1That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life 2(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us); 3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.
5This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2:3 The next three verses are parallel with 1:6 and the claim to walk in the light and thereby have fellowship with God. He does this by putting his “if” clause in the second half of the sentence. John begins by stating the truth that we can have assurance that we know God. How do we know it is God with whom we have communion? We commune with God through obedience. A lifestyle of obedience provides assurance of communion as well as of salvation. John is not talking about legalism, keeping rules that go beyond Christ’s teachings and God’s commands throughout the New Testament. Keeping rules is an invalid way to assure oneself of salvation. Anyone can keep rules. Even so, there is a place for obedience in the life of a believer. What is to be obeyed are the teachings and commandments of Scripture, the written demands of God. Jesus made this clear in the Upper Room when He told His apostles that they would keep His commands if they loved Him (John 14:23-24). Their obedience was the prerequisite to experiencing the love and presence of God in their lives. Notice, Jesus said this to regenerate saints, the eleven apostles, not potential believers.
The assurance a person is to have is expressed in the Greek verb tenses in this sentence. The first “know” is present tense, indicating the person’s belief at the time the claim to know God is made. The second “know” is a perfect tense verb in Greek, which indicates a past action that has continuing results to the present. Thus, the person’s assurance is that they came to know God in the past and continue to know Him (relationally) to the present. In short, we can know experientially that we are living out communion with God.