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.
The key to “walking in the light” with God is confession of sin. Once again, this “if” may or may not be true of the believer. If it is true, we confess our sins, then the promise that follows becomes our experience.
The plural “our sins” is important to notice. John is not using sins here in the generic sense, but in the specific sense. These are our known sins. What he affirms is that when we confess the sins we know about, God is faithful to forgive us of those sins we confessed. He is not only faithful to do it, but He is righteous in doing it, in forgiving us. Why? The blood of His Son, Jesus, is actively cleansing us. His death on the cross not only provides forgiveness for the sins we confess, but God applies His work to those sins we don’t know about and thereby makes us morally pure. That is the sense of His cleansing “us from all unrighteousness.”
The key to walking in the light and having fellowship with God is confessing the sins we know about and trusting God to forgive those we don’t. When we confess our known sins, we can have absolute confidence that at that moment, we are in communion with God, and Jesus has made us clean. This is the central point of the chiasm John is developing.
The chiasm now begins to move out from its center with parallel affirmations as is seen in the next verse, which is parallel to 1:8.