Koinonia with God and His Son, Jesus Christ

Word studies: "koinonia" and "homologeo"

(translations from "Englishman's Greek" PDFs)

I John 1:1-4

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—

2 the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the Eternal Life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is one of my favorite books in the Bible, the short letter of First (I, or 1) John. However, in studying the passage lately with a really low-level, introductory set of Greek-learning PDFs I got online some months ago, I was blessed with a few wonderful insights. (The New Testament was originally written in Greek.)

koinonia - translated "fellowship"
means "sharing in COMMON"

therefore 1 John 1:3 can be translated:

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have sharing in common with us; and indeed our sharing in common is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Wow! We share in common with the FATHER and with HIS SON JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus SHARES His Father IN COMMON with us!!

And furthermore:

5 This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say we have sharing in common with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have sharing in common with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.

We must walk in the light to share in common with God. And if we do, we have sharing in common with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

This doesn't mean that we are perfect! Quite the contrary. Walking in the light actually EXPOSES sin. Then we CONFESS IT. What would we be confessing if we hadn't been made aware of sin?

So this is the transparent, non-hypocritical, humble, and freedom-filled life of the believer. We are free and joyful because our sins are forgiven, we are cleansed, and we share in common with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

confess: "homologeo" : "homo" (same) + "logeo" (to say)

To confess (our sins) is to say the same thing (about our sins) that the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and possibly our brethren do.

That is, when we sin, we agree, with God and Jesus Christ, that what we have done is sin. We don't try to cover our sins up or deny that they are sins.

9 If we say [the] same [of] our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned (anti-confession; this is the opposite of agreement -- denial), we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.

Therefore confession is the opposite of denial. And it's really important!

---

Scriptures from English Standard Version (ESV). Boldface emphases mine. Credit to the authors of the "Englishman's Greek" PDF series. Pronouns for God and the Lord Jesus Christ capitalized, as best I could.