God is Light

1 John 1: 5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. 6 If we say, "We have fellowship with Him," and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He Himself 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 are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to 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. – hcsb

I memorized this passage when I was a kid. It didn’t make sense to me then, either. Here’s my question. What does it mean when it says “God is light?”

Does light represent life? (It does in Psalm 13:3)
Does light represent the ability to clearly see the next step? (It does in Psalm 43:3, Psalm 119:105)
Does light illustrate moral purity? (this is the most common view in commentaries, It does in II Corinthians 6:14 and John 3:19-21, but I have real problems with this view)
Does light represent revealed truth about who God is? (It does in Luke 2:32)

If light is an illustration of life, then verse 6 doesn’t make sense. It would basically say “If we say we are in fellowship with Him when we are dead, we are lying.” Dead people (with very few exceptions) say very little.

If light is an illustration of clarity and certainty then verse 7 doesn’t make much sense. It would basically say “if we walk in complete certainty we have fellowship with one another.” My experience however, is that people that walk in complete certainty are arrogant and annoying.

The most often suggested understanding is that light illustrates moral purity. But if that is the case, then vs. 7 doesn’t make sense. It says that if we walk in moral perfection the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. The problem is that if we walked in moral perfection we wouldn’t need to be cleansed from sin. And vss 8 and 10 make it clear we can’t possibly walk in moral perfection, so why even mention it in verse 7, much less connect it with forgiveness?

So, I think there are two ways to make sense of this passage.

1. “God is light” means Christ’s teaching is true. Then the suggestion is that John addresses three “if we say” statements based on false teaching at the time.
§ “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness.”
§ “If we say we have no sin.”
§ “If we say we are not sinning.”
This is possible, but hypothetical and makes John’s message pretty disjointed.

2. “God is light” means that God reveals himself to others in relationship, most obviously in Christ, especially in the context. In this view, the passage could be understood as follows.
I John 1: 5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God reveals himself to people, and He does not hide, or make himself unknowable, to anybody. 6 If we say, "We have fellowship with Him," while at the same time, we hide ourselves, and deny the truth about our condition, we are lying. 7 But if we will honestly reveal the truth about ourselves as He has revealed the truth about Himself, 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 are being deceitful about what we are really like, and the truth is not in us. 9 If instead we are honest about our many sins and shortcomings, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, "We have not sinned," we are not only failing to be honest, but we are essentially calling Him a liar, and ignoring the fact that Christ’s revelation about God included the fact that we are hopeless without His sacrifice.

The problem with this explanation is that while it fits the previous context perfectly, it doesn’t fit as well with the context that follows, which focuses on keeping His commands (which would suggest the common view that light here is moral purity).

So, several questions I would like to discuss…
· Does the fact that God reveals Himself, give us a model that we should reveal ourselves, too?
· Why would God give us His authoritative Word as a guide for life, and make it so difficult to understand exactly what it means?
· How should we then live?