THE PRACTICE OF TRUTH - 1 JOHN 1:6

 

Verse 6: If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

 

 

In verses 6-10 John presents 5 logistical statements indicated by the word ‘if’ in each verse. The objective is to determine that if the established hypothetically premise is true, then the conclusion that is reached will also be true. These verses follow the rule of Greek grammar pertaining to conditional clauses, demonstrating that the premise statement presents a logical connection with the conclusion reached.1

 

John’s First Premise Statement

First let us examine the subject matter of John’s premise statement in verse 6. The objective is to verify the honesty of the believer by evaluating what they say with what they do. His full premise is “if we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness.” What the believer who makes this factual statement means by fellowship is that they have a continuous, close and intimate relationship with the “God of Light,” the holy God of the universe. John presents here a glaring absurdity: that a believer could believe they are having fellowship with the holy God and continuously walk (live) in the realm of darkness. Remember that John maintains that in God “there is no darkness at all” (verse 5). For darkness is representative of sin and rebelliousness to God and is the domain of Satan and thus the opposite of holiness.  

The Conclusion

Therefore, if we as a believer in Christ profess that we are in an intimate relationship (fellowship) with God and our walk is in darkness, characterized by a sinful and rebellious life, then we are a liar. This word ‘walk’ means “to live or pass one’s life,”2 referring to a person’s manner of living. Christian ‘fellowship’ was defined in verse 3 as “an association involving close mutual relations and involvement”3 with God. This entails our participation and partaking of commonly shared interests and replicating the characteristics of God—specifically His holiness and His righteousness.

Not only are we exposed as a liar, but John adds that we “do not practice the truth.” Practicing the truth is not exactly the same as practicing medicine. Doctors practice medicine only when they are tending to patients. The meaning of the word ‘practice’ implies “any external act as manifested in the production of something tangible.”4 In contrast with the doctor, who practices medicine only on occasion, the inference here is that the believer is not consistently producing evidence of truth by his life as they should.

So, what is truth? Dr. Norman Geisler, maintaining that the nature of truth is essential to the Christian faith, states:

Not only does Christianity claim there is absolute truth (which is true for everyone, everywhere, always) but it also insists that truth is that which corresponds to the way things really are.5

Absolute truth originates with God through the revelation of His Son and Scripture. This was affirmed by Jesus’ proclamation that He is the truth (John 14:6), the eternal source of absolute Divine wisdom and knowledge, and that God’s “word is truth” (John 17:17b). God’s absolute truth assures us of objective truth—truth from Divine viewpoint as opposed to subjective human viewpoint. Human viewpoint makes up ‘truth’ statements based upon self-interest standards and has no objective basis, meaning that what is considered ‘truth’ for one person may not be considered ‘truth’ for someone else.

For the believer to practice the truth means that they are consistently producing clear evidence of their relationship with Jesus Christ on the basis of His truth standards. John defines these truth standards as “His commandments” in chapter 2:3-4. There the relational dynamics are further developed as the believer having “come to know” Christ; as opposed to the one who claims to know Christ and does not keep His commandments—that one is a liar.

Since all personal relationships are based upon the knowledge of one another, our relationship with God is no different. God knows us because He made man and formed us in His image (Genesis 1:27; 2:7). The only way that we can know Him is by how He has revealed Himself: by His creation (Isaiah 45:18) and by His Son, Jesus Christ, Who as the Word “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). But now He is revealed to us through the inspired writings of the Scriptures (Hebrews 1:1-2). The Scriptures are the embodiment of Divine truth and the means by which all believers come to know Jesus Christ. Not by some personal emotional or intangible feelings. The Apostle Paul described the procedure that God has established for believers today to learn His truth, and that is by a pastor-teacher:

And He gave...some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11b–13)

The believers’ fellowship with Christ is supposed to be a solemn and intimate relationship. But to “walk in darkness” concludes that it becomes transitory when personal sin causes a disruption of our fellowship. This is what John desires that believers may avoid, for outside of the fellowship relationship with God, the believer grieves7 and quenches8 the Holy Spirit Who, empowers them in their moment-by-moment “walk in the Light” (1:7), characterized by John as to “practice the truth” (1:6).

R.C.H. Lenski is correct in his analysis:

To think that we can remain in darkness and yet be in fellowship with him, in who there is no darkness whatever, is the height of delusion, the saddest contradiction.6

We must all examine ourselves to determine if we indeed practice the truth. Not the ‘truth’ of the world or a ‘truth’ that we devise apart from Scripture, but God’s Divine truth. The study and intake of God’s indispensable Word is essential for spiritual growth and for our empowerment to practice His truth.

