This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

I thought about separating verses 5 and 6 from verse 7, but I guess my days of preaching “hell, fire and brimstone” and straight bible-thumping are past, so I will go ahead and add the promise of light to the threat that comes with darkness in this passage.So God is light. Not just any light, but a perfect light, for there is “no darkness at all.” Have you ever paid attention to an empty stage when a spot light is on? From a couple years of technical theater I can tell you that anything you shine that light on will be brightly illuminated. This is what it is like when we are in fellowship with Christ. We are walking in His light. However, if we simply take a step in the wrong direction, we are no longer in the spotlight. There are clear boundaries to the spotlight, as there are to His will. I believe that what this passage is telling us (and this will continue as we move further into 1 John) is that when we sin, we are no longer in fellowship with Christ. Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that we lose our salvation. I believe that once we are saved, there is nothing that we can do to lose our salvation, however though we may be saved, that doesn’t mean that we are in fellowship with Him.Have you ever been in a relationship with someone and gotten in a bad argument? You may still love the other person, however with the clash in interests, you may not feel particularly close to that person at the moment. This is very similar to what happens when we let our own interests get in the way of God’s interest. We let our sins divide us from Him, and though He still loves us, we have stepped away from Him, and out of the light.–AD