It is duly manifest that we must find a better explanation of 1 John 1:9. A good place to begin in the context of the passage is verse 6.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.

The key question is this. Are those who "walk in darkness" believers or unbelievers? How we answer this question is absolutely critical to the interpretation of this passage. If they are carnal, disobedient, backslidden believers who are walking in darkness, they are lying about having fellowship with God. A confession of sin in their life and "walking in the light" will restore the fellowship. However, if it can be proved from Scripture that they are unbelievers who were falsely professing fellowship, the "out of fellowship" position falls apart, for no one could successfully argue a restoration to something which they never had.

In order to see which it is, please compare the following three Scriptures.

"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6).

"But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes" (1 John 2:11).

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15).

Note carefully the relationship of these verses to each other and what they teach.
1. He that hates his brother2 "walks in darkness."
2. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer.
3. No murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Conclusion: He who walks in darkness does not have eternal life abiding in him, i.e. an unbeliever. Once this is clearly perceived by the reader, the restoration to fellowship theory comes crashing down like a house of cards. Remove all doubt from your mind. A concordant study of Scripture reveals that the consistent, uniform appellation to darkness, whether it be the Word of God in general or to John's writings in particular, refers to the unsaved (John 1:5; 3:19-21; 8:12; 12:35,36,46; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor. 4:4,6; 6:14; Eph. 5:8; Col. 1:13; 1 Thes. 5:4,5; 1 Pet. 2:9).

I can just hear some reader object, "Wait a minute, Brother Ken!

What about the man living in immorality in 1 Corinthians Chapter 5? What about the Galatian believers who were `removed from Him that called [them] into the grace of Christ unto another gospel' (Gal. 1:6)? And how about Peter, when he had to be rebuked by Paul for his hypocrisy among the Gentiles (Gal. 2:11-14)? Couldn't it be said that they were `walking in darkness?'" Absolutely not. It will help the reader to understand that John does not address how they walk but where they walk. It is their abiding position in Christ. All unbelievers have their position outside of Christ and are thus walking in darkness. All believers in Christ, whether in the Kingdom program or the Body of Christ, have their position in Him and are walking in the light. A believer cannot walk in darkness any more than an unbeliever can walk in the light.3 With this in mind, the benefits of understanding the next verse becomes immediately apparent. "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Notice the conditional nature of this promise. The cleansing of the blood depends upon our walking in the light. Indeed, all five verses of this section begin with an "if." It is a test of spiritual reality (verses 6-10). For years I had a great deal of confusion of mind about this. I read it as though it said, "If we walk according to

the light, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." I thought it meant that if I was very careful to obey God's commands and walk according to the light I had, He would cleanse me, which was just another way of saying that I was cleansed when I did not need cleansing. However, when the verse is understood aright, we find that the vilest sinner may have this cleansing when he comes into the light of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It does not say, "If we walk according to light," but it says, "If we walk in the light." Again, it is where we walk, not how we walk. It is to walk in the presence of God as an abiding position.

This is the fourth time we have come to the word "fellowship"

(verse 7). How are we to understand this word in the context? This is important, for it is the main subject in the chapter. The original Greek word which is translated fellowship is "koinonia," which carries the meaning of sharing in common, communion, fellowship. Like the Biblical word "sanctification," it has both a positional and conditional aspect to it. In Paul's writings, fellowship is spoken of as: a. Giving to poor saints (2 Cor. 8:4; Rom. 15:26,27). b. Contributing to the Lord's servants in the ministry (Phil. 1:5; 4:15-19; Gal. 6:6).

