1 John 1:8 - Exposition

After the great message," God is Light" ( 1 John 1:5 ) and its application to ourselves ( 1 John 1:6 , 1 John 1:7 ), we are now told what walking in the light involves:

(1) consciousness of sin and confession of sin ( 1 John 1:8-10 );

If we say that we have not sin. The present ἔχομεν again shows that the daily falls of those who are walking in the light are meant, not the sins committed in the days of darkness before conversion. The Lord's Prayer implies that we must daily ask forgiveness. We lead ourselves astray from the truth, and have no right estimate of the gulf between our impurity and God's holiness, if we deny this habitual frailty. In the sunlight even flame throws a shadow; and that man is in darkness who denies his sin. The truth may be near him; but it has not found a home with him—it is not in him. πλανᾷν is specially frequent in the Revelation, and always of arch-deceivers—Satan, the beast, antichrist, false teachers; it seems to imply fundamental error.