From: 1 John 1:5-2:2
God Is Light
[5] 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.
Walking in the Light. Rejecting Sin
[6] If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we
lie and do not live according to the truth; [7] 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. [8] If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say we have not
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
[1] My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not
sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous; [2] and he is the expiation for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Commentary:
1:5-2:29. This section describes what communion with God is, and the
demands it makes on us. We can say there are two parts in the section:
the first (1:5-2:11) teaches that communion with God means walking in
the light and, therefore, rejecting sin and keeping the commandments.
The second (2:12-19) warns the readers to guard against worldly
concupiscence and not trust false teachers.
St John is writing as a pastor of souls who has lived the life of the
Lord and reflected deeply upon it. His teaching interweaves truths of
faith with moral and ascetical demands because he wants Christians to
live in a way consistent with their faith. Therefore, the text does
not really divide into a doctrinal section and a moral section.
5. "God is light": the imagery of light/darkness was much employed in
ancient times--sometimes to promote the notion that the world had two
principles, one good and the other evil. In St John the image clearly
has a different meaning, one connected with biblical teaching on light.
When God reveals himself to men, in one way or another light usually
plays a part: examples range from the burning bush (cf. Ex 3:1ff) to
the coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire (cf. Acts
2:1ff). This imagery is used to show God's sublimity--as we find also
in St Paul: "the Lord of Lords,...who dwells in unapproachable light,
whom no man has ever seen or can see" (1 Tim 6:15-16).
The image of light also helps to show what revelation involves: God
has made himself known to us, enlightening our hearts (cf. 2 Cor 4:6).
Thus, we can say that God is light, Jesus Christ has made him known to
us, and Christian revelation is the splendor of that light. In St
John's Gospel the idea of Christ as the light which enlightens the
world occurs very often (cf., e.g., Jn 1:4, 9; 8:12; 9:5). St Thomas
Aquinas explains, in this connection, that philosophers prior to
Christ had a certain light which allowed them to attain some knowledge
of God through reason; the people of Israel had much more light,
through divine revelation in the Old Testament; angels and saints,
because they have greater knowledge of God by virtue of grace have
divine light to a special degree; but only the Word of God is the true
light, because he is by his very essence the light which enlightens
(cf. "Commentary on St John", 1, 9).
The expression "God is light" has also a moral dimension: in God there
is no darkness because there is no sin; he is sovereign good and all
perfection. The light/darkness imagery, therefore, helps to underline
the gravity of sin: "the light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (Jn 3:19).
Those who lead a holy life are called children of light (Jn 12:36; Lk
16:8; Eph 5:8; 1 Thess 5:5); whereas those who do evil live in darkness
(1 Thess 5:4), which is the symbol of sin (Lk 22:53).
St John uses the statement that "God is light" to encourage Christians
to live in an upright way; as does St Augustine, who comments that we
must be united to God and "darkness should be cast away from us so as
to allow light to enter, because darkness is incompatible with light"
("In Epist. Joann. ad Parthos", 1, 5).
6-10. The clause "if we say" introduces three suppositions--very
probably claims made by some early heretics, especially Gnostics (who
boasted of having attained fullness of knowledge and thought they were
incapable of sinning).
St John is using the literary technique of parallelism, much employed
by Semitic writers: the first sentence states an idea which is repeated
and filled out in the later ones. Here, the first statement ("we lie")
is later extended to "we deceive ourselves" (v. 8)..., and then to "we
make him [God] a liar" (v. 10). This literary device shows that the
author of the letter was familiar with this style of writing, very
common in the Old Testament.
6-7. Walking in darkness/walking in the light--a graphic description of
sinful conduct and upright conduct. St John insists that one cannot
justify a life of sin by claiming to have communion with God: "mere
confession of faith is in no sense sufficient", St Bede declares, "if
that faith is not confirmed by good works" ("In I Epist. S. Ioannis, ad
loc.").
"Fellowship with one another": If there were an exact parallelism
between the parts of the passage, we would expect it to read
"fellowship with him", which is how some Fathers read it. If the text
reads differently, it is because mutual communion, the fellowship with
the Church to which St John is referring, is a pledge and sign of
fellowship with God: "the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of a
sacrament--a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of
unity among all men" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 1).
"The blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin": this idea is
often found in the Book of Revelation when it says that the blood of
Christ sets us free (cf. Rev 1:5), cleanses souls and makes them white
(cf. Rev 7:14), ransoms them for God (cf. Rev 5:9) and defeats the
enemies of salvation (cf. Rev 12:11). It is made quite clear that the
blood of Christ purifies all types of sin, past and present, mortal and
venial. (On the blood of Christ as atonement for all sins, see the
notes on Heb 9:12, 14.)
