1 John 1:6-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 John 1:5-7

The apostle, having declared the truth and dignity of the author of the gospel, brings a message or report from him, from which a just conclusion is to be drawn for the consideration and conviction of the professors of religion, or professed entertainers of this glorious gospel. I. Here is the message or report that the apostle avers to come from the Lord Jesus: This then is the message which we have heard of him (1 John 1:5), of his Son Jesus Christ. As he was the immediate sender of the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 John 1:8-10

Here, I. The apostle, having supposed that even those of this heavenly communion have yet their sin, proceeds here to justify that supposition, and this he does by showing the dreadful consequences of denying it, and that in two particulars:?1. If we say, We have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, 1 John 1:8. We must beware of deceiving ourselves in denying or excusing our sins. The more we see them the more we shall esteem and value the remedy. If we deny them, the... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 1:6-7

1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with him and at the same time walk in darkness, we lie and are not doing the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus Christ is steadily cleansing us from all sin. Here John is writing to counteract one heretical way of thought. There were those who claimed to be specially intellectually and spiritually advanced, but whose lives showed no sign of it. They claimed to have... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 1:6-7

As John sees it, there are two great tests of truth. (i) Truth is the creator of fellowship. If men are really walking in the light, they have fellowship one with another. No belief can be fully Christian if it separates a man from his fellow-men. No Church can be exclusive and still be the Church of Christ. That which destroys fellowship cannot be true. (ii) He who really knows the truth is daily more and more cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus. The Revised Standard Version is... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 1:6-7

Four times in his letter John bluntly accuses the false teachers of being liars; and the first of these occasions is in this present passage. (i) Those who claim to have fellowship with the God who is altogether light and who yet walk in the dark are lying ( 1 John 1:6 ). A little later he repeats this charge in a slightly different way. The man who says that he knows God and yet does not keep God's commandments is a liar ( 1 John 2:4 ). John is laying down the blunt truth that the man... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 John 1:8-10

1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, we can rely on him in his righteousness to forgive us our sins and to make us clean from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. In this passage John describes and condemns two further mistaken ways of thought. (i) There is the man who says that he has no sin. That may mean either of two things. It may... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 1:6

If we say that we have fellowship with him ,.... The Alexandrian copy reads, "for if we say": that is, if any profess to be partakers of the divine nature, to be like unto God, and to have communion with him, to have the light of his countenance, and the discoveries of his love: and walk in darkness ; in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and unbelief, or are in a state of unregeneracy and blindness; whose understandings are darkened, and they know not God in Christ, nor have any true sight... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 1:7

But if we walk in the light ,.... Are persons enlightened by the Spirit of God, so as to have a true sight and sense of sin, to know Christ, and the way of salvation by him; and are children of the light, and are going on and increasing in spiritual light and knowledge; walk on in Christ, the light, by faith, and in the light and truth of the Gospel, and as becomes it, and as children of light; and as such who are called out of darkness into marvellous light: as he is in the light ;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 John 1:8

If we say that we have no sin ,.... Notwithstanding believers are cleansed from their sins by the blood of Christ, yet they are not without sin; no man is without sin: this is not only true of all men, as they come into the world, being conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity, and of all that are in a state of unregeneracy, and of God's elect, while in such a state, but even of all regenerated and sanctified persons in this life; as appears by the ingenuous confessions of sin made by the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 1:6

If we say that we have fellowship - Having fellowship, κοινωνια , communion, with God, necessarily implies a partaking of the Divine nature. Now if a man profess to have such communion, and walk in darkness - live an irreligious and sinful life, he lies, in the profession which he makes, and does not the truth - does not walk according to the directions of the Gospel, on the grace of which he holds his relation to God, and his communion with him. The Gnostics, against whose errors it is... read more

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