What consists the truth?
The risk we face is in believing that truth is simply a collection of specific statements of doctrine, losing the ability to distinguish between truth and statement of truth. The gap between the two is as significant as the difference between a law and its written version. The true law is alive, while its written form is merely a reflection. We’re at risk of turning truth into a fixed doctrine and mistaking that for truth itself.
There is one particular element of the truth which cannot be formulated nor stated. No human language can fully convey the truth of God.
7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8. Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen [talks about wisdom of God], nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
The complete truth of God cannot be captured by human words, for if it could, it would be heard by the ear. Nor can it be fully grasped by human thought, for then it could enter into the heart of man. Truth can only be revealed to us through the gift of the Spirit of truth.
Doing the truth
What message did John bring?
5. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
What is walking in darkness?
16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
John has a continuous though when writing the epistle, so we should ignore the chapter separation. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. We cannot have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness. We cannot have fellowship with the Father, while being in the world, subjected unto the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
As Seventh-day Adventists we may say we have the truth, but if we walk in the darkness we do not do the truth, and we lie. The real truth cannot be taught in theological seminars, rather it is taught some else, by someone else.
27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Who can teach us the real truth? It is no man that can teach us the truth, rather the anointing of the Holy Spirit, by which we abide in Christ and the Father (1 John 2:24):
28. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
This is the message: God is light, and if we live in that light, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The evidence of whether we possess the truth lies in how it impacts our lives. Does it cleanse us from sin? If we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. God’s light is the expression of His life, which purifies and removes sin.
Blotting out our sin
The notes take from the article "Blotting Out of Sin - E. J. Waggoner, p.8"