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1 John 3:11
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 Corinthians 11:23
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus thesame night in which he was betrayed took bread:

that God.

Psalm 27:1
A Psalm of David. The LORDis my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORDis the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 36:9
For with theeis the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD Godis a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no goodthing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

God is light,
The metaphor of light is rich in biblical symbolism. Light represents purity, holiness, and truth. In the Old Testament, light is often associated with God's presence and guidance, as seen inPsalm 27:1 andIsaiah 60:19. The concept of God as light is also a direct contrast to the darkness of sin and evil. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to Himself as the "light of the world" (John 8:12), indicating His role in revealing God's truth and providing spiritual illumination. This phrase underscores the nature of God as inherently good and morally perfect.

and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Darkness symbolizes sin, evil, and ignorance. The complete absence of darkness in God highlights His absolute holiness and the impossibility of sin coexisting with Him. This is consistent with the biblical theme that God is unchanging and wholly righteous (James 1:17). The phrase also serves as a call to believers to walk in the light, as seen inEphesians 5:8, where Christians are urged to live as "children of light." The stark contrast between light and darkness in this passage serves as a moral and spiritual guide for the Christian life, encouraging believers to reject sin and embrace the truth of God.

(1)STATEMENT OF THE LEADING THOUGHT (1John 1:5).

(2)FIRST INFERENCE: The true fellowship (1John 1:6-7); the Christian must not sin.

(3)SECOND INFERENCE: Confession of sins (1John 1:8-10); the Christian must not conceal his sin. . . .

(1)Positive side. What walking in the light involves; the condition and conduct of the believer.

(2)1 John 2:7-28.Negative side. What walking in the light excludes; the things and persons to be avoided.Verse 5. - This verse constitutes the text and basis of this division of the Epistle, especially on its positive side.And the message which we have heard... is this. Again we have a remarkable parallel between Gospel and Epistle; both begin with aκαί (which connects the opening with the introduction in a simple and artless manner), and with the same kind of sentence: "And the witness of John is this." The readingἐπαγγελία (1 John 2:25, and frequent in the New Testament) must be rejected here and in1 John 3:11 in favour ofἀγγελία (which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament), on overwhelming evidence.Ἐπαγγελία in the New Testament means "promise," which would be almost meaningless here. The change fromἐπαγγέλλομεν (verses 2, 3) toἀναγγέλλομεν is noteworthy: the one is "declare," the other "announce." The message received from Christ, the apostle announces orreports (renunciat) to his readers. He does notname Christἀπ αὐτοῦ; he is so full of the thought of Christ that he omits to name him (cf.John 20:7, 9, 15).Ἀναγγέλλω is used ofauthoritative announcements; of priests and Levites in the LXX; of the Messiah (John 4:25); of the Spirit (John 16:13, 14, 15); of the apostles (Acts 20:20, 27;1 Peter 1:12). St. John speaks with authority.God is light; notthe Light, nor a light, but light; that is hisnature. This sums up the Divine essence on its intellectual side, as "God is love" on its moral side. In neither case has the predicate the article:ὁ Θεὸς φῶς ἐστίν ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν. Light and love are not attributes of God, but himself. The connexion between this message and the introduction is not at first obvious. But St. John writes with his Gospel before him, and the prologue to that supplies the link. There, as here, three ideas follow in order:λόγος ζωή φῶς. There, as here,φῶς immediately suggests its opposite,σκοτία. It is on the revelation of theΛόγος asφῶς, and the consequent struggle betweenφῶς andσκοτία, that the Gospel is based. And this revelation is the highest: men alone are competent to receive or reject it. Other organisms exhibit the creative power as life: none but men can recognize it as light. And to know theΛόγος as light is to know the Father as light; for theΛόγος is the Revelation of the Father's nature. That God is, in his very nature, light, is an announcement peculiar to St. John. Others tell us that he is the Father of lights (James 1:17), the Possessor of light (1 Peter 2:9), dwelling in light (1 Timothy 6:16); but not that he is light. To the heathen God is a God of darkness, an unknown Being; a Power to be blindly propitiated, not a Person to be known and loved. To the philosopher he is an abstraction, an idea, not directly cognizable by man. To the Jews he is a God who hideth himself; not light, but a consuming fire. To the Christian alone he is revealed as light, absolutely free from everything impure, material, obscure, and gloomy. Light was the first product of the Divine creative energy, the earnest and condition of order, beauty, life, growth, and joy. Of all phenomena it best represents the elements of all perfection. "This word 'light' is at once the simplest and the fullest and the deepest which can be used in human discourse. It is addressed to every man who has eyes and who has ever looked on the sun." It tells not only "of a Goodness and Truth without flaw; it tells of a Goodness and Truth that are always seeking to spread themselves, to send forth rays that shall penetrate everywhere, and scatter the darkness which opposes them" (Maurice). In like manner, darkness sums up the elements of evil - foulness, secrecy, repulsiveness, and gloom. In all but the lowest forms of existence it inevitably produces decay and death. Everything of the kind is excluded from the nature of God. And hence St. John, in his characteristic manner, immediately emphasizes the great announcement with an equivalent negative statement:Darkness in him there is not any at all (comp. verse 8;1 John 2:4, 23, 27;1 John 3:6;1 John 4:2, 3, 6-8;1 John 5:12). He does not say, "in his presence," but "in him." Darkness exists, physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual; there is abundance of obscurity, error, depravity, sin, and its consequence, death. But not a shade of these is "in him." The Divine Light is subject to no spots, no eclipse, no twilight, no night; as a Source of light it cannot in any degree fail.

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