Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 1 John · About this commentary
Cleansing While We Walk
1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. · WEB
The alternative to walking in darkness is not a spotless life but a cleansing that runs continuously while the walking goes on.
One verse, and it answers the previous one point for point. Against walking in darkness, walking in the light. Against a lie, fellowship that is real.
The standard set is higher than a reader expects. Not walking toward the light or according to it, but as he is in the light — the comparison is with God himself. Anyone who takes that as a description of achieved conduct will find the sentence crushing, and the second half of the verse is what prevents that reading.
The first result is horizontal, which is the surprise. Walking in the light produces fellowship with one another. A reader would expect fellowship with God, since that was the claim under dispute in verse 6. The letter's consistent position is that the vertical claim is tested by the horizontal reality 1 John 4:20.
Then the second result, and the tense carries it. The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses — present and continuous, not a completed act in the past. The cleansing is concurrent with the walking, which means the light is not a place reached by those who no longer need washing. It is where the washing happens.
That is the balance the whole letter will hold, and it is set down before either extreme has been named.
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