Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

Honest to God

  ⁵This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Discussion Questions

-What image does verse 5 use in describing God?  What is it about that picture that is so important in describing the character of God?

-The word “fellowship” in verse 6 implies a very intimate relationship, similar to that described by Christ when he said “I am the vine, you are the branches.”  Read this verse and pick one:

1.This verse says that walking in darkness will destroy my intimate relationship with Christ.

2. This verse says that walking in darkness indicates that my relationship with Christ is already on the skids.

            -Why did you pick the one you did?  Does that mean the other isn’t true as well?

-Why is lying, or not living by the truth, connected so closely to the image of darkness? 

-Do you think that people can “fake” an intimate relationship to God?  What might that look like?

-Since walking in darkness is connected to not living by the truth, what do you think verse 7 means by “walk in the light”?

-What two things happen if we do that, according to verse 7?

-How does living that way help our fellowship with each other? 

-Why is living like this so important to being purified by the blood of Jesus?

-Do you think verses 8-10 describe what an “honest” relationship with God is like?  What two things happen when we are willing to confess our sins to God?

-Since this passage is about “fellowship” with God, do you think that the forgiveness spoken of here is about what gets us to heaven, or about what restores an intimate relationship to God?

Leaders' Guide

This lesson encourages us to live honest spiritual lives, especially in being willing to admit our sins and our sinfulness to God in order to restore our intimate relationship to him.

-What image does verse 5 use in describing God?  What is it about that picture that is so important in describing the character of God?

            This verse says that God is light.  That could be something that illuminates, or something that is pure, but in the context of this passage it denotes something with nothing to hide.  In the light you can see everything.  God is our example of the perfectly transparent, authentic being that is always approachable, as opposed to people who pretend to be something they aren’t, leaving them with things that they have to keep hidden in order to maintain their masquerade.

-The word “fellowship” in verse 6 implies a very intimate relationship, similar to that described by Christ when he said “I am the vine, you are the branches.”  Read this verse and pick one:

            The word here is koinonia, an extremely close friendship.  

1.This verse says that walking in darkness will destroy my intimate relationship with Christ.

2. This verse says that walking in darkness indicates that my relationship with Christ is already on the skids.

This verse speaks of our fellowship with Christ as only a claim we make, which isn’t true.  Hence, the second option is right for this context. 

            -Why did you pick the one you did?  Does that mean the other isn’t true as well?

            Obviously, if we choose to live in darkness that can have adverse effects on our relationship to God.  Most often, however, the Bible speaks of dark behavior as something that indicates a relationship that was already going sour, or possibly doesn’t even really exist yet. 

-Why is lying, or not living by the truth, connected so closely to the image of darkness? 

            Darkness hides things, which is precisely what lying is meant to do.  Remind the group that this is not just about telling lies—this is about how we are walking, a metaphor for living.  It describes people who are literally “living a lie”, pretending to have a real relationship with God when none really exists.

-Do you think that people can “fake” an intimate relationship to God?  What might that look like?

            Don’t let this degenerate into gossip, and try not to name names.  But people may be able to describe self-professed Christians who put on airs of piety, but by their behavior revealed the true nature of who they are.  Unfortunately, many examples of this exist.  The way to avoid it in our own lives is what this passage is about, with the specific suggestion upcoming.

-Since walking in darkness is connected to not living by the truth, what do you think verse 7 means by “walk in the light”?

            Clearly, this is about living an honest life with God as well as other people. Why people would attempt anything else with the God who sees everything is a mystery, but they certainly do.  This in and of itself underscores that they really lack a relationship with God, perhaps to the point of believing he doesn’t exist, or is powerless to know that they are living a lie, or perhaps is simply not concerned about their duplicity.  None of these views of God would characterize someone who really knows him well.

-What two things happen if we do that, according to verse 7?

            We have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.  The next two questions explore what this might mean.

-How does living that way help our fellowship with each other? 

            Clearly, real fellowship with people is made much easier when we aren’t trying to fool them about who we really are.

-Why is living like this so important to being purified by the blood of Jesus?

            Here comes the trick.  The Bible is clear that we are saved by grace, a free gift of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Two things could be happening here. One is that repentance is always a pre-requisite for receiving God’s gift of salvation (see Acts 2:38)  We must turn from walking in the darkness and embrace walking in the light in order to receive that gift.  The other is that this could refer to being empowered to not sin.  In the context of this discussion of restoring good fellowship, or intimate communion, with God this would seem to make more sense. The next verses also make it clear that this is probably what John meant to convey.

-Do you think verses 8-10 describe what an “honest” relationship with God is like?  What two things happen when we are willing to confess our sins to God?

            We have our sins forgiven and he purifies us from all sin. 

-Since this passage is about “fellowship” with God, do you think that the forgiveness spoken of here is about what gets us to heaven, or about what restores an intimate relationship to God?