c. The fellowship of Christ's suffering (Phil. 3:10 cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-33). d. The Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 10:16). These are examples of conditional fellowship. That is, we can refuse giving to the poor saints, neglect contributing our resources for the needs of the Lord's servants, avoid suffering shame for His name, and choose not to participate in the memorial to Christ's death for us. However, I believe that the New Testament Scriptures also teach a fellowship which is positional, permanent and the possession of every believer in Christ Jesus. Such fellowship belongs to all true Christians regardless of spiritual growth or dedication. If any believers in the Bible were living in a state of broken fellowship, it was the Corinthians. a. There were carnal divisions and contentions among them (1 Cor. 1:10-13; 3:1-3).

b. They were infatuated with worldly wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18-2:5; 3:18-23).
c. They were judging things which they shouldn't and failing to judge things which they should (1 Cor. 4:1-5; 5; 6).
d. They were allowing sexual immorality in the local church and were proud of it (1 Cor. 5:1,2).
e. They were taking each other to court before the unbelievers (1 Cor. 6:1-12).
f. They were visiting harlots (1 Cor. 6:13-20).
g. They were proud of their knowledge and causing weaker brethren to stumble (1 Cor. 8).
h. They were questioning Paul's authority and apostleship (1 Cor. 9:1-6).
i. They were prone to idolatry by lusting after evil things (1 Cor. 10).
j. They had disorders at church, including making a mockery of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11).
k. They were enamored with the spiritual gifts but were failing to exercise them in love (1 Cor. 12-14).
l. They were doubting the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12-19).
m. If all this was not enough, they were stingy in their contribution to the poor saints (2 Cor. 8; 9).

With all this sin in the church, you might not think that they were even saved. But Paul, by the Spirit of God, addresses them as "the church of God" and "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Cor. 1:2). Moreover, there is no command to confess their sins in order to receive forgiveness and restoration to fellowship. On the contrary, Paul assures them that

"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). It is a fellowship based upon God's faithfulness.4 In spite of all the sins, failings and shortcomings of this church, they were "in Christ" and as such were a part of "the fellowship of His Son." What was it that they had in common with Jesus Christ?

They shared His life, His righteousness, His acceptance before God the Father (Col. 3:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 1:6). This is all the gift of grace apart from works to all believers in Christ and forms the fellowship which remains our standing in Him.

The fellowship of 1 John Chapter 1 must most assuredly be taken in the same light. What is it according to the context that these believers shared in common with "the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ?" Eternal life (verses 1 and 2). Jesus Christ as the Word of Life is the embodiment of that life.

There is a truly amazing parallel between verses 7 and 9. It can be shown thus:

Verse 7
But if we walk in the light as He is in light We have fellowship one with another And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin

Verse 9
If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

Both verses present the same truth only from different perspectives. These Jewish Kingdom believers were walking in the light by confessing their sins in relation to initial salvation. Having fellowship with God was based on the fact that God is faithful and just to forgive them their sins. And how many times could they be cleansed from

all sin? If you say until they sinned again, they were not cleansed from all sin. Likewise, they could only be cleansed from all unrighteousness once (verse 9). This is further confirmed later when he addresses the believers and assures them that their sins were already forgiven.

"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John 2:12). Intimately related to Israel's religion was confession of sins. Confession as well as its Greek equivalent (homologia) means to speak the same thing, admit, agree, acknowledge. Moses, writing prophetically, laid out the pattern for confession under the law. "If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they have trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me;

"And I also have walked contrary to them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: "Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land" (Lev. 26:40-42 cf. 1 Kings 8:33-36; Neh. 9:1-3). This is exactly where Israel found herself when John the Baptist came on the scene. Although they were still in covenant relationship with God, they had become morally and spiritually corrupt. And so John was sent as a preacher of righteousness to call the backslidden nation to repentance. This was in preparation to receive their Messiah, Jesus Christ. "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. "Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all region round about Jordan, "And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins" (Matt. 3:1,2,5,6). "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4).

