1 John 1:5–10 God Is Light

Introduction

The seriousness of the gospel is often overlooked. That may sound strong, but many of us pick the parts of Jesus we like and skip the parts that confront us. We also tell ourselves that the world would be fine if everyone would just believe in Jesus. Jesus did not promise a nicer version of the kingdoms we know. He announced the Kingdom of God. He announced the Kingdom of Light. That kingdom will last. The kingdoms of this world will not.

When John says, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), he is speaking about something absolute. In God there is no shadow, no corruption, no deceit, and no contradiction. Everything finds meaning and purpose in relation to Him. He is the standard of what is good. He is the source of what is real. Every other measure of truth or goodness fails without Him.

The Light of All Men

John learned this message from Jesus Himself. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). John does not give us a dictionary definition of light. He shows us a relationship. Light is not only brightness. Light is the revelation of the character and purpose of God. In God we find all truth and all goodness and the standard of righteousness.

Light lets us see what is already there. If you sit in a dark room with a puzzle, you cannot put it together. When the light is on, you can see how the pieces fit. God works like that. He shows us what is true about Himself and about us. The sad truth is that people prefer the dark rather than His light (John 3:19).

To say “God is light” means He alone defines truth and goodness because He made all things. The world did not create itself. God spoke and it came to be. He has the right to tell us what is right, what is true, and what life is meant to be.

Jesus is the perfect revelation of that light. He is not a reflection of truth. He is truth in person. “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). Through Him the world was made, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to restore our sight.

Before Jesus came, people could sense moral law, but they could not see it clearly. The Law showed the standard. Jesus showed the fullness of truth. In Him holiness and mercy and life are not separated. In Him moral purity and divine reality meet.

There are only two kingdoms. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of light has been revealed in Christ. The kingdom of darkness will pass away when His light is fully revealed.

The Reality of Death

Every person faces death. It rules over all. It does not ask permission. It does not show partiality. Scripture teaches that death was not part of the original order. God placed Adam in the garden with freedom and a clear boundary. “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

When Adam and Eve disobeyed, they did not drop to the ground. They kept breathing, but fellowship with God broke. Fear and shame entered. They hid from the Lord (Genesis 3:8). From that moment two kinds of death began to rule. Physical death. Spiritual death. Physical death is certain for all. Spiritual death is worse. It is separation from the God who is life.

We often call death natural. Yet we also call it loss. We say it is normal, yet we weep. That tension inside us shows what Scripture says is true. Death is not only the end of bodily life. It is also a sign that our relationship with our Creator is broken.

Every funeral, every illness, and every decay of the body is like a mirror. Death says, You are not what you were meant to be. Darkness shows the absence of light. The absence of God’s order and presence.

Most people still live as if death is only an unfortunate fact. We build little kingdoms that crumble. We chase pleasures that fade. We hold achievements that will be forgotten. Death shows the futility of life apart from God. We can enjoy creation and even profit from it, but when we use it outside its created order, the result within the gift is death. Good things rot when cut off from their source.

The problem is not that we cannot find meaning. The problem is that we try to make meaning without God. We keep reaching for the same tree. We hope this time the fruit will not harm us.

Here John’s words cut to the heart. God is light. He is goodness itself. He is truth itself. He is life itself. Apart from Him we may exist, but we do not live. Our thinking and our loves bend away from reality. Every plan and dream that is cut off from God joins a dying system. Jesus entered that world. He did not come to make the dark more comfortable. He came to show that it cannot last.

If We Walk in the Light

John moves from who God is to how we must respond. The light exposes a choice. We either walk in it or we remain in darkness. There is no middle ground. “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). The danger is not only ignorance. The danger is hypocrisy. You cannot claim fellowship with God and keep a pattern of darkness. When the light is on, darkness is consumed.

Walking in darkness is more than doing wrong things. It is a way of life that trusts human reason over divine revelation. It makes the self the highest authority. It calls independence freedom, but it is bondage to blindness.