8. "If we say we have no sin": the Old Testament often says that all
men are sinners (cf. 7:70; Job 9:2; 14:4; 15:14; 25:4; Prov 20:9; Ps
14:1-4; 51; etc.) and this is also clear from the New Testament (cf.
especially Rom 3:10-18). The Council of Trent condemns anyone who says
"that a man once justified cannot sin again and cannot lose grace" ("De
Iustificatione", can. 23).
Loss of the sense of sin is a danger that threatens man in all epochs.
The Apostle's warning (to his contemporaries in the first instance) has
particular relevance in our own time." "Deceived by the loss of the
sense of sin," John Paul II reminds us, "and at times by an illusion of
sinlessness which is not at all Christian, the people of today also
need to listen again to St John's admonition, as addressed to each one
of them personally: 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us', and indeed 'the whole world is in the
power of the evil one' (1 Jn 5:19). Every individual therefore is
invited by the voice of divine truth to examine realistically his or
her conscience, and to confess that he or she has been brought forth in
iniquity, as we say in the "Miserere" Psalm (cf. Ps 51:7)"
("Reconciliatio Et Paenitentia", 22).
9-10. "If we confess our sins": the Council of Trent quotes this text
(without intending to define its exact meaning) when it teaches that
confession of sins is of divine institution: 'The Catholic Church has
always understood that integral confession of sins was also instituted
by the Lord (Jas 5:16; 1 Jn 1:9; Lk 17:14) and is by divine law
necessary for all falls after Baptism" ("De Sacramento Paenitentia",
chap. 5).
The sacred writer puts emphasis on the interior disposition of the
Christian: he should humbly admit that he is a sinner; and St Augustine
explains: "If you confess yourself to be a sinner, the truth is in you:
the truth is light. Your life does not yet shine as brightly as it
might, because there are sins in you; but now you are beginning to be
enlightened, because you confess your iniquities" ("In Epist. Joann. Ad
Parthos", 1, 6).
"Faithful and just": a translation of two Hebrew words which literally
have to do with love and faithfulness. The Old Testament uses this
expression to stress that God's faithful love is always ready to
forgive.
1-2. In order to make sure that no one makes a wrong appeal to divine
mercy so as to justify their continuing to sin, St John exhorts all to
avoid sin. It is one thing to acknowledge that we are sinners and to be
conscious of our frailty; it is a very different matter to become
completely passive or pessimistic, as if it were not possible to avoid
offending God. "Jesus understands our weakness and draws us to himself
on an inclined plane," Monsignor Escriva explains. "He wants us to make
an effort to climb a little each day. He seeks us out, just as he did
the disciples of Emmaus, whom he went out to meet. He sought Thomas,
showed himself to him and made him touch with his fingers the open
wounds in his hands and side. Jesus Christ is always waiting for us to
return to him; he knows our weakness" ("Christ Is Passing By", 75).
"My little children": it is difficult to translate this and other
similar expressions in St John, charged as they are with tenderness and
a sense of pastoral responsibility. They express a deep, strong love,
like that of Jesus at the Last Supper (cf. Jn 13:33). This same Greek
term appears six more times in this letter (2:12, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:
21); at other times he uses words equivalent to our "my little ones"
(cf. 2:14, 18) or "dearly beloved" (2:7; 3:2, 21; 4:1, 7, 11; 3 Jn 2,
5, 11). All these expressions reflect how very close St John was to the
faithful.
"We have an advocate with the Father": Jesus Christ, who is the only
Mediator (cf. 1 Tim 2:5), intercedes for us. He, who has died for our
sins (he is "the expiation"), presents his infinite merits to God the
Father, by virtue of which the Father pardons us always. The Holy
Spirit is also called Paraclete or Advocate insofar as he accompanies,
consoles and guides each Christian, and the whole Church, on its
earthly pilgrimage (cf. note on Jn 14:16-17).
"St John the Apostle exhorts us to avoid sin", St Alphonsus says, "but
because he is afraid we will lose heart when we remember our past
faults, he encourages us to hope for forgiveness provided we are firmly
resolved not to fall again; he tells us that we have to put our affairs
in order with Christ, who died not only to forgive us but also (after
dying) to become our advocate with the heavenly father" ("Reflections
on the Passion", Chap. 9, 2).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.