Over the past several years, there’s been a renewed focus on the truth. We almost just come to expect that politicians will lie to us as they campaign for office. AI-driven deep-fakes have gotten so good that we even question the authenticity of things like video evidence of crimes or audio recordings of people. The more we hear lies, the more we appreciate what is real. But beyond knowing the truth, there’s a unique phrase seen only twice in the New Testament that is truly profound – the challenge to “do the truth.”
One of the places where this is used is in 1 John 1:6. In this letter, John is comforting and instructing a church that has recently seen a number of people walk away from their faith. Members of their own congregation have left them, denying the gospel and rejecting those who follow it. As John encourages them, he writes with the basic idea that there is no difference between belief and behavior. If you believe something, it will reveal itself in your actions. If there’s a difference between what you say is true and how you live your life, then do you really believe it?
Those who had walked away from the church community specifically denied the possibility that there were still sins and imperfections in their lives. They were warped by the idea that they were pure since coming to faith in Christ. In other words, they were putting up a Christian show while denying their own struggles and failures. In 1 John 1, he writes this:
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. – 1 John 1:6-8
We all fail. There are discrepancies between our beliefs and behaviors in all of us, Christian or not. And nothing could be more damaging than faking a sense of holiness and perfection that isn’t there. John is saying that if we claim fellowship with God but walk in sin, we aren’t practicing the truth. In the Greek, it directly translates as not “doing the truth.”
We have to be authentic with God and with each other about where we are. When we fail, we have a God who loved us so much that he sent his son to die on our behalf so that we could be made righteous. We’re not just forgiven, we’re justified thanks to his sacrifice. True fellowship with him means bringing sin into the light so that those areas of our lives can be brought into full alignment with him.
I am amazed by the courage of men in my church who will be honest enough to pull me aside at times and admit their failures at home, with their purity, or in their dealings with others. They aren’t telling me so they can just get it off their chest and feel better. They want someone to remind them of the gospel, ask them the hard questions about their own sin, and push them to do the truth. They recognize that their fellowship with God and others is harmed by the dark secrets they hide. They also recognize that there is freedom in dealing with them.
So why not drop the pretense? The gospel invites authenticity. So do the truth. Recognize the areas where you especially need his forgiveness. Be vulnerable enough to invite others into your spiritual journey for encouragement and accountability. It takes both a courage and humility that is unnatural in our world today. But this is what it means to live in the light.