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[1] Wallace, D. B. (1996). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Zondervan Publishing House, p.696.

[2] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G4043.

[3] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1.445.

[4] Zodhiates, G4160.

[5] Geisler, Norman L. (2002). Systematic Theology, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1.107.

[6] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.383.

[7] Ephesians 4:30

[8] 1 Thessalonians 5:19

 

 © 2024 David M. Rossi

 

THE FACE-CLOTH AND THE LINEN WRAPPINGS

   

John 20:3–7: So Peter and the other disciple [John] went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.

In the course of my reading of a Grantchester mystery story, an excerpt of the Easter sermon by the Anglican Vicar Sydney Chambers caught my attention.

Sidney was determined that his parishioners should share the joy and redemption of Easter, and took, as a symbol of his sermon, the image of the cloth left in the cave1 where Jesus had lain. It had been folded rather than thrown away, Sidney told his congregation, a sign, according to custom of the time, that he would return, to the table, to the meal and to the communion between God and man.

“We are Easter people,” he told the parishioners of Grantchester. “This is not one day out of three hundred and sixty-five, but the mainspring of our faith. We carry the Easter message each day of our lives, lives in which the pain of the Cross and the suffering of humanity are followed by the uncomprehended magnitude of the Resurrection.”2

The Face-Cloth

There are two things, in light of Biblical truth, to note about John 20:7. First, the ‘cloth’ which Chambers mentioned is noted in our translation under consideration as ‘the face-cloth.’ In the King James translation it is referred to as “the napkin, that was about His head.” The Greek word for face-cloth is soudarion and is found only 4 times in the New Testament. It comes from the Latin word sudarium meaning “sweat cloth” used for wiping off facial perspiration3 very much like what we know as a handkerchief. Two times it is used in this sense in Luke’s writings—Luke 19:20; Acts 19:12.

The two other times, John employs the word as a burial face-cloth. In John 11:44, Lazarus’ face was “wrapped around with a cloth (soudarion)” and in our passage, John 20:7. From the description of Lazarus’ burial it appears that a face-cloth was also wrapped around the head of Our Lord when He was placed in the tomb.

Second, even though Peter saw the same thing as John, “the linen wrappings lying” (vv. 5&6), Peter also saw that the face-cloth was “not lying with the linen wrappings” (v.7)—specifying the position of the face-cloth as having been4 “rolled up in a place by itself.” The Greek word for rolled up can mean either “to twist, roll up or wrap around.”5 There must be some reason that John drew attention to this particular detail. Notice that he does not state who rolled up the face-cloth.

From the Grantchester novel, the Vicar Chambers made an inference to a Jewish dining “custom of the time,” which alleged that when the master was through eating he would wad up the napkin and leave it on the table. But if he folded the napkin and laid it next to his plate, this was a sign that he intended to return. The fact of the matter is that there is no Jewish custom so described.6 It is a legend which attempts to create an exaggerated meaning for the “rolled up” face-cloth.

Nevertheless, there is a supernatural explanation that is more plausible: that John was indicating that the face-cloth was still in the same condition as it had been ‘rolled’ on Our Lord’s face, implying that at the moment of Jesus’s resurrection, He came right out of the burial linens and the face-cloth, not needing to personally tend to His burial garments. Dr. Merrill Tenney explains:

This means the headcloth [face-cloth] still retained the shape [and] the contour of Jesus’ head had given it and that it was still separated from the other wrappings by a space that suggested the distance between the neck of the deceased and the upper chest, where the wrappings of the body would have begun.7

After all, if Our Lord in His resurrection body could appear to His disciples while the doors were shut (John 20:19) then He surely could pass through grave clothes without disturbing how they were position on His body. 

Resurrection Promise

There is an element of truth in the Vicar Chambers’ Easter sermon: Jesus Christ will return at His Second Coming (Revelation 19:1-16) to set up His 1000 year reign on the earth. But for the His believers today, Paul instructs us to be:

Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus (Titus 2:13)

This blessed ‘hope’ is our confident expectation that He will return for us, the Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul describes this event, known as the Rapture8 of the Church:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)

The Rapture of living believers will “occur just prior to the beginning of the Tribulation”9 period and fulfills the promise that Jesus “rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; cf. Revelation 3:10). Paul says we should “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18) and the assurance He gave on the eve of His death:

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2–3)

This is the culmination of our eternal life established by His Resurrection—by the power and magnitude of His resurrection, He was able to promise: “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19b).

