The Christian Life

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The Basis of the Christian Life
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Notice John starts this letter with a description of Jesus Christ.

"That which was from the beginning." John said the same thing at the beginning of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word,..." Jesus was, as God was, from the beginning of time. There was no time in which they did not exist. Jesus did not just come into being at His birth some 2000 years ago.
"We saw Him, we touched Him with our hands." He was not a figment of their imagination. They saw Him with their own eyes, they heard Him with their own ears, they touched Him with their own hands. John could have given much more evidence concerning the humanity of Christ, from his experience of some three years as a Disciple.
He is "The Word of Life". In his Gospel, John calls Jesus "The Word, Here he calls Him "The Word of Life". God in the flesh, tangible, human flesh and blood. This "Son of Man, this "Word of Life", we proclaim to you.

Why did they proclaim this to these people? That they might come to know the "eternal life" that was with the Father and has now been declared through Jesus Christ and having eternal life, have fellowship with the believers, so that their "joy", including John's, might be complete.
The reality of eternal life is the basis of the Christian Life. Without this assurance, their is no joy. Many Christians miss this completely. They are so intent on working themselves into Heaven and approval with God that they loose the joy of their salvation.
Obviously if Jesus was a myth, if He was a figment of their imagination, if He was not human as some believed, or if He was not divine, as others believed, then there certainly can be no assurance in the salvation that He supplies, nor can there be any joy. The Agnostics were spreading these false teachings amongst the Christians and as the result, many had lost the assurance and joy of their salvation. Nothing destroys our witness more that this. So John set out to destroy these false teachings and return these people back to their original joyous state. This joyous state is called, "Walking in the Light."

Walking in the Light

In these verses, John compares "Light" with "Darkness". Light being what is supplied by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, and darkness, is that which we walk in when we walk in false beliefs that take from us our joy and assurance. How can we tell if we are walking in the Light? John makes some suggestions that will help us determine this.

If we have fellowship with Jesus, we walk in light, if we do not, we walk in darkness.
If we have fellowship with one another, we walk in the light, if we do not, we walk in darkness.
If we say we have no sin, we walk in darkness and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, we walk in the Light and he is faithful to forgive us.

These are measures of truth, without truth, there is no light and we walk in darkness. So let us judge ourselves, do we know the "truth", do we deceive ourselves about sin, do we fellowship, one with another, do we seek and accept God's forgiveness, if we do these things then we walk in the light.

John declares two very important Christian teachings here about sin.

As Christians, we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us to help us refrain from sin.
But if we do sin, and we will, do not try to hide it or deceive ourselves about it, but openly acknowledge it and ask God's forgiveness and carry the burden no more. This forgiveness was bought and paid for by Christ's death on the cross, we are very foolish if we do not claim it for ourselves, and accept the joy it provides, and by the way, shouldn't we be telling others about it also?

Yes, we should. And we do this two ways. With our mouths and with our lives. We are not all able, nor are we all called to preach but we are called to live as God has instructed us to live and as He gives us the ability to live.

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