1 John 1:6

1 John 1:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
• New International Version (NIV)If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
• English Standard Version (ESV)If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Context of 1 John 1:6

4We are writing to you so that together we all may be completely happy. 5We are telling you the good news that Jesus Christ told to us. This is the message: God is completely good and clean. He is like light. There is nothing dark about him. Do you say that you share in the life that God gives? If you say that, but if you still live in the dark, you are telling a lie. You are not living in God's true way. 7But when we live in a right way, it is like living in the light. God is always in the light. So, if we live in the light, we share together in the life which God gives. And when Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross, he saved us from all our sins. The blood of his sacrifice makes us clean. 8If we say that we never do any wrong thing, we are deceiving ourselves. Even though we may think it is true, it is a lie.

1 John 1:6 word by word

ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι κοινωνίαν ἔχομεν μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει περιπατῶμεν, ψευδόμεθα καὶ οὐ ποιοῦμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Ifἐάνean · ifG1437
• we sayλέγωlegō · to sayG3004
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• we haveἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• fellowshipκοινωνίαkoinōnia · participationG2842
• withμετάmeta · with/afterG3326
• himαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• walkπεριπατέωperipateō · to walkG4043
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• darknessὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• darknessσκότοςskotos · darknessG4655
• we lieψεύδομαιpseudomai · to lieG5574
• doποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• notοὐou · noG3756
• the truthἀλήθειαalētheia · truthG225

Cross-references for 1 John 1:6

• 1 John 1:8If we say that we never do any wrong thing, we are deceiving ourselves. Even though we may think it is true, it is a lie.
• 1 John 2:4Someone may say, ‘I belong to God.’ But if he does not obey God's commands, that person is telling a lie. He is not living in the way that God's true message teaches us.
• 1 John 4:20Someone may say, ‘I love God.’ But if he says that and he hates another Christian, he is telling a lie. He sees other believers but he does not love them. So he surely cannot love God that he has not seen.
• Matthew 7:22On the day when God judges people, many of them will say, “Master, Master! We used your authority and we spoke a message from you. We used your authority and we sent bad spirits out of people. We used your authority to do many powerful things.”
• James 2:14My Christian brothers, you say that you believe in God. Then you must show this in the things that you do. If not, your faith will not help you. It will not save you.
• Revelation 3:17You say, ‘I am rich. God has helped me to have many things. I do not need anything more.’ But you do not know how very poor you are really! You are like people who cannot see. You are like people who are without clothes. Really, other people should feel very sorry for you.
• 1 John 1:3We also want you to share this new life with us. We share this life with God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son. That is why we are telling you about everything that we have seen and heard.
• Psalms 5:4My God, you do not like anything that is bad. Evil people cannot live near you.
• Psalms 94:20You will not become a friend of cruel rulers. They make laws that only hurt people.
• 2 Corinthians 6:14Do not become united with people who do not believe in Christ. God has made you right with himself. Right and wrong cannot work together. Light and dark cannot join together.
• 1 John 2:9A person may say that he is living in the light. But if that person hates another believer, then he is telling a lie. He is still living in the dark.
• Psalms 82:5The powerful leaders know nothing and they understand nothing. They walk about in a dark place. At the same time the foundation of the earth shakes!
• Proverbs 2:13Those people no longer follow honest ways. They live in dark places.
• Proverbs 4:18The life of righteous people is like the sun at dawn. It gets brighter and brighter until midday.
• John 3:19God's Son has brought light into the world. But some people did not love the light. They loved the dark instead. That was because they were doing evil things. That is why God has decided to punish those people.
• John 11:10But anyone who walks during the night will fall down. He will fall down because he has no light.’

Commentaries on 1 John 1:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6If we say that we have fellowship - Having fellowship, , communion, with God, necessarily implies a partaking of the Divine nature. Now if a man profess to have such communion, and walk in darkness - live an irreligious and sinful life, he lies, in the profession which he makes, and does not the truth - does not walk according to the directions of the Gospel, on the grace of which he holds his relation to God, and his communion with him. The Gnostics…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6If we say that we have fellowship uith him - If we reckon ourselves among his friends, or, in other words, if we profess to be like him: for a profession of religion involves the idea of having fellowship with God, (compare the notes at 1 John 1:3), and he who professes that should be like him. And walk in darkness - Live in sin and error. To “walk in darkness” now commonly denotes to be in doubt about our religious state, in contradistinction from living…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-10Verses 5-10 A message from the Lord Jesus, the Word of life, the eternal Word, we should all gladly receive. The great God should be represented to this dark world, as pure and perfect light. As this is the nature of God, his doctrines and precepts must be such. And as his perfect happiness cannot be separated from his perfect holiness, so our happiness will be in proportion to our being made holy. To walk in darkness, is to live and act against religion…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6This is the first of several times when John challenges the claims of the Gnostics. These teachers had separated themselves from the fellowship of the apostles, so they were living in spiritual darkness. They claimed to have fellowship with God, but they did not show God’s character, which is light. Jesus warned the Jewish leaders of his day not to let the light they believed they had become darkness (Matthew 6:23). Their religious beliefs kept them from…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. say--profess. have fellowship with him--(1Jo 1:3). The essence of the Christian life. walk--in inward and outward action, whithersoever we turn ourselves [Bengel]. in darkness--Greek, "in the darkness"; opposed to "the light" (compare 1Jo 2:8, 11). lie--(1Jo 2:4). do not--in practice, whatever we say. the truth--(Ep 4:21; Joh 3:21).Read the comment

Topics related to 1 John 1:6

• Blindness
• Confession
• Darkness
• Fellowship
• Holiness
• Hypocrisy
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Deceive
• Fellowship
• Forgiveness of sin
• Light
• Unction
• Walk
• Johannine Theology
• John, the Epistles of
• John, the First Epistle General of

Commentaries on 1 John 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings