated from the life of God. Real fellowship requires walking in the light, speaking the truth in love, and growing up into Christ the Head with the whole body joined together and built up in love, having fellowship with one another. Beautiful theories alone are not enough without the love of Christ in the heart, and loss of that love is loss of all things.
The verse was written by John when he was an old man as a firm, decided testimony showing how God can use aged workers. It belongs to the message John bore in his old age when nearly one hundred years old, giving the spirit and life of his testimony as the declaration of those who from the beginning heard, saw with eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life, who saw the manifested eternal life that was with the Father and bear witness to it, calling others into fellowship with them in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for full joy. Aged faithful standard-bearers who hold fast to the end have a part like John's and can rightly speak these same words. This message is to be borne by tried pioneer workers who are worn out and disappointed and not given due credit, to affirm true fellowship and walking in the light, with confession of sin and God's faithfulness to forgive and cleanse, against claiming to have no sin or not to have sinned.
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not live the truth, because God is light with no darkness at all and fellowship with Him cannot coexist with darkness. Walking in darkness is living in transgression of His holy law and refusing to obey His Word, while walking in the light is knowing and obeying the truth with settled purpose to keep all His commandments. It also includes lack of love toward a brother, hatred, selfishness and accusation, and gathering darkness through unholy companionship, evil speaking, surmising and false witness. Walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, and the way out of darkness is to confess sins individually to God who is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse from all unrighteousness. True fellowship requires receiving Christ, walking even as He walked, and becoming daily more like Him in character, for religion is more than talk and profession and must shape thoughts, words and conduct into right actions from pure motives.
Words and Witness
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, so to claim fellowship with Him while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, for fellowship with Him is incompatible with walking in darkness. Only walking in the light as He is in the light gives fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Claiming that fellowship while walking in darkness is speaking falsely and failing to live and practice truthfully, because the message heard from Christ and declared by His witnesses is that God is wholly light.
John wrote this as an old man, nearly one hundred years old, giving the firm, decided spirit and life of his testimony. He wrote as one who from the beginning heard, saw with the eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life, the manifested eternal life that was with the Father. He bore witness to that life and declared it to call others into fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for full joy. That declared eyewitness testimony confirms the teaching of the Old and New Testaments and comes down through the ages so later believers may have fellowship and full joy, with the Holy Spirit bringing all things to remembrance as Christ promised before leaving His disciples. It shows how God can use aged workers, and aged faithful standard-bearers who hold fast to the end have a part like John's.
The first chapter must be read to understand the second chapter about sinning not. The second chapter presents Jesus Christ the righteous as advocate with the Father and propitiation for sin. It teaches knowing God by keeping His commandments, so that claiming to know Him without keeping them is to be a liar without the truth, while keeping His word perfects the love of God in the keeper. All who claim to abide in Him must walk even as Christ walked, for John does not write that believers may continue in sin or transgress the law, and the darkness is past and the true light now shines.
The verse teaches true practical godliness in simple yet deep, positive, decided speech that brings real men and women into contact with a real, living God, showing what God is doing and what man must do to meet God's requirements. Walking in the light is living the truth as a reality. It is to be declared with earnestness and positiveness and persuasive entreaty, and with certainty and authority from the written word, speaking what is known as truth because God has spoken it. It is to be presented as a plain Thus saith the Lord by hearts vitalized by the Spirit of God rather than in a formal or apathetic manner, bringing people to decision and calling them to consecrate heart and mind to Christ Jesus.
False Fellowship Exposed
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not to do, practice, or live the truth. Such a claim is false because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, so fellowship with Him is incompatible with walking in darkness. Only walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship with one another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. The message heard from Christ and declared by those who heard, saw with the eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life is that God is wholly light, and therefore fellowship with Him must be joined to walking in the light. The verse teaches true practical godliness in simple yet deep, positive and decided speech that brings real people into contact with a real, living God, showing what God is doing and what must be done to meet His requirements.
