Walk in the light
And find fellowship, joy, and salvation | 1 John part I
I took an entrepreneurial journalism class in my last semester of grad school (ironically, that class introduced me to the Substack platform—full circle moment!). One of the readings that sticks out to me from that class was on a topic called “boundary setting.”
Essentially, the researchers surveyed journalists and other media professionals to figure out what people in the industry consider “real” journalism. There’s no question that someone who works at a newspaper is a journalist—but what about someone in digital or social media? What professional norms are non-negotiables for so-called journalists?
The act of deciding who counts and who doesn’t—who is a “real” journalist and who is just a writer, or a content creator, or any other job title—is called boundary setting. The idea is that, as the professional landscape of journalism changes rapidly thanks to technology like the internet and the new media it introduced (like blogs and social media), people in the journalism industry have to develop new rules.
These rules aren’t developed formally. Instead, the new set of norms is adopted through changing social and cultural expectations. I would wager that the same thing happens in other industries as well; I’m sure educators, people in medicine, and other professionals have unspoken rules that determine who “counts” when thinking about their own professional identity.
Though I can’t find the paper now (and I have tried!), the content of that research has stuck with me in the nearly two years since reading it for the first time. It came to the forefront of my mind again this week as I read through the first chapter of 1 John.
Last week, I surveyed the entire letter of 1 John, focusing specifically on the opening paragraph of chapter 4, which instructs readers to “test the spirits” in order to determine which ones speak truthfully. As I was reading through the book in preparation for last week’s post, though, I found myself struggling to decide which parts of 1 John to include in the article and which ones to edit out for space.
You can catch up on that post here:
So, instead of choosing, I want to dedicate some time to walking through 1 John chapter by chapter.
In a way, the entire letter of 1 John is a boundary-setting exercise. If any group was in desperate need of clear boundary setting, it was the early Christians.
Christianity made deep inroads into the ancient world in the decades after Jesus’ ascension. In less than 100 years, the Christian movement had established churches in main city centers thousands of miles from its humble beginnings in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Galilee.
The Apostle John, the traditional author of 1 John, is believed to have lived near one of these established Christian communities in Ephesus, which is in modern-day Turkey.
As with most ancient texts, it’s difficult to find a consistent answer for when the letter was written. Most resources suggest it was around 90(ish) A.D., but BibleProject estimates that the letter could have been composed as early as 63 A.D. As we discovered last week, 1 John was likely written to address specific controversies occurring in the church, specifically speaking against a group of individuals who were making claims against Jesus’ identity as the crucified and risen Messiah.
With all that in mind, here’s the full text of chapter 1:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
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.
1 John 1
The author makes the purpose of his writing exceptionally clear right off the bat: As an original apostle, one of the few who saw, knew, even touched Jesus while he was on Earth, John is writing for two reasons. The first is to share the truth of Jesus so that the readers can enter into fellowship with the already-established believers.
But, this fellowship isn’t just a membership to an exclusive club or even a promise of companionship; John goes on to say that this fellowship is “with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
What a promise. By joining in fellowship with believers, John is inviting his readers into the greatest fellowship imaginable: reconciliation with the Creator of the Universe, God the Father, via his Son, the Messiah, Jesus.
John goes on to say that “we are writing this so that our joy may be complete.” Here we find the second inspiration for the letter, and I don’t want you to miss the implication here. He’s not saying, “I’m writing this so that I can feel joyful.” He’s not even saying, “Knowing this truth makes me feel joy, so we want to let you know that too.”
Instead, I think it’s something more like this: John and those who he’s speaking for already feel unspeakable joy at their fellowship with the Father and the Son. Yet, there’s something that can complete that joy; something that can make it even greater, even stronger, even more full. That fullness of joy only comes from inviting others into it, so that they may experience it as well.
It reminds me of Paul’s words in Romans 10:14-15:
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
So, that’s why he’s writing: to share the truth of the gospel with people who desperately need to hear it. In the second half of the chapter, John makes his first “boundary setting” statements, first about the identity of God, and then about what that means for the identity of his children.
In this analogy, there are two sides: light and darkness. God is light. He is not simply associated with light, or similar to it; he embodies all that light symbolizes. Therefore, if someone claims to be of God, yet associates openly with darkness, that’s a clear sign that they may not be who they say they are.
John isn’t naive; he recognizes that sin, darkness, is a universal condition. There’s hope, though. We don’t obtain freedom from sin by wishing it away, or by trying our hardest to be good and do good things; freedom comes through the atoning death of Christ, which then enables us to honestly and joyfully walk in the light.
Verse 9 reminds us that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So, John presents two options here. Will you deny your sinfulness, claiming light but really walking in darkness? Or, will you confess your sin and join the joyful fellowship of believers via the blood of Jesus? The choice is yours.
Now, LMK:
What’s your favorite part of 1 John 1? Let’s talk about it in the comments!
And a recommendation:
BibleProject videos remain one of the best resources out there for Bible study. Give it a watch sometime this week!