Deeper Reflection
WHEN WE WALK IN THE LIGHT, WE DO IN OUR WEAKNESS stray into darkness. But the light will reveal to us our darkness to restore us to the light: “if we walk in the light…the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (v.7). When God convicts us of our sins, we feel guilty, but God’s intent is never to condemn us. When we feel guilty of our sins, we may feel condemned: it may be us condemning ourselves or “the accuser” (Rev 12:10), or other people condemning us. When God convicts us of our sins, His intent is to cleanse us. But when God convicts us of sins, we are not to conceal our sins by saying that “we have no sin” (v.8) or “we have not sinned” (v.10), but to confess our sins, so that God can forgive and cleanse us of our sins (v.9).Our confession of sins and God’s forgiveness are anchored in “He is faithful and righteous” (v.9) – that is, “on the grounds of God’s character”¹¹. God is “faithful” to forgive because He has promised to do so, as in the new covenant, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer 31:31, 34). God is “righteous” to forgive because His Son, as an “atoning sacrifice”, died for our sins (1 Jn 2:2). It means “God would be wrong to withhold forgiveness”¹². When God has forgiven and cleansed our sins, “its defiling effects no longer condemn us in the sight of God”¹³.

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¹¹ I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, The New International Commentary on the new Testament (Eerdmans, 1978), 113-14 ¹² I. Howard Marshall, 114 ¹³ I. Howard Marshall, 112