Bible Strands
1 John 1:6
If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — John writes to a community of believers being challenged by teachers who claim close access to God while living in ways that contradict that claim. He draws a hard line between profession and practice.
The words — koinōnian (κοινωνίαν) carries the verse: it means shared participation, not mere acquaintance. The aorist subjunctive eipōmen (εἴπωμεν) marks the claim as hypothetical — "if we were to say" — which is what makes the lie conditional and avoidable.
The thread — The same pattern recurs in 1 John 2:4 (claiming to know God while breaking commandments) and 1 John 4:20 (claiming to love God while hating a brother), and echoes John 3:19 (loving darkness over light). In each case, a stated relationship is contradicted by observable conduct.
Why it lands — It forces the reader to test their own claim: if you say you have fellowship with God, your walk must be in the light, or the statement is false. The text offers no middle ground.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
Cross-references
- 1 John 2:4 If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
- 1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- John 8:12 Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Proverbs 2:13 from those who leave the straight paths to walk in the ways of darkness,
- 1 John 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.
- John 12:35 Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
- 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.