What Does 1 John 1:8 Show Us About Sin?

     What was the early church like by  A.D. 90?  From John’s writings we see that several heresies had crept in.  In the first chapter, John points out one of them:

If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8, 10

     In many of the opening chapters of the Life-Study of 1 John, Witness Lee explains the historical background of John’s writings. What a window this was to help me see clearly why John focused on certain aspects of the truth.  

One thing you’ll notice in John’s writings is he's polemical--he refutes these erroneous teachings with strong arguments based on the truth in God’s word. 

    For instance, John emphasizes in this first chapter the importance of confessing our sins.  Not only is this to help us maintain our fellowship with God, but it also exposes the heretical teachings of the Antinomians who taught that a believer could sin and still have fellowship with God.  What were they thinking?!  As far-fetched as that may seem, believers got deceived by it.

     I liked these excerpts in chapters 8 and 12 of the Life-Study of 1 John because brother Lee clearly points out on page 72, 99, 101, and 102 some of the prevailing heretical teachings at that time and presents what the word of God shows us:

The Antinomians claim that we can still have fellowship with God even if we live in sin. John wrote 1:6 to refute this false teaching….To say that we do not have sin is to say that we do not have sin (Rom. 7:17) within our nature.  This is what Gnostic heresy teaches. The apostle is inoculating the believers against this false teaching….Even though they sin only occasionally, not habitually, their sinning is an adequate proof that they still have sin working within them….In this word God exposes our true sinful condition both before and after regeneration….Indwelling sin is the sin we inherited through our natural birth. This sin came into mankind through Adam, and now it dwells in our nature. Even after we have been saved and regenerated, sin remains in our fallen flesh….We should never believe that this nature has been eradicated. The sinful nature will remain in our flesh until the Lord Jesus comes back and by His divine power transfigures our fallen body (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 John. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1983, Print).

   Years ago I met a believer who believed that after her salvation she no longer had a sinful nature. A few of us got together with her to check this out in the Word.  She shared all the verses that supported her view, and me and the others were flipping through our Bibles trying to find the verses that showed otherwise. I was about 28 years old, and that experience showed me and some others how short we were in being able to clarify a point of truth. I realized then it's not enough just to say things, you have to learn how to back up what you say with God's Word.  And I'm still learning.

I enjoy listening to live excerpts and the commentary on these Life-Studies on the  Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee while I"m cooking, cleaning, and typing.   

Other Posts on 1, 2, 3 John and Jude:

What Does the Greek Word for Fellowship Mean in 1 John 1:3?