If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1John 1:8.
As we know, good exegesis consists of using the inductive method, in taking many scriptures, and deriving a general conclusion from them. ‘The number, clarity and relevance of those many passages is crucial to the theological conclusions drawn. Building a doctrine on only one or two verses or passages which are unclear or not directly related to the issue, compromises the conclusion.’ (Olson: Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism, Introduction p4).
In the same letter we read:
He that commiteth sin is of the devil. 1 John 3:8.
Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him neither known Him John 3:6
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin 1 John 3:9
He that abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, as even as He walked 1 John 2:6
He that saith I know Him and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. 1John 2:4
Little children, let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. 1 John 3:7
My little children, these things I write to you that you sin not. 1 John 2:1
John’s first letter was written to counteract the heresy which was affecting the church and was a treatise for Christians in general as there is no mention of a specific church as was contended by Lampe in his appeal to Theodoret.
The apostle is declaring to the whole world, his disapprobation of the doctrines maintained by the early or proto Gnostics who taught that Jesus was by birth a mere man but that 'the Christ' descended on Him at His baptism.’ These Gnostics, who taught that man could be righteous in spirit and still sin in the flesh, contended that the apostles had added commandments not given by Christ concerning the doctrine of sanctification. John devotes the greatest part of his epistle to the confirmation and enforcement of his doctrine.
We see that John is describing a process whereby we can test ourselves to see if we are in the true Light whereby the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, and pointing out where the early Gnostic idea has been creeping in:
1:7 if we say we have no sin (as in Gnosticism, my insert) we deceive ourselves 1:8 but if we confess our sin, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here John shows where the deceivers depart from the truth. Their teaching was that they had no need of this cleansing, as they did not consider immoral actions as sin due to matter being evil which was escaped through having ‘special’ knowledge and not in keeping God’s law. They maintained that a child of God could still sin and continue to have fellowship with God, a concept which was known as ‘spirit salvation’.
The early fathers on the other hand, taught that we must at least be on the road to theosis or union with Christ and this starts with Purification, or knowledge of the sin within, with the desire that we will be cleansed from all sin not that it might remain within. We can see that John is comparing walking in the light to walking in darkness that is, walking in the flesh compared to walking in the Spirit. He is describing two different opposing state which corresponds perfectly with the teaching of the Apostle Paul when he talks about the 'carnal' or fleshy, against those who were walking in the Spirit.
In verses 7 and 9, John says that the benefit of walking in the light are:-
1)We have fellowship with one another in the unity of the Spirit (agreement)
2)By confessing our sins we will be forgiven
3)We will then be cleansed by the blood of Jesus from all unrighteousness and sin.
Whereas if we walk in the flesh:-
1)We are deceived and remain in our sin
2)There is no truth in us
3)We make God a liar by denying our need for cleansing from all sin.
So John is saying that it is only when we are walking in the darkness that we are blind to our need of coming to Christ for His cleansing from all sin. The letter is to believers and not unbelievers. And believers can fall into the error of walking in the flesh as Paul demonstrated to the Galatians who thought that they could go on to maturity or perfection through the works of the law and not through faith.
Those who were being misled by the Gnosticism and today by the preachers of 'positional righteousness' were walking in darkness because they were still sinning and did not see their need of the cleansing which can be provided by Christ alone. So they thought that they had no sin to be dealt with and were acceptable as they were to be in fellowship with Christ, but John says that they walk in darkness. But if we see our need for cleansing from all sin and come to Christ then He will be able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So it is these ones who are saying wrongly that they have no sin not the ones who have come to Christ and have been cleansed from all unrighteousness and are in union with Christ, or in the state of theosis.
Something that is a bit troubling, in the sense that it indicates a requirement of
even more carefulness in interpreting 1 John, is that John seems to be writing some of those things
specifically against Gnosticism, so when you try to apply them in
any and
every context, the statements don't work.
Gnosticism said the material world, not created by the true God, but some evil god, was evil, and two consequences of this belief were that :
1) Christ could not have incarnated--John says, "Any spirit that confesses Christ came in the flesh is from God."
2) Gnostic Christians could never be holy, but would continue in gross sin as long as they had bodies--John says, "The one who is born of God does not continue sinning".
So, here we have a problem : the Judaizers never denied Christ was incarnated. They held to the typical Gospel, which included Christ being crucified, but they
added that Christians were to serve by the Law of Moses, yet Paul identified their doctrine as having been originated with, taught them by, demons (1 Ti 4:1), as he said "this persuasion does not come from [God]".
Was John trying to say
their spirit was from God? No. Obviously not.
Therefore, we have to be careful in application of these things he is saying, it seems--John was directing that toward the Gnostic heresy, but it doesn't apply across the board.
When therefore John makes these statements about those who are born of God not sinning, it may be said that he meant to direct those things toward the Gnostics--that, yes, obviously, the church has always believed in sanctification, and Peter speaks about ceasing sinning, but to take that to sinless perfectionism would be error, because even John the Apostle admitted he sinned small errors (in Revelation).
