Tuesday, June 5, 2012
1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, purifies us from all sin.
A REAL RELATIONSHIP
The Gnostics were people who claimed to be Christians, but who tried to mix pagan thoughts and ideas in with Christ's message. For example, the Gnostics believed matter was evil and spirit was good. Therefore, some taught that we should treat our bodies roughly. Punish them. But other Gnostics reasoned that since our bodies are evil, that means that what we do with our bodies doesn't really matter. So, these other Gnostics felt free to indulge in any activities they wanted to, even if God said those activities were wrong. After all, it was just your evil matter-body that was doing it.
In the passage above John attacks the false teachings of Gnosticism. If God is perfectly sinless, a close relationship with Him is going to change us. You can't have a close relationship with God and still travel through life the way you used to. Dabbling in sin. Doing what your sinful nature leads you to do without thinking twice. John, the simple fisherman, puts it simply: if God is light, we can't claim to be close with Him and still walk in the darkness of ongoing sin. If we do that, our claim is nothing more than a lie.
But if we walk in the light, that shows that our claim of a close relationship with the divine is true. And we really DO have a close relationship with each other and with God. And we receive the blessings of this relationship in an on-going way. Each sin we blunder into is washed away by the blood of Christ.
