A Common Life With God and Each Other
Some Thoughts on First John Chapter One
My friend Corri and I are reading through Scot McKnight’s The Second Testament together, and we are starting with 1 John. We agreed that we would each write a blog post (or several) on what we find interesting in each chapter, and you can read hers on chapter one here.
1 John 1:1-4
Chapter one begins with a strong parallel to John 1:1-14, John 20:30-31, and John 21:24-25. John 1 begins with John identifying Jesus with the eternal Logos who was with God before the world began and who also is God. John 20 and John 21 both talk about how John’s mission was to communicate these truths to his audience so that those who hadn’t seen Jesus personally could believe on him and have life through their allegiance.
In verse one, Jesus is called the Logos of Life. This is the life that sustains all things and is the light that shines in a dark place (John 1:4). This correlation between life and light will be important later. Light and life are used synonymously to talk about resurrection and salvation in Luke as well (Luke 1:76-79; Luke 2:29-32).
Verse three says, “What we have seen and have heard we declare also to you so you also may have a common life with us. (The common life that is ours is with the Father and with his Son, Yēsous Christos.)”
Fellowship, or common life as McKnight translates is, demands more than an occasional meal on the third Sunday. In Acts, for instance, it meant sharing possessions with each other, taking care of the poor, and spending time with each other daily in prayer and “breaking bread” (Acts 2:42-47).
1 John 1:5-10
“This is the announcement that we have heard from him and we announce to you: That God is Light and there is no Darkness in him at all” (1 John 1:5). Notice that “Light” and “Dark” are capitalized here. In the introductory notes, McKnight points out that he does this when the terms refer to agents that seem to act on humans.
In this case, Light doesn’t just refer to a quality of God but of a force that can transform someone for the better. Darkness is also personified, and it can work on someone for the worse. In God there is no Darkness at all. Perhaps this is why the expression “outer darkness” is a popular term for Gehenna or the Lake of Fire; the describes life without the presence of God.
So, to claim to have the common life with God while “walking around in darkness” is a contradiction. Having fellowship with God means letting the light of God shine through your life by being transformed by the Logos of life. Walking in the Light, then, means openly agreeing with God that you have sins but that you put your faith in the One who sustains all things.
Stay tuned for more on First John in the coming weeks!