Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 149:594 (Apr 1992)
Article: The Meaning of Walking “in the Darkness” (1 John 1:6)
Author: Charles P. Baylis

BSac 149:594 (Apr 92) p. 214

The Meaning of Walking “in the Darkness” (1 John 1:6)

Charles P. Baylis

Adjunct Professor of Bible
LeTourneau University, Longview, Texas
Tampa Bay Theological Seminary, Holiday, Florida

In 1 John 1:6 the Apostle John wrote that an individual does not have fellowship with God if he is walking “in the darkness.” “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Walking in the darkness is generally understood to refer to a person who is currently sinning. As Bruce states, “light is a synonym of goodness and truth, while ‘darkness’ is a synonym of evil and falsehood.”1 Dodd also voices this majority interpretation when he states,

Light is for him primarily the symbol of sheer goodness; darkness, of moral evil. If then God is altogether good, without any trace of evil, it follows that we cannot have fellowship with Him without being good in our degree…. To be within the light, then-that is to say, to be in union with God—means to lead a good life, since God is good. This is the true basis of fellowship in the Church. It is a society of people who, believing in a God of pure goodness, accept the obligation to be good like Him.2

This view of walking in the darkness is so prevalent that while both sides of the current lordship salvation debate disagree on much, they concur on this definition. They hold that a person who is walking in the darkness is involved in some individual3 sin.

BSac 149:594 (Apr 92) p. 215

Those who oppose lordship salvation and who emphasize grace,4 teach that the sin of a believer causes a temporary disruption in his or her relationship with God.5

John knew, as does every perceptive pastor, that Christians sometimes feign spirituality while engaging in acts of disobedience…. A Christian who says he is in fellowship with God (who “is Light”) but is disobeying Him (walking “in the darkness”) is lying. Ten times John used darkness to refer to sin (John 1:5; 3:19; 12:35 [twice]; 1 John 1:5–6; 2:8–9, 11 [twice]).6