"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
Transparency is perhaps the greatest opposing force to selfishness. For when we are transparent with our selfishness, we place a magnifying glass upon pride in our lives. This process can only take place within an honest environment where truth is supremely regarded and refuses to be compromised for the sake of self-protection. One cannot avoid the consequences of sin when a heart is hardened and unrepentant (nor even when it is repentant). That is the essence of darkness living and precisely the target that John is aiming at in shedding "light" on our sin nature.
John consistently identifies Jesus as "light" throughout his letters. He writes, "In him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). From John's firsthand perspective, as the ESV Study Bible notes, "Jesus as the 'light' brings to this dark world true knowledge, moral purity, and the light that shows the very presence of God." Jesus does not apologize for the truth He not only represents but is the very existence of. Rather, He simply offers salvation to those who might believe in Him as recorded in Scripture:
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'" (John 8:12).
"And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God" (John 3:19-21).
"So Jesus said to them, 'The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light'" (John 12:35-36).
"I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness" (John 12:46).
The message is painstakingly clear: If our identity is not found in Jesus Christ, all hope is lost for righteous living for He is the manifestation of righteousness, the light we desperately long for. Therefore we must take heed the warning Jesus proclaims: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). The book of James supports this point emphatically with the proclamation: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). In order to enter the narrow gate that leads to Christ, we must be intentional not to deceive ourselves that we can live in darkness (hypocritically) while maintaining the illusion that we are spiritually mature apart from Him.
It has taken 32 years of my life to realize this foundational truth that no word I speak, no act I commit nor thought I ponder is worth any positive value apart from Christ. Like the apostle Paul, I have been awakened to the bitter truth "that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out" (Romans 7:18). I am simply a fallen man who has been saved by grace through faith not because I deserved it, earned it, or even chose it, but because God gave it to me as a free gift, to which I praise and give him all the glory and honor.
For me personally, the convicting truth of 1 John 5-10 centers on the issue of hypocrisy because by definition, a hypocritical man personifies what John is teaching. Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary defines hypocrisy as "simulation; a feigning to be what one is not; or dissimulation, a concealment of one's real character or motives. More generally, hypocrisy is simulation, or the assuming of a false appearance of virtue or religion; a deceitful show of a good character, in morals or religion; a counterfeiting of religion." When I read this list I am pierced by the reality that I perfected this identity in my life for years. More specifically, I am appalled that I was so arrogant as to assume I was spiritually mature when my actions did not give evidence to the truth I was quick to proclaim to others.
It is no wonder why I struggled for the essence of hypocritical living is found within a double-minded man who is torn between God and the world. Scripture describes such a man as "unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). James goes on to specify double-mindedness as a heart issue that requires purification, admonishing that the answer is to "draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8). Again, this is impossible without recognition of sin found in God's Word and a genuine repentance unto the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. We must choose to live out God's Word through the application of humble hearts, allowing God to extract the cancer within us with surgical precision so that our spirits begin to heal from the life-extracting effects of darkness living.
The true awakening I have experienced has come in owning up to the pride in my heart that I can superficially walk in light while standing firm in darkness. The Bible declares such a man a fool, and rightfully so for "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). Moreover, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice" (Proverbs 12:15). If only I had paid attention to the warning signs God continually placed in my life and embraced the accountability God provided through those in Christ who loved me, perhaps I could have avoided the pain of self-afflicted sin. But like many, I often chose the hard road to recovery and had to endure the consequences of my sin because of my hypocrisy.
Where the rubber meets the road is simply whether we heed the perspective God has given us through the consequences of our sin. Personally, I now profess, "As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same" (Job 4:8) because I have reaped what I have sinfully sowed in my life. Without that perspective though, I would not appreciate the beauty of repentance that "those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy" (Psalm 126:5). In order to live in the light we must step out from the shadows, and that begins with confession of sin through a genuine brokenness over our hypocritical living. As King David so eloquently penned, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Therefore, we are wise to apply the same wisdom in our own lives and approach the throne of grace with humble hearts as 1 John 1:9 states, that Jesus might say, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more" (John 8:11).
