1 John 1.6b-Claiming Fellowship with God while Living in the Darkness is a Lie and Not Obeying the Truth
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 5, 2017
First John: 1 John 1:6b-Claiming Fellowship with God while Living in the Darkness is a Lie and Not Obeying the Truth
Lesson # 29
1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (NASB5)
“We lie” is the first person plural present middle indicative form of the verb pseudomai (ψεύδομαι) which is in the middle voice and means “to lie to oneself” since it pertains to lying to oneself so as to deceive oneself.
The first person plural form of this verb is a reference to John and the recipients of this epistle and is used in a distributive sense to emphasize no exceptions.
The present tense of the verb pseudomai is a gnomic present used to make a statement of a general, timeless fact and expresses the spiritual principle that the believer who claims that they have been experiencing fellowship with God and yet have been living in the darkness is lying to themselves.
The middle voice of this verb is a direct middle, which denotes the fact that the subject is lying to himself or herself, which is self-deception.
“And do not practice the truth” presents the result of the previous assertion.
“Do not practice the truth” is composed of the following: (1) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (2) first person plural present active indicative form of the verb poieō (ποιέω), “do practice” (3) articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), “the truth.”
The verb poieō means, “to practice” in the sense of living one’s life according to the truth of God’s Word and the word’s meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou which should be translated “unequivocally not.”
The adjective “unequivocal,” which the adverb “unequivocally” is derived from, refers to that which is absolute, not subject to conditions or exceptions and refers to something that is not subject to dispute or challenge.
John is making an absolute statement that applies to every believer without exception and that is not subject to challenge, or dispute, not subject to conditions or exceptions because it is an eternal spiritual truth.
The present tense of the verb is a gnomic present which expresses the spiritual principle that the believer who claims that they have been experiencing fellowship with God and yet have been living in the darkness are lying to themselves so that they are “as an eternal spiritual truth” unequivocally not obeying the truth.
The noun alētheia means “truth” and refers to John’s apostolic teaching and specifically it refers to his apostolic teaching concerning fellowship with God.
Therefore, the word refers to the truth of God in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing the revelation that a church age believer will receive rewards if they are faithful.
1 John 1:6 If any of us enters into making the claim that we have been experiencing fellowship with Him yet we have been living in the darkness, then, we are, as an eternal spiritual truth lying to ourselves. Consequently, we are, as an eternal spiritual truth unequivocally not practicing the truth. (Author’s translation)
In 1 John 1:5, the apostle John taught the recipients of this epistle that God is, as an eternal spiritual truth existing in the state of being light.
Then, he states in emphatic terms that there is absolutely no darkness in His nature, none whatsoever.
Now, in 1 John 1:6-2:2, he presents the implications of these assertions in verse 5.
These verses are an inference from verse 5 and communicate spiritual principles with regards to fellowship with God.
Specifically, they present spiritual principles which the recipients of this epistle can employ for themselves in order to determine if they are in fact experiencing fellowship with God or not.
These principles are designed to protect the recipients of this epistle from the false teaching which was being propagated where they lived.
1 John 1:6 contains a fifth class conditional statement which contains a protasis and an apodosis as well as a result clause.
The relationship between the protasis and apodosis is “cause-effect.”
The cause: “If any of us enters into making the claim that we have been experiencing fellowship with Him yet we have been living in the darkness.”
The effect: “then, we are, as an eternal spiritual truth lying to ourselves.”
The result clause: “Consequently, we are, as an eternal spiritual truth unequivocally not practicing the truth.”
This fifth class condition is presenting a hypothetical situation which could take place in the Christian community.
It expresses the spiritual principle that if any believer enters into making the claim that they have been experiencing fellowship with God and yet have been living in the darkness, then they are lying to themselves.
John then asserts that the result is that they are unequivocally not practicing the truth.
In 1 John 1:6, the apostle John states if the believer claims that they have been experiencing fellowship with God and yet have been living in the darkness of the cosmic system, then they are as an eternal spiritual truth, lying to themselves since their conduct is not consistent with the holiness of God.
He is referring to a spiritual code of conduct that has been set by the false teachers, which in reality originates from the kingdom of darkness and is not consistent with the holiness of God.
The recipients of this epistle will be lying to themselves if they adhere to this false teaching, which is based upon lies from the cosmic system of Satan.
They will lie to themselves if they claim that they can experience fellowship with God and yet live according to the lies of the cosmic system of Satan.
They will be lying to themselves since God is truth and holy and can have not have fellowship with those who don’t conform to His holiness.
Lying to oneself is self-deception and self-deception is arrogance.
Arrogance is the antithesis to humility and originated with Satan in eternity past.
Lying to oneself and self-deception and arrogance all originate with Satan who is the father of lies.
Lying to oneself is a distorted view of oneself that is a result of disobedience to the Father’s will.
Lying to oneself and its resultant self-deception is the direct result of not conforming one’s attitude and conduct to the holiness of God, which is accomplished by obeying the Father’s will that is communicated to the believer by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God.
The believer who claims that they can experience fellowship with a holy God and at the same living according to the cosmic system of Satan are lying to themselves because Satan and God are at war with each other.
Light and darkness are symbolic of this distinction.
The kingdom of darkness cannot have fellowship with the kingdom of light.
The believer who adheres to the antinomian teachings of the Gnostics, which originate from Satan and his cosmic system, cannot have fellowship with a holy God who as to His nature is absolute truth.
The believer is living a lie and is not honest with himself or herself.
They are not honest with themselves because they have rejected God’s will for their life.
The believer whose conduct does not conform to the will of God who is holy will lie to himself or herself and will become involved in self-deception since they have not conformed to the Word of truth and what is not of the truth is a lie.
The believer who is out of fellowship is as an eternal spiritual truth unequivocally not “practicing” the truth that is found in the Word of God.
This means that they are not living it out in their lives or in other words, they are not applying what they have learned.
They are not conforming their thoughts to the truth which will result in ungodly actions and words.
Therefore, the apostle John is communicating in 1 John 1:6 the spiritual principle that if the believer who claims after justification that they have been experiencing fellowship with God and yet have been living in the darkness of the cosmic system, then they are as an eternal spiritual lying to themselves.
Consequently, they are as an eternal spiritual unequivocally not practicing the truth of the Word of God.
The believer who is disobedient to the Word of truth will not experience fellowship with God but on the other hand, the believer who is obedient to the Word of truth will experience fellowship with God.
Therefore, spirituality and fellowship with God are an absolute because you are either obeying the Word of truth or you are not.
In 1 John 1:6, “the truth” refers to John’s apostolic teaching and specifically it refers to his apostolic teaching concerning fellowship with God which requires obedience to his teaching which is truth and constitutes living one’s life in the light, i.e. according to God’s holy standards.