There you have it. Repentance, confession of sins and water baptism for the remission (forgiveness) of sins went together as a unit in Israel's gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23; 9:35). Our key verse in 1 John 1:9 is found to be a salvation5 verse for Israel looking for the return of Christ to establish His earthly, Davidic, Millennial Kingdom. The oft repeated phrase "if we say" in verses 6, 8, and 10 shows the false profession of fellowship without possession of eternal life. These were Jewish unbelievers who had a twofold spiritual problem: self-righteousness and rejection of their Messiah. They justified themselves before men. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. They thought that since they were the physical seed (descendants) of Abraham that God was their Father. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Luke 16:15; 18:9; Matt. 9:10-13; 21:31,32; John 8:39-44; Rom. 10:1-4).

In a gracious demonstration of godly love, John opens his letter with an evangelistic appeal to his Jewish brothers to forsake the counterfeit fellowship of darkness and come to the Savior and enjoy the genuine fellowship of light. This they would not do as long as they were trusting their pedigree, religion, and personal merit and rejecting "the Light of the world." Since a more detailed explanation is not possible in this short paper, I simply invite you to perform an interesting experiment. Study 1 John 1:1-10 afresh, this time with the above points in mind and see how much better it fits with the passage. How could one verse taken from one non-Pauline epistle, wrenched from its contextual and dispensational setting, be twisted and transformed into a whole system of conditional blessing and then used by our Adversary to rob God's people of the very things which make the Christian life worth living? The answer can only be religious tradition and a failure to "rightly divide the Word of truth" (Matt. 15:3,6,9; 2 Tim. 2:15). We are like sheep and like to play "follow the leader."

When an outstanding Bible teacher or preacher teaches something, many tend to follow with uncritical minds. Although God has given teachers to the church, each believer is responsible before God to study the issues for themselves and make them their own. Otherwise we are only standing in the opinion of another. Men at their very best are only men and so are fallible. May we catch the spirit of the Bereans of old and "search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so" (Acts 17:10,11).

To be continued...

Endnotes

2. Take note that the word "brother" in the passage does not indicate that the one doing the hating is a believing brother. Rather the racial relationship of the Jewish brotherhood is described as in Romans 9:3. Although they were kinsmen according to the flesh, nothing is clearer in John's writings than that a Jew who believes in Jesus Christ should be prepared to endure the wrath and hatred of his unbelieving brothers in Israel.

3. That is why sin in a believer's life is so serious. When a believer sins, he is doing it "in the light." A preacher once delivered a sermon on, "The sins of the saints." Afterwards, a woman reproached him saying, "But pastor, the sins of believers are not the same as the sins of the heathen!" "Yes," the pastor replied, "they are much worse!"

4. Several other passages from the pen of Paul are often overlooked in this regard.

For example, Ephesians 3:12 states, "In Whom [Christ Jesus our Lord] we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith [i.e. faithfulness] of Him." The Greek word for faith (pistos) often carries the meaning faithfulness, fidelity, trustworthiness as in Romans 3:3,22; Galatians 2:16; 3:22; 5:22; Philippians 3:9; Colossians 2:12; 1 Timothy 4:12; 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22; Titus 2:10. The context determines. Here the phrase, "faith of Him" must remain as in the Authorized (KJV). Our access to God is established since it is in Jesus Christ. God wants us to have boldness and confidence in this. The "short accounts" (in fellowshipout of fellowship) system serves only to plant doubt and thus remove our boldness and confidence. Shouldn't we rejoice that these blessings are by the faith (faithfulness) of Christ and not by our own? For other passages on access to God, examine Ephesians 2:18; Romans 5:1,2; Hebrews 10:19,20.

5. If it be objected that this verse cannot be speaking of salvation because faith in Jesus Christ is not mentioned, they should consider that other well known salvation verses do not either. See Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 4:5-8,16; 5:1; Galatians 3:11; Titus 3:5. When this occurs, the body of the epistle makes abundantly clear (as in 1 John) that Jesus Christ is the object of faith (1 John 2:22,23; 3:23; 4:2,9,10,14,15; 5:1,5,11-13).