A claim of fellowship must agree with the life lived. Religion is more than talk and profession, and Christian faith is more than a profession. Outward righteousness is worthless without inward light and love, for truth must enter the inner life to shape thoughts, words, and conduct. Genuine righteousness appears in right actions and good works done from pure, unselfish motives. A life that does not show the practical working of truth misleads both fellow believers and those considering following Christ. Those accepted as sons and daughters of God are given dignity to represent Jesus Christ to a dark, disobedient, sinful world, and those who have the light of grand and holy truths must practice the truth and be its representatives, or else it is no truth to them. Practicing the truth excludes dealing with others in highhanded justice, catching one or another for a supposed wrong in order to judge and condemn, and preaching grace and righteousness is useless unless brought into practical life. Church members are called to live worthily of their calling and to grow beyond spiritual infancy toward maturity in Christ.
True fellowship requires receiving Christ Jesus, walking in His footsteps, and becoming more and more Christlike in character daily. It is God's will that every professed Christian bear testimony to the love revealed in the gift of the Saviour to redeem fallen humanity, glorifying His name with renewed daily expressions of thanksgiving and praise from converted, sanctified lips. A profession of faith is not genuine when a person resists the light, cherishes sin, and refuses to practice the truth, but chooses a life opposed to His teaching. Judas illustrates this contrast between professed discipleship and walking in darkness. Claiming fellowship with God while living for the world is a lie, for those whose affections and interests are fixed on earthly things walk in darkness, cannot discern or enjoy heavenly things, and are alienated from the life of Christ. A Christian name does not make such a life faithful, and professing to belong to God while living for earthly pleasures and interests contradicts the profession, revealing a divided heart that would serve both God and mammon with darkened understanding.
People can flatter themselves that they are in the light while walking in darkness. This is a self-satisfied, self-deceived condition in which those who are spiritually sick from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet say they are whole and have no need of a physician. Their lives prove the darkness, for they are deceived by sin and unchristian in words and in works, yet pleased with themselves. This false claim to light is a lie and a deception Satan brings upon human minds.
Darkness Defined by Conduct
Walking in darkness is living in transgression of God's holy law, including breaking the Sabbath of the fourth commandment while claiming to abide in Christ, to be sanctified, and to live without sin, for claiming sanctification is not being sanctified. It is walking contrary to the commandments of God and refusing to obey His Word, wrestling the Scriptures to suit disobedience, making tirades against commandment-keeping people and reproaching messengers sent to show sinners their sin under the inspiration of the great deceiver. To profess union with God while living in such disobedience is to lie and fail to practice truth, a fearful deception plainly warned against in love. Sin is the transgression of the law, and whoever sins has not seen nor known Him and is of the devil who sins from the beginning, while whoever abides in Him does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous. The test of true fellowship and knowledge of God is keeping His commandments and His word, for to say I know Him and not keep His commandments is to be a liar with no truth in him, and John does not teach that believers may continue in sin but that they sin not.
Walking in darkness is a loveless life that withholds compassion and help, living in selfishness, unholy lust, and accusing the brethren. It is hating a brother while saying I do not hate, misunderstanding one's own heart, and acting with hatred or hostility toward a brother even when defended as zeal for God. It turns zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, brings up feelings that have no kinship with love, shows no disposition to harmonize, stands as ready to be at swords' point as not, and lets prejudice and passion bar mind and heart against truth. In this way one who claims to believe the truth may oppose a brother bearing a message from God that is just the light needed for this time and unite with the forces of evil. The claim to fellowship must be proved by a sanctified heart that expels Satan from the soul temple, ceases to transgress the law, abides in Christ, does righteousness, loves the brother, and opens the door of the heart to Jesus to receive blessing and overcome.