However, we are not an “Easter people.” But more meaningful, we are a “Resurrection People” 365 days a year and that is the mainspring and driving force of our faith.

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[1] The garden tomb was an actual above ground cave.

[2] Runcie, James (2012). Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 205-206.

[3] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 759.

[4] The force of the Greek Perfect Passive Participle

[5] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G1794.

[6] https://www.truthorfiction.com/folded-napkin/ [Retrieved March 26, 2024]

[7] Tenney, Merrill C. (1981). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Gaebelein, Frank E., Gen. Ed), Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 9.188.

[8] The term “rapture” comes from the Latin verb rapere from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible and is translated “will be caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. It literally means a “snatching away or a catching up.” MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson, p. 2038.

[9] Ryrie, C.C. (1995) The Ryrie Study Bible: Expanded Edition, NASB, Chicago, IL: Moody Press, p. 1909 note.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi
 

LIGHT AND DARKNESS - 1 JOHN 1:5

Verse 5: This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. (ESV)

 John now reflects upon a particular message that “we have heard” from the ultimate source of Him, Jesus Christ, that “God is light.” However, there is no recorded discourse of Our Lord stating precisely that God is light. This is the outcome of John, inspired by the Holy Spirit using his deductive reasoning when he declared the deity of Christ—“the Word was God” (John 1:1)—with Jesus’ declaration, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). This verse is the essential link in understanding the character of Jesus Christ and the Scriptural basis for the believers’ authentic fellowship with Him.

What follows is evidence of John’s obedience to the instruction the apostles received from Our Lord:

“What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” (Matthew 10:27)

Light and Darkness

Light as we know it is emanated from a source: the sun, a lamp, a fire. And conversely, darkness is devoid of any of these sources of light. But there is a supernatural light that God can radiate without the aid of a physical source—from His glorious nature. Prior to God’s creation of “the two great lights” (Genesis 1:16), the sun and moon, God declared in Genesis 1:3: “Let there be light”; and there was light—a light that must have come from “some fixed light source outside the earth.”1

Examining John’s use of the word light, we learn that it is used figuratively of holiness and purity.2 That God is holy is His essential essence means that His character is separated from that which is evil—darkness. Isaiah supports this fact when he heard the Seraphim calling out: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3; cf. Revelation 4:8). Ryrie asserts that “The threefold repetition means that God is uniquely holy.”3 And what still holds true today is the Old Testament decrees that the Apostle Peter reminds us of: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16; cf. Leviticus 11:44).

Darkness is also used figuratively here as the opposite of holiness—that which is evil and “emblematic of sin, as a condition of moral or spiritual depravity.”4 John is adamant in his assertion that in God there is absolutely no darkness. This is brought out by a literal translation of the Greek: “And darkness in Him does not exist, not even one bit.”5 The Apostle Paul explains this could not be said about ourselves prior to salvation.

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true). (Ephesians 5:8–9 ESV)

Who is the arbiter of what is holy and evil—light and darkness? For the answer to this we cannot rely upon human viewpoint. Our culture today is driven by the philosophy of secular humanism and refuses to advocate a clear distinction between that which is holy or evil. Instead, we turn to the source of absolute truth: the Word of Life. Scripture is God’s Word and the final objective authority in determining what is holy and righteous.

Mankind Loves Darkness

The reason our culture subjectively declines to make a distinction on moral issues was declared by Our Lord as the premise for His coming:

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19–20)

The world of mankind lies in the domain of darkness, rebellious towards God, even though He has made a way of escaping the judgment for their unbelief and their hatred of the Light. For those who have believed in Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the Apostle Paul explains exactly what God has provided:

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephesians 1:7)

And thus, Paul states: For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). This domain of darkness describes how “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one [Satan]” (1 John 5:19). Paul states that Satan is the god of this world and that he: “has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

This is the motivation for John’s command to believers to avoid the source of the unholy evil of darkness:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. (1 John 2:15–16)

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[1] Ryrie, C. C. (1995). Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update. Chicago: Moody Press, p. 4 note.

[2] Unger, M. F. (1988). Light, In The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., Eds.). Chicago: Moody Press.

[3] Ryrie, p. 1057 note.

[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 2.144–145.

[5] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 13.100.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi