1 John 1:8

8. If we say As the Nicolaitans (or antinomian Gnostics) do. See notes on Revelation 2:15, and Introduction to this epistle.

Have no sin Whether we say by denying we have done wrong, or by affirming that no wrong we commit is sin.

Deceive ourselves We are not merely mistaken or deceived, but we are also our own deceivers. We are the deceived and deceivers in one. We have the misfortune to be mistaken, and the guilt of framing the deception by which we mistake.

The truth It is not said that there is not truth in us, for all men have some truth. But the divine truth of pure fellowship with God through Christ is not in us, the only truth by which we are saved. Huther and Alford maintain that this saying, we have no sin, refers even to the true Christian. But, 1. Surely of a Christian who is by forgiveness freed from all guilt of sin, and by sanctification cleansed from all unrighteousness, it may be truly said in an evangelical sense that he has no sin. God imputes to him no sin. And to say that such a non-imputation to the Christian of sin makes God a liar, is, to say the least, very severe language. 2. Very plainly, the apostle is showing how the sinner may come into fellowship with the divine light. He tells such sinner that it is not by denying his sins, but by confessing them, that he can become right. The deceive ourselves refers to the man, therefore, before justification. 3. But in truth, the four instances in this chapter of if we say, are quotations of the language of Nicolaitan antinomians, who maintained that however bad their conduct they were still sinless.