Walking in darkness is gathering darkness to the soul through unholy companionship and conversation that is not spiritual and not upon truth and righteousness. It climbs upon the judgment seat, encourages unholy surmisings, and practices evil speaking and false witness, revealing that the fountain of the heart is not pure, for God reads the heart. It forms a union that exchanges doubts and plans a wrong course, which is the enemy's work injuring the soul of all who share in it, mixing selfishness and self-esteem with the false idea of knowing more than is really known and proving that God's ways have not become their ways. It includes meddling in match-making without understanding the people involved, which can bring misery to those unsuited to each other. Having fellowship with Him requires coming up higher into a pure and holy atmosphere, practicing the truth and carrying out its lofty principles in life, with conversation and character fashioned by the divine similitude as a life hid with Christ in God.
Walking in darkness is refusing to confess sin, justifying self, denouncing others, boasting of not confessing, thinking there is nothing to confess, and misleading others thereby. It dwells on the dark side with sighing and groaning and complaining, keeping the eyes fixed on a black cloud and watching for clouds, peering into the dark future for trouble to worry about, while what is talked about decides what is had, so that to talk darkness brings plenty of darkness. It closes the eyes so as not to see, closes the ears so as not to hear, and hardens the heart so as not to receive the rays of heavenly light, though heavenly light keeps shining and grows brighter unto the perfect day, leaving those who refuse it to walk in darkness not knowing where they go while thinking they walk in safe paths and deceiving their own souls. It acts from pride that must hold the first place, refuses equality, leaves appointed work, and practices mind cure that leaves a man dazed. It holds a perverted view while doing wrong, surrounded by increasing darkness with danger of stumbling and falling into traps Satan prepares for the unwary, yet those in this condition must not be given up lightly or met with hasty, abrupt action that increases darkness, but helped by persevering, untiring efforts. Turning from darkness to light requires honest, individual confession to God with a humbled proud heart, no longer blinding the eyes to defects of character, speaking not only in general terms while withholding a specific wrong, believing the promise and pleading until He reveals Himself as a sin-pardoning Saviour who receives the helpless soul.
Walking in darkness is professing to believe the light God has given, including the testimonies of His Spirit, while refusing the essential changes in character it requires, so that light neglected and not walked in becomes darkness to the neglecter. It is not bringing God's Word daily into the lifework and having no saving knowledge of God or of Christ, so that not living the truth leads to inventing sophistries that occupy time and absorb attention that ought to be given to studying God's Word. It carries the influence of the world and selfishness while professing to follow the Bible, walking in sin's darkness with an influence that chills and harms others, requiring separation for safety. It joins indulgence of appetite and lustful practices that sacrifice health and life, and does wrong with a perverted view in danger of stumbling into Satan's traps. Anyone who teaches others the way into the light must be advancing in that light himself, for to claim fellowship while walking in darkness makes one a false guide, and ministers who claim to represent Christ but labor from self rather than Christ do not represent His spirit.
Light and Its Blessings
Walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, for God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. That fellowship is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and this way of life brings the fellowship of love which the Spirit bestows. By contrast, to claim that fellowship while walking in darkness is to lie and not do, practice, or live the truth.
The way out of darkness is to individually confess sins to God, humble the proud heart, stop blinding the eyes to defects of character, believe the promise, plead with God and refuse to let go until He reveals Himself as a sin-pardoning Saviour who receives the helpless soul. He is faithful and just to forgive sins and to cleanse from all unrighteousness, and to the repentant soul Christ who died is an argument that cannot be refuted, leading the penitent upward step by step, giving His peace to the mind, while angels guard the penitent believing soul so evil angels cannot intrude. To say there is no sin, to say we have no sin, or to say we have not sinned is to deceive self, to make God a liar, and to show His word is not in us, and those who think they have nothing to confess mislead others. This call belongs with contrition and with Christ's forgiveness and saving power, and with the manifested eternal life that was with the Father being declared so hearers may have fellowship and full joy.
