The first set of opposites that John uses is the Light vs Dark comparison. The contrasts of Light and Dark have been around since the beginning, and I am talking the very beginning.
Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. [b]So the evening and the morning were the first day.
From the beginning God has created the light and dark contrast. Lets take a quick look at the first light and dark without going too deep into the creation as that is not why we are here today. First lets look at a couple words in their original Hebrew.
raah - to see, makes an inspection
tob - pleasant, agreeable, good, beneficial
badal - to be divided, separate, made...distinction
choshek - darkness, obscurity
God created light and saw , He looked at it, inspected it and decided that it was beneficial or good, which implies a good vs bad purpose from the very beginning and He separated them. God created a world with two sides, light and dark so they could serve as a powerful metaphor for good and evil. He consistently links light and dark with good and evil through out scripture. (Job 30:26, Psalms 104:19-20, Isaiah 9:2-3) and in Revelations 21:25 and 22:5 we are told the new heaven and earth will have no night or darkness.
Jewish literature of this period also spoke in terms of light and dark calling the enemy "sons of darkness" and the faithful "sons of light". (see War Scroll and Book of War in the Dead sea scrolls community) So this metaphor would have been very familiar to his audience.
With that small background lets take a look at the next two verses in 1 John 1
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
The first truth that John wants to say is what he heard from Christ and that is, God is light. In John 8:12 Jesus declares “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 1 Timothy 6:16 says "Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen."and James 1:17"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
God is Light, unapproachable Light, the Light of the world, the Father of Light and in whom there is no darkness, no variation or shadow. Shadows suggest there is darkness present but with God there is no shadow so no darkness only light. God cannot sin and does not make any decisions from a position of sin. There is no darkness in Him at all and no variation or shadow, He does not change or vary His decisions on certain factors. He rules from purity and justice and ultimate truth.
We are not pure and are born into darkness and live in darkness until we see the Light of Christ and accept His gift of the light of life or eternal life and forgiveness. When we believe on Christ , His light and life fills us and lives within us. From that moment we move from walking in the darkness to walking in the light. Our focus becomes on walking in His light and walking away from the darkness that we use to walk in. When we willfully walk in moral darkness rebelling against God and His plan for us yet imply to others that we are "abiding and following"God then we are lying to ourselves and to others around us. Which is dangerous to not only us but could cause a fellow christian to stumble or an unbeliever to remain in a state of unbelief.
Darkness blinds us to the reality of the truth that without God we are stumbling around lost and confused desperately trying to create our own truth. Which was what the false teachers were promoting in the church John was talking to. They were up against teachers that said that their spiritual selves were so advanced that it did not matter what the flesh did because they had attained the higher spiritual level. They willfully sinned (and condoned others too sin) and did what was wrong while putting on the mask of being in fellowship with God. This showed that they were walking in darkness and lying to themselves and not practicing the truth of God. (2 Corinthians 6:14, 1 John 2:9-11)
Next time we will dig into walking in the Light and abiding in the Light and what that means.
As always read, read , read the bible , study what it says about our lives and what the darkness is that may be blinding us today.
Are our eyes blinded to some darkness we want to avoid dealing with today?
Do we live willfully misrepresenting ourselves as followers of the Light while living in darkness?
Until next time may God's Light shine on your life and through your life to others.
God Bless
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