God’s Word is the lamp for our feet and the light for our path (Psalm 119:105). His commands are a light that preserves life (Proverbs 6:23). To reject them is not freedom. It is harm to the soul.

John also warns us not to deny sin. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Darkness hides inside denial. The light of God exposes not only our surroundings but also our hearts. No one escapes God’s judgment by pretending to be clean (Romans 2:3).

Others claim, “We have not sinned” (1 John 1:10). They redefine sin as a preference. They call rebellion freedom. John does not allow that. To deny sin is to call God a liar. It denies the very reason Christ came.

The modern world says that good and evil are up to each person. It says truth shifts with culture. John will not allow that. The standard of good and evil does not come from a vote. It is revealed by the Creator.

To walk in the light is to live honestly before God and people. It is to confess rather than conceal. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God forgives in a way that fits His justice and His promise. Because of the blood of Jesus, God remains just and He declares sinners righteous. He does not ignore sin. He overcomes it in the cross.

Walking in the light is not sinless perfection. It is a new direction. The believer is not free from all sin yet, but the believer is no longer defined by darkness. The blood of Jesus goes on cleansing. His once for all sacrifice is always enough. The Spirit keeps applying that grace as we walk with Him.

This is sanctification. We grow into His likeness as the Spirit shines into every corner of our hearts. Darkness fades like the night gives way to morning. We are already declared clean in our standing. We are being cleansed in our daily experience.

The Reality of Life

The story does not end with death or with struggle. John does not leave us staring only at our sin. He points us to the Savior who makes sinners into sons and daughters. The same light that exposes also heals. The same truth that condemns also redeems.

When Jesus died, He faced the power of death. What Adam lost, Jesus restored. What sin corrupted, Jesus renewed. Light triumphed over darkness. The tomb is empty. We live between dawn and full day. The light has broken into the world. The world still groans. The believer lives in tension. Fully forgiven and still being refined. Fully alive and still waiting for resurrection.

This is why John’s words matter. To walk in the light now is to live for the day when the light will cover the earth. “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). The final unveiling of light is not only a place. It is a Person.

Every act of holiness, every confession, and every step of repentance is a small share in that future. We are being remade in His image. We are being restored to what we were meant to be. We are people who reflect the glory of our Creator. Until that day, the light shines in us. The Spirit sanctifies. The Word guides. The fellowship of the church is a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. The church is not the source of light. It is a lamp that carries the light of Christ into a dark world.

Reflection

John’s message does not allow comfortable religion. If God is light, then everything that opposes Him is darkness. If He alone defines truth, then human claims of total independence are false.

Ask yourself a simple question. Do I live in the light or do I remain in darkness. If you live in darkness, you may function, but you will not live. Knowledge, pleasure, and success will decay. Death will take everything that is built apart from the light.

If you walk in the light and come to Christ, you will see clearly for the first time. You will see sin for what it is. You will see grace for what it costs. You will see life for what it can be. You will live truthfully. You will stop hiding. You will stop deceiving yourself.

The meaning of life and the way of righteousness are found in Jesus. Death and sin are the great problems of humanity. Both have an answer in Him. Do not quit when you fail. Keep going until the city of light is revealed from heaven. The light has come into the world. The darkness has not overcome it.

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Scripture References for Study

• John 1:9–13; 8:12; 12:44–46; 14:6–7; 18:37–38 — Jesus is the true light who reveals the Father and truth itself.
• Genesis 2:15–17; 3:7–8; 3:19; 5:5 — The fall, the entry of death, and the loss of fellowship with God.
• Psalm 119:105 — God’s Word guides our steps.
• Proverbs 6:23–24 — God’s commands preserve life and protect from evil.
• Romans 2:2–3 — No one escapes the just judgment of God.
• Luke 3:7–9; Matthew 21:25–27 — The call to repentance and the danger of denial.
• Acts 26:15–18 — Christ sends to turn people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.
• 2 Peter 1:3–11 — Grow in godliness and confirm your calling with a life that bears fruit.
• Revelation 21:23 — The city needs no sun. The glory of God gives it light. The Lamb is its lamp.