1 John 1 Study Notes
Share
1:1 The words what was from the beginning echo both Gn 1:1 and Jn 1:1. God’s purpose in his Son has an eternal dimension. John wrote as an eyewitness. Christ was not just a spiritual vision but an actual human being. He is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14) who gives eternal life to all who believe in him.
1:2 God made Christ known. Human hearts and minds require God’s aid to see his truth (Mt 16:17; Jn 3:3). The Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, has always existed alongside the Father.
1:3 The phrase we also declare to you shows that John passed on faithfully to his readers what the apostolic generation had received. Fellowship refers to the close ties of kinship that God extends to his people.
1:4 A major reason why John wrote this epistle was so our joy may be complete. There is great happiness in knowing the forgiveness of sins and pursuing the will of God. God is the one who acts to complete a believer’s joy.
1:5 John had divine guidance in the message he related. As an apostle he actually lived alongside the Son of God. Darkness had crept in among the readers whom John addressed. To dispel it John testified to him who is light. God sent the light of the world, Jesus (Jn 8:12).
1:6 The words if we say may indicate that John was paraphrasing false views that needed to be exposed and corrected. To walk in darkness is to persist in sin. Since God is light (v. 5), his people are called and enabled to live by the light of his wisdom, truth, and love.
1:7 To walk in the light is to live consistent with God’s commands and character. Fellowship, the shared knowledge of God’s light and love, is one of life’s deepest satisfactions. With the phrase the blood of Jesus, John identified the focal point of Christ’s saving work in the cross.
1:8 In both Scripture and church history, people have excused their wrongful deeds by claiming to be right with God. John diagnosed an ancient and recurrent human tendency.
1:9 Confessing our sins does not mean a shallow reciting of misdeeds. It means owning up to wrongdoing and bringing our lives into line with God’s goodness and commands. God can forgive and cleanse us from terrible transgressions.
koinonia
| Greek pronunciation | [koy noh NEE ah] |
| CSB translation | fellowship |
| Uses in 1 John | 4 |
| Uses in the NT | 19 |
| Focus passage | 1 John 1:3,6-7 |
Koinonia most often carries the sense of communion or fellowship, referring to an association involving close mutual relations. This idea of mutual involvement is seen in extra-biblical usage, where koinonia can refer to marriage (3Macc 4:6). Because of a common Spirit, Christians have fellowship with God and one another (1Jn 1:3,6,7). This kind of intimate fellowship was displayed among the sharing community of the early church (Ac 2:42). Koinonia may also refer to the way in which this fellowship is portrayed, namely, through sharing, generosity, or participatory-feeling. Paul speaks of the Corinthian church’s generosity in sharing a financial gift (2Co 9:13). By extension, koinonia may refer to the financial contribution itself (Rm 15:26). It may also express participation or common fellowship in a task or cause. Thus, believers have a common participation in the faith (Phm 6) and sharing in Christ’s body and blood (1Co 10:16).
1:10 Since God is light and there is no darkness in him (v. 5), to claim to be without sin is to claim to be on par with God, but God says there is no one like him (Is 45:18). If his word is not in us, the saving message of Christ has not taken root. There may be surface knowledge of Christian religion, but the heart has not been transformed.