1 John 1:6

So think about this. If somebody says that they are joined up with God, but they keep on doing bad things all the time, that person is lying. They don’t know God, and they don’t live his way. It’s like they are walking in the dark.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

In Context

5Now we are going to tell you mob a special message. Jesus Christ told us that message, and now we are telling it to you. It is about God. He is properly good, and he never does anything bad. He is like a light that’s always really bright and never goes dark at all.

7But if we always try to do what is right, just like God always does what is right, it’s like we are walking in the light. If we live like that, it shows that we are in God’s family, and we are joined up with all the other people in God’s family. And we know that God’s son Jesus died for us, and he takes away all the bad things we do. It’s like his blood washes us and makes us properly clean inside.

Read all of 1 John 1

Cross References

Matthew 7:22One day, God will get me to judge everybody, and some people will say to me, ‘You are my leader and my boss. We used your power to tell people your messages, and to force bad spirits out of people, and to do a lot of other great things.’

John 8:12Jesus talked to the people again. He said, “I am like a light for all the people in the world. Anyone that follows me will not live the wrong way, as if they are in the dark, but I will show them how to live the right way, like a light shows people the way, and they will live with God for ever.”

John 11:10It’s only at night time that people do not have that light. Then they can’t see where they are walking, and they will fall down.” When Jesus said that, he was telling them that, just as people can walk until the end of the day, he had to keep on working until the end of his life, and it wasn’t time yet for him to die.

John 12:46I came to the world to tell people the true message, so that they can know the true message and believe in me. It’s like people were in the dark, but I came to be a light for them.

Matthew Henry on 1 John 1:6-8

The Apostolic Testimony. ( a. d. 80.) 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The apostle, having declared the truth and dignity of the author of the gospel, brings a message… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 John 1:6