1 This is what has been from the begin ning, and
what we have heard and have seen with our own eyes, what we have looked at
and touched with our hands, I mean the Word who is Life¡
2 The Life made itself known, we have seen Eternal Life and we bear witness,
and we are telling you of it. It was with the Father and made himself known
to us.
3 So we tell you what we have seen and heard, that you may be in fellowship
with us, and us, with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 And we write this that our joy may be complete.
Walk in the light
5 We heard his message from him and announce it to you: God is light and
there is no darkness in him.
6 If we say we are in fellowship with him, while we walk in darkness, we lie
instead of being in truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we are in fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from
all sin.
8 If we say, ¡°We have no sin,¡± we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.
10 If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, his word is not in us.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Letter of 1 John, Chapter 1
• 1.1 The Word: see John 1:1. John will not speak about miracles, or
revelations, or secrets jealously kept by some initiates. The truth that he
relates to us is both simpler and more divine than all this: God, the
Eternal Life, has come to live with us.
Life became visible. Do not look for miracles or miraculous powers. Do not
expect fantastic revelations about the beyond. Life was revealed as the gift
of the Father, the rebirth of a humanity without hope, the divine smile, the
unexpected visit of the one seeking to share his life with humans (Pro
8:31). We will not find life in mere books, but through communion with those
who have seen and experienced it before us, and who became his Church.
• 5. But if we walk in the light: this is the Christian life.
Over and beyond other truths which people discover, there is a light (an
evidence or a presence) which is total Truth and which cannot be divided:
one is or is not in the light. It does not give knowledge directly, but
affects the whole person who acts, lives, and walks in the Light. Those
walking in faith discover this light and find themselves freed from many
obstacles:
¨C the partial vision of one who is enthusiastic for a cause but ignores
other issues that are equally important, of one who orders one part of his
life but leaves in disorder other parts;
¨C the restlessness of one who does not have a goal and who silences his
doubts by throwing himself into frantic activity;
¨C the sectarianism that prevents us from being ¡°universal brothers and
sisters.¡±
Little by little faith opens for us a global vision of human reality. The
first criterion to know if we are walking in the light: have we given up
sin? John here denies what certain people say: ¡°Since we are Christians, we
are united to God and so the sins of the body are not important.¡±
John declares that if we decide for God, we cannot continue to surrender to
sin. Obviously, no one is without sin; we all need the salvation of Christ;
but forgiveness itself compels us even more to stay away from sin.
John invites us to confess our sins to God, that is to say, to admit humbly
before God that we have sinned, but with confidence in his kindness. If this
attitude were not present, the sacrament of ¡°confession¡± would be worthless.
On the other hand, confessing our sins in the sacrament of penance helps us
keep our hearts open to God.