God Is Light
5 This is the message which we have heard from him and announce 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 the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth.
The first of the letter's two definitions of God is given as a message received rather than a conclusion reached, and the first thing it rules out is a claim.
Verse 5 is careful about where the statement came from. This is the message we have heard from him and announce to you — reported, not deduced. The letter will make one other statement of this kind, that God is love 1 John 4:8, and the two together frame everything between them.
The definition is then reinforced by denial: in him is no darkness at all. The Greek doubles the negative, which is emphasis rather than error. A definition stated positively could be shaded; the second clause closes the gap.
Verse 6 immediately applies it, and the form of the application is the letter's characteristic move. If we say — the writer quotes a claim before answering it, and he will do this repeatedly through the opening chapters 1 John 1:8 1 John 1:10 1 John 2:4. The claims being quoted are almost certainly the ones the departed group was making.
The claim here is fellowship with God alongside a life walked in darkness. The verdict has two parts and the second is sharper than the first: we lie, and we do not practice the truth. Truth in this letter is something done, not only something held — which is exactly what a group claiming superior knowledge would find hardest to hear.
settled What this mark means