I recently noticed a repeated pattern in 1 John that stood out to me in my recent reading. He uses the words: “lie”, “liar”, and “deceive” in almost identical sentences that stand out quite harshly among the text. I thought it worth my time to take a look at each usage and meditate on them.
Usage #1
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not do the truth;” 1 John 1:6 LSB
This one is not hard to understand. If I am a self proclaimed “Christian” and claim to have “fellowship” with Christ. That is, a relationship and intimacy with Him. And yet I “walk in the darkness” … then I lie. I am not speaking the truth. Which means the truth is that I do NOT have fellowship with Christ. It’s a simple point but worth self-examination. What is a main indicator that you have a relationship and close intimacy with Christ? Well it would be the opposite of walking in darkness: “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
Usage #2
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 LSB
This one is quite interesting. If we walk around saying that we have no sin within ourselves then who are we lying to? John emphasizes that we are lying to ourselves. That is, we walk around in a false, self-made, reality. Ironically, to strive to live a life without sin (which is what we all desire: 1 John 2:1) we have to actively and honestly admit that we have sin within ourselves. That is why confession is a daily must (1 John 1:9). To actively confess is to allow the light of Christ to constantly reveal and do away with the “old man” that is left in you and allow the Spirit of Christ to clothe you with the “new man”. To not confess is to deceive ourselves.
Usage #3
“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” 1 John 1:10
This one seems to be a repeat of usage #2 but with a slight variation. In usage #2 we were deceiving and lying to ourselves. But here if we claim we have not sinned we made God Himself a liar! This is shocking but honestly comforting. To admit that we sin is to actually agree with God and trust that He will cleanse us from our sin. God already knows that we are sinners and has done the work to forgive and cleanse us. Therefore to try and claim that we aren’t sinners is to consider His perfect work unneeded, useless, and even ineffective. That is, making Him a liar. The comfort is that you actually lift up the glory and truth of God if you actively admit and confess that you sin and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of that sin.
Usage #4
“The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;” 1 John 2:4 LSB
Once again this is almost a exact repeat of usage #1. This time it sheds light on what was earlier explained as: “walk in the darkness”. Here it is equivalent to not keeping the commandments of Christ. And the letter of 1 John makes the commandment of Christ straightforward: “that we should love one another” 1 John 3:11. Therefore to claim that we know Christ and yet not to love one another is to be a liar. So then, how do we not be liars? We live in faithful obedience to the commandment of Christ, that is, we love one another. And how might we do that? “We love, because He first loved us” 1 John 4:19.
Conclusion
I know these thoughts are quite straightforward but I believe it’s for good reason. Obviously we don’t want the words: “lie”, “liar”, and “deceive” to mark our lives. So then it challenges us to examine our character, our way of life, and the claims that we make about being devout followers of Jesus. Does my walk follow my talk? Maybe we ought to let our walk do the talking? And don’t forget the comfort knowing that when our walk does not follow our talk all we must do is admit, confess, receive forgiveness, and continue on in the Love of God.
Action
1. Praise God for His truth, word, and light.
2. Confess to God the inconsistencies in your character and lay yourself bare before Him.
3. Ask God to give you the power and strength to walk in His light
4. Listen to this post’s song: Love of God