Walking in the light is knowing and obeying the truth with the settled purpose of a sanctified mind to be obedient to all the commandments of God, following the path of true obedience under the Holy Spirit, abiding in Christ, doing righteousness, loving the brother, and treating one another as children of God in true Christlike love. Fellowship with God cannot be separated from a holy life, because sanctification takes in the whole being and the gospel requirement fits all periods and all relations of life. Walking in darkness is committing sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, while Christ was manifested to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil, so whoever abides in Him does not sin but does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous. The test of true fellowship and knowledge of God is keeping His commandments and keeping His word, by which the love of God is perfected and the one abiding in Him walks even as Christ walked, because the darkness is past and the true light now shines.
Walking in the light means taking in every divine ray of God's Word and passing it on, including by giving publications to others as sowing seed in expectation of a harvest. It means talking light and faith rather than darkness, watching for blessings with gratitude, prizing the least favor of God and dwelling on it, spending time in prayer, seeking God earnestly and trusting Him wholly, and talking faith and hope at home and in meeting and everywhere. It means resolving, exercising thought, and exerting will-power in earnest endeavor to represent Christ in sweetness of character, putting away gloom, losing sight of self, beholding Jesus to be changed into His likeness, advancing and progressing in spiritual attainments, forgetting what is behind and reaching forth to what is before, and growing beyond spiritual infancy and immaturity to maturity in Christ. Those who walk uprightly, in the way of the Lord, by faith, in the Spirit, in the truth, in love, in newness of life, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, live worthily of their calling and shine as lights in the world by good works that reveal Christ's glory, while bringing shadow and gloom darkens the pathway of others, and what is talked about decides what is had.
Doctrine and Scripture Harmony
To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, because God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, and the verse gives definite instruction about the knowledge God desires that every soul may experience it. Walking in darkness is committing sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, so that whoever sins has not seen or known Him. Whoever commits sin is of the devil, who sins from the beginning, but Christ was manifested to take away sins and to destroy the works of the devil. Whoever abides in Him does not continue in sin but does righteousness and is righteous even as He is righteous, while walking in the light as He is in the light brings fellowship one with another and cleansing from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ His Son.
Sin has made human beings aliens from God through unbelief in Christ and unwillingness to accept the truths He came to proclaim. True fellowship requires taking hold of God's strength to make peace with Him and believing in Christ as a personal Saviour, the only salvation provided for the sinner. It rests on His death to make atonement for sins and on His present pleading at His Father's right hand, by which all who receive Him are given power to become sons of God, have their sins taken away, are kept from falling, and shall live because He lives if they are obedient to His will. It means sanctification through the truth in unreserved surrender with continuous and progressive increase until grace is lost in glory.
True fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, the Word of life and the eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested and heard, seen with the eyes, looked upon, and handled by eyewitnesses. Their declared testimony confirms the teaching of the Old and New Testaments and comes down through the ages so that later believers may have fellowship with them and have full joy. The Holy Spirit brings all things to remembrance as Christ promised before leaving His disciples.
The verse belongs to this time as a charge to call sin by its right name, since charity is too pure to cover unconfessed sin. It rebukes unconverted men who hinder the work by seeking their own glory and wanting to be thought originators of new theories presented as truth, which if received would deny the truth God has given His people for the past fifty years and substantiated by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit. All are warned to beware of the character of such work and to fall into line for their own souls and the souls of others, rather than using Scripture to substantiate error and lead minds into confusion away from truths to be indelibly impressed on the minds of God's people that they may hold fast to the faith. True sanctification does not claim sinlessness but seeks perfection by walking in the light of God's countenance in obedience, breaking the divine law being incompatible with fellowship. Love for souls for whom Christ died and labor for their salvation must not compromise with sin or unite with the rebellious, but stand unflinchingly for the right in opposition to soul-destroying errors amid the perils of the last days.
