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• Commentary on 1 John A PREFACE CONCERNING THE WORD OF LIFE (1:1–4)
• Jesus is here described as the Son (huios) of God, a term used for him, and him alone, twenty-two times in 1 John. When the author refers to believers as God’s children, he never uses the word “son” (huios) as, for example, Paul does (Rom 8:14, 19; 9:26; 2 Cor 6:18; Gal 3:7, 26; 4:6, 7; 1 Thess 5:5), but consistently uses the word “child” (teknion ...
• The meaning of koinōnia in 1 John 1:3, 6, 7 appears to denote a personal relationship with the author or with God, and may, in 1:3 in particular, include the idea of commitment to a common task, that of the proclamation of the Word of life.
• To put it another way, there is no real fellowship with God that is not expressed in fellowship with other believers.
• By his use of the present tense for the verbs “to walk” and “to purify,” the author represents both the walking and the cleansing as continuous activities. One lesson that may be learned from this second consequence is that walking in the light does not mean that those who do so never sin, but that they do not seek to hide that fact from God.