This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 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.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
-1 John 1:5-10
Despite the myriad of thoughts that pass through my brain during our wildly awesome Saturday night worship discussions, I rarely ever say what is on my mind. I could be all noble and say it's because I don't ever want to say something just for the satisfaction of being noticed (which is one of the most disgusting things I can think of that I unfortunately do occasionally), but it is mainly because my mouth sucks at being a mouth. Seriously, my brain has all these great, coherent, and collected thoughts that my mouth, in a display of jerkwaddery that mouths are capable of, refuses to say. My words tumble out in half-formed, drifter-with-a-tinfoil-hat fashion. So I don't talk. That is usually the reason I'm being quiet in any given situation. Sometimes, I'm quiet because it's appropriate (like when someone else is speaking - seriously, some other people would do well to learn this). Sometimes I'm quiet because nothing needs to be said. But most of the time, I'm not being quiet so much as refraining from looking or sounding like an idiot.
I don't think there is anything remarkable in my understanding of the Bible or the world, but I am continually astounded by some people's confusion when it comes to some of the most (in my humble opinion) straightforward passages of the Bible. I mean, generally, my confusion tends to arise from Old Testament readings. The rituals trip me up, I pointlessly ponder the meaning behind certain phraseology, and the parts bogged down with names of kings and their children and their children's children and their children's children's children... It makes it hard for me to feel grounded and focused.
But the New Testament is so engaging! Jesus speaks in these pages in a way that's impossible to miss. It is hard for some to relate to the Son of God, who was perfect in every way as a human. None of us have ever come close to the perfection of Jesus, yet through the lives of Peter, Paul, and the new church, we are given a glimpse of how to live God's way that is just beautiful and inspiring.
When I read 1 John, I considered the context first. I don't know much about Biblical interpretation, but I do know that the fastest way to get utterly lost in the Bible is to fail to consider the context of the passage you're reading. From my rudimentary understanding of the Bible, I assumed it to be a letter to a young church from John, a disciple of Jesus, and indeed, it is.
John bluntly offers a stark reality. In God, there simply is no room for darkness. To be complete in him, perfectly whole and new as God is, there can be no trace of sin. It is a daunting statement, to be sure, and seemingly impossible to live up to. It may even make you question why you should even try at all, when you're destined for failure. And that kind of logic is the problem. That, right there.
We can't say that God is our Father, the all-powerful Creator that he is, and then declare that it is impossible for him to do something. That is making God too small, a God to fit in our pocket and carry around with us for comfort from life's miseries. And I don't want a pocket God. Think about it: if He asks us to live without sin, the Father of love who seeks to draw us to Him, wouldn't that denote the obvious potential in us to live as holy, set-apart-for-God individuals, who live without sin? Take that logic all the way to the end of the road, through verses 8-10. If we can't be saved, if we will never be capable of living without sin, then doesn't that make Jesus' horrific, torturous death completely meaningless?
This is also where the context helpfully comes into play. John is speaking to a young church, a church full of sin. A church seeking to truly unite with God for the first time. Think of it as the young sinner who is just coming to know God. John speaks in sweeping, unnuanced statements. Live without sin and you will know God as fully as he knows you. Continue to sin and that simply cannot happen.
This immediately brings up the nature of sin. Clearly, there are questions of morality that are answered in the same way by most people (like the 10 Commandments - most people believe that these are laws no person should break), but there are unquestionably areas of sin that are grayer than others in the world we live in. Social lies, drinking alcohol, homosexuality, smoking, premarital sex... These are things we have to decide for ourselves and it is in trying to apply a universal way of living that everyone must follow that we betray ourselves.
There is one me. No one else, past, present, or distant future, has or will have my wealth of experiences, my view of life, my relationships, my convictions, my calling, my dreams. It is foolish to try to make the Bible fit one person's understanding. There are undoubtedly parts that are universal but I can't think of anything more wonderful and intimate than how the Bible can become such a personal book, a guide to living meant literally for me.
My understanding of sin leads me to believe that John's definition of sin is an intentional denial of God's will. It is when I substitute my own desires for God's perfect plans. As life goes on and our understandings deepen, I think it is possible to be aware of more sin in our lives. I don't think that this should be terrifying or breed a sense of hopelessness in readers. It shows that if we sin, God will tell us. He doesn't want us to live apart from Him. He wants us close to Him and I feel that anyone who earnestly reads the Word and seeks Him out will be rewarded for that, not smothered in accusations and crushed by our own iniquities.
This can be a confusing passage, I know that. And I understand why people call the Bible the Living Word. It is a book that still resonates today, obvously, but it also requires a dedication to deciphering it that some people are just not interested in. Courtney mentioned 1 Corinthians 13 and that is what my mind jumped to as I witnessed people struggling to make sense of this passage. This chapter says that our knowledge is partial and will always be incomplete until God comes again to make us whole, to make our knowledge in Him complete. Until then, our understandings will always be partial. It is an important thing to remember when our frustrations with the Bible descend on us.
Above all, this passage should be uplifting. Jesus died so brutally to bring us closer to God, in a sinless, loving relationship that is 100 percent possible for anyone truly looking to experience it. That's my take-away. <3
Until next Saturday,
Christen
