1 John 1:10

We have not sinned. This is the third and most specific spurious claim to holiness (see vs. 6, 8). Verse 6 records the false claim to fellowship with God while walking in darkness. This is an easy claim to make but often a hard one to refute. Verse 8 states the claim to a sinless heart, which again would be hard to prove or disprove. Here, however, John implies that some claim not to have committed any sinful acts. But such a claim is untrue, for all have sinned (Rom. 3:23). Inasmuch as the epistle is addressed to Christians, who, presumably, would have been aware of sin, John clearly refers to conduct after conversion.

Make him a liar. The consequence of the claim to sinlessness is set forth according to the pattern followed in vs. 6, 8, where the results are expressed both positively and negatively, but here more serious terms are used. A false claim to fellowship makes us liars (v. 6), a claim to have no sin means that we are leading ourselves astray (v. 8), but a claim not to have sinned makes God a liar. Not that any man’s assumption can affect the divine perfection, but if the claim were true it would contradict the plain declarations of God’s Word.

His word. The reference is not to Christ, the living Word, but to the written or spoken word of God as the vehicle through which His truth (v. 8) is conveyed. This Word is truth (John 17:17), and cannot dwell in those who are contradicting its plain statements. If men will not accept the witness of God, if they deny the validity of His description of their condition, they are shutting out His Word, and can no longer have it abiding in their hearts.

The inspired Word is God’s ordained means of revealing to a man his true condition and of saving him from being deluded into thinking himself sinless. Every Christian, therefore, should be a diligent student of the Word. The truths of the Bible should be committed to memory, and the mind thus fortified with the life-giving Word. Its precious promises will provide support in times of trial and difficulty, and its instruction in righteousness will lead us to the Saviour and prepare us to receive His holy character (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). With the Word of God thus hidden in our hearts we will no longer willfully sin against Him (Ps. 119:11), but there will still be no claim to complete sanctification (cf. GC 618, 619).