Present Call to Obedience
The verse lays individual accountability on each soul for service to God, calling for singleness of purpose because the time to work is short, for wisdom from Christ who is sanctification and righteousness, for walking in the knowledge of the truth as a partaker of the divine nature, for keeping the mind from crowded variety in order to grasp the plain Thus saith the Lord, for gaining a genuine experience of more value than is recognized, and for walking humbly with God so as to be called faithful in that which is least, which is worth more than gold or silver or precious stones. It lays on everyone the obligation to strive for mastery over self, refusing to be led by inclination or selfish desires. Claiming fellowship while walking in darkness is a lie and not the truth, so those who make the claim must bear truthful witness through the way they live.
Anyone who teaches others the way into the light must be advancing in that light himself, for to claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness makes a person a false guide. Ministers who claim to represent Christ but labor from self rather than from Christ do not represent His spirit and are walking in darkness. Those accepted as sons and daughters of God are given dignity to represent Jesus Christ to a dark, disobedient, sinful world, and preaching grace and righteousness is useless unless brought into practical life. Those who have the light of grand and holy truths must practice the truth and be representatives of the truth, else it is no truth to them, and practicing the truth excludes dealing with others in highhanded justice, catching one or another for a supposed wrong to judge and condemn him. Claiming fellowship with God while not bringing His Word daily into the lifework is lying, because such teachers walk in darkness and have no saving knowledge of God or of Christ, and not doing the truth means not living the truth, while those who do not live the truth are most inclined to invent sophistries that occupy time and absorb attention that ought to be given to studying God's Word.
God's people are to walk in the light, and this means choosing good and living as reformers rather than persisting in evil. Those who have received light must walk in it, for refusing it brings confusion and darkness that shapes actions. Walking in the light means following the path of true obedience under the Holy Spirit. Choosing evil and walking in darkness is incompatible with claiming fellowship with God or living by the truth.
The verse applies to people warned to walk in the light who persist in their own course, whose deceitful words and conduct show that they are not living in fellowship with God. To claim fellowship with God while walking in darkness is to lie and not do the truth, and walking in darkness includes lack of love for Jesus and for one another, hating a brother while saying there is no hate, misunderstanding one's own heart, turning zeal against a brother whose ideas conflict, bringing up feelings that have no kinship with love, showing no disposition to harmonize, being as ready to be at swords' point as not, and letting prejudice and passion bar mind and heart against truth. This applies where one who claims to believe the truth opposes a brother who is bearing a message from God that is just the light needed for this time, and unites with the forces of evil. Saying one has fellowship with God while doing wrong is walking in darkness and not walking in the light, with a perverted view of things, surrounded by darkness that can increase and brings danger of stumbling and falling into traps prepared for the unwary. Those in this condition must not be given up lightly or dealt with by hasty, abrupt action that increases the darkness around them, but must be helped by persevering, untiring efforts to save them from grave mistakes.
For those living in the last days this demands remembering, repenting, and doing the first works instead of continuing darkened and alienated from the life of God. Real fellowship requires walking in the light, speaking the truth in love, and growing up into Christ the Head with the whole body joined together and built up in love, having fellowship with one another. Beautiful theories alone are not enough without the love of Christ in the heart, and loss of that love is loss of all things.
The verse was written by John when he was an old man as a firm, decided testimony showing how God can use aged workers. It belongs to the message John bore in his old age when nearly one hundred years old, giving the spirit and life of his testimony as the declaration of those who from the beginning heard, saw with eyes, looked upon, and handled the Word of life, who saw the manifested eternal life that was with the Father and bear witness to it, calling others into fellowship with them in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for full joy. Aged faithful standard-bearers who hold fast to the end have a part like John's and can rightly speak these same words. This message is to be borne by tried pioneer workers who are worn out and disappointed and not given due credit, to affirm true fellowship and walking in the light, with confession of sin and God's faithfulness to forgive and cleanse, against claiming to have no sin or not to have sinned.