Dialogue With The Apostle John

I was studying the first chapter of 1 John this morning and found it helpful to make an imaginary dialogue between the apostle John and some random Joe to help me understand John's point in verses 5-10. Obviously this passage isn't written in dialogue form and what I have written below is very heavily paraphrased. But I do think that the sense of what John was saying is there, and I hope that it will be helpful for those who read it.

Imaginary Dialogue in 1 John 1:5-10:

Joe: "I have fellowship with him."

John: "But you walk in darkness, and God is light, so you are lying and do not practice the truth. If you would walk in the light as he is in the light you would have fellowship with other brothers and the blood of Jesus his son would cleanse you from every sin."

Joe: "But I don't have sin."

John: "Then you are deceiving yourself and the truth is not in you. If you would confess your sin (instead of walking in darkness), then, since he is faithful and just, he would forgive your sins and cleanse you from every unrighteousness."

Joe: "But I have never sinned!"

John: "Then you are making him out to be a liar and his word is not in you."


John uses a lot of cryptic language in this passage like, "walk in darkness," "walk in light," "the truth is not in us," and "his word is not in us." I hope that my dialogue above has helped to shed some light on what those things mean. But just in case it hasn't, here is a quick run-through of what I think the phrases mean. I am persuaded "walk in darkness" means that we conceal our deeds and live a secretive life. It seems to be set in opposition to confessing sin. If this is right, then obviously "walk in light" refers to a transparent and honest way of living in which you confess your sins instead of denying that you have them. As to the other two phrases, I think they refer to very similar concepts. Not having the truth in us seems to be either an emphatic way of saying that we are liars, or a slightly cryptic way of saying that the truth of the message which John mentioned earlier is not in us (meaning that we are not Christians). Not having God's word in us is a little clearer. When John mentions "the word" it is usually safe to say that he is referring to Jesus (see the John 1:1-18 for an example). If this is the way in which he is using "the word" here, then this is another way of saying that we are not believers. These definitions are by no means perfected and I may be misguided. I would love to hear others' input and welcome any corrections.

I hope that the above dialogue has helped you understand the point of what John is saying. This passage is a refreshing encouragement for believers to confess their sin, a brutally honest dose of truth for those who think they can play games with God, and hope for those who seek forgiveness in Jesus. If you haven't understood this passage and its interpretation, or if you think I have misunderstood it, please leave me a comment and give me your thoughts.

P.S. - I apologize if your name is Joe. There was no harm intended.

of jen(ni)

I feel slightly offended!

I was recently browsing youtube and came across this "challenge" entitled the "Blasphemy Challenge". It was originally started on an outside site and encourages people to post videos of themselves on youtube saying the phrase, "I deny the holy spirit." According to the interpretation of Mark 3:29 ("Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin") the site made, all they had to do was say that and they are damned to Hell for eternity. People jumped all over this opportunity! I even saw videos in which the "blasphemer" was laughing while doing it. "I deny the Holt Spirit" was usually accompanied by a smile and a sarcastic, "see you in Hell!"
Apparently, the rewarded gift for "selling your soul to the site" was a free DVD titled "The God Who Wasn't There". What a deal.

I cannot say I personally know the correct interpretation of Mark 3:29, but I watched a few response videos to the "blasphemers" from youtube Christians who told them that what they were doing was not blasphemy. They believed blasphemy to be when one sees and has proof of the Holy Spirit working in their lives and turns around and denies its existance. (I likened that to (hypothetically) the Israelites saying God does not exist after God lead the people of Israel out of Egypt with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, using Moses to part the sea, thus entangling the Egyptians in the water behind them and giving them water from a rock.)
I am not sure yet if I believe in that interpretation, but it is out there.

However, what offended me was not the multitudes of people denying the Holy Spirit while laughing, nor was it the Blasphemy Challenge istelf, rather it was the way "Christians" responded in their comments to these videos. I read a few and was absolutely disappointed in the way they presented themselves and Christianity as a whole.
In 1 Peter 3:14, Peter says, in regards to suffering for righteousness' sake, "in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."
I did not find a "Christian's" response of "hey old man, ur not funny and i know ur trying to be. looks like u have about 5-15 years to live and you know whats going to be funny? when ur burning in hell and wonder y ur there" to be gentle or respectful.

God is kind, He is merciful, He is a wonderful and just God and if we (Christians) are to reflect His kindness and love, I do not think we would say things such as "die, die. die. die. die. die die, die. die. die. die. die die, die. die. die. die. die (profanities omitted)" nor do I believe we would say also, "old man, i will laugh at you when you are are lying in your death bed."

Colossians 3:12-14 "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."