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Corban Fleck
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God is Light
1 John 1:5-10
How shall we walk in the light?
#light
Published January 31st, 2020
Author
Corban Fleck
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Main point summary
Bracket
Notes
notes
Main point summary
God is light and therefore we must walk in the light by confessing our sins which God faithfully forgives because the blood of Jesus cleanses us.
Bracket
editing
NT
1 John 1:5-10
esv
l This is the message
we have heard from him
and proclaim to you,
progression
that m God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all.
negativepositive
ideaexplanation
n If we say we have fellowship with him
while we walk in darkness,
temporal
we lie
and o do not practice the truth.
conditional
But p if we walk in the light,
q as he is in the light,
comparison
we have fellowship with one another,
and r the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
s If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves,
and t the truth is not in us.
u If we confess our sins,
he is v faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and
r to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
series
If we say we have not sinned,
w we make him a liar,
and x his word is not in us.
inference
discourse
Notes
The center of this passage and the foundation for its message is the nature of God expressed in the simile: "God is light." The logical ramifications for us then are simple. If God is light, and we walk in darkness, therefore, we do not know God. So what does it mean to walk in the light? Saying God is light is a great literary device and it certainly sounds nice but what does that actually mean for how I live? Notice the emphasis of the passage in verses 8-10. The emphasis is not on trying to "be good" but rather it is on recognizing our failure to fulfill God's law and then repenting of our sin. John does not give us the law, he gives us the gospel. Those who walk in the light, i.e. continually repent, truly know God.
Comments
Brent Karding
Helpful notes as well. You brought out the emphasis of 9a-b within 8-10 very well - I was encouraged with the gospel!
Brent Karding
I think your choices of Series to connect 6-7 and 8-10, and of Inference to connect 6-10 to v5, are right on. Very well done!
Brent Karding
to forgive us our sins
9c-d shouldn't be connected with both 9a-b, but only with 9b since "to forgive us" describes only "he is faithful and just." Or to put it better, the infinitive in 9c (and the one in 9d) is the predicate of the verb "is" in 9b.
Corban Fleck
That is helpful, thank you.  Those infinitives were confusing me a bit.
Brent Karding
The structure of verses 8-10 is tricky, since you have a statement about "no sin," about confessing, and about saving "we have not sinned." That's three parts that seem to be equal in importance - kind of like a Negative-Positive-Negative! But that's not possible in the Bracketing module (unless you make a custom relationship).

I think you dealt with it well, with your Negative-Positive and the Idea-Explanation.
Corban Fleck
Yeah I was wasn't sure with exactly how to relate those three verses to each other, so I am glad it was clear.
Brent Karding
It was! You made a good choice among the options available.
Brent Karding
Good work here, Corban! I really like how you did verses 5-7 in every relationship (except for Progression in 7c-d - I don't see an order moving forward there).
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