What Does 1 John 1:6 Mean?
If we say that we share in common with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:THE KEY
Fellowship is shared life, so the path you walk reveals whether your claim of connection is being lived.
THE MEANING
A claim of fellowship with God alongside a walk in darkness is a lie. Truth is not only spoken here; it is something practiced in the life the reader is living now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that claiming closeness to God can be separated from the way one walks.
THE ROOT
κοινωνία
koinōnia
GROWS FROM
κοινός
koinos
common, shared, held in common
“share in common with him” in this verse is koinōnia. The word names participation in a shared life, not just a private feeling of closeness. The verse sets that shared life beside the walk: the claim and the way of living cannot be kept in separate compartments.
ALSO GROWS
koinōneō: To take part in something held in common.
κοινωνέω
It makes fellowship active participation, rather than a relationship claimed only in words.
koinōnos: One who shares in or takes part in something.
κοινωνός
It shows that fellowship involves being a participant in a shared life.
ψευδόμεθα
pseudometha
GROWS FROM
ψευδ-
pseud-
falsehood, lying
The verse calls the mismatch between claim and walk a lie. The falsehood is not merely a mistaken statement; the claim itself gives a false picture of the life being shared.
ALSO GROWS
pseustēs: A person who lies or speaks falsely.
ψεύστης
The related word names the speaker whose claim conflicts with what is lived.
pseudos: A false statement or falsehood.
ψεῦδος
It keeps the focus on the gap between the claimed fellowship and the walk in darkness.
ποιοῦμεν
poioumen
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poieō
do, make, bring about
“do not do the truth” in this verse is poioumen. The Greek says “do the truth”: ἀλήθεια (alētheia, truth) is something enacted, not merely asserted. That verb links the verse’s truth to the walk that gives a claim its lived form.
ALSO GROWS
poiētēs: One who does or makes something.
ποιητής
It reinforces the verse’s emphasis on truth taking form in action.
poiēma: Something made or brought about.
ποίημα
It echoes the idea that truth is expressed in what is brought about in life.
THE PATTERN
A claimed relation to God is disclosed by whether the life walks toward light and practices truth.
Who let go of the paths of straightness, and walk in the ways of darkness.But the one who does the truth comes to the light, so that their deeds may be made visible, for they have been worked in God.But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we share in common one with another, and the blood of Jesus, the Anointed One, his Son, cleanses us from all falling short.THE THREAD
That which we have perceived and heard, we declare to you, so that you also may share in common with us. And truly our sharing in common is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One.The same Greek word, κοινωνία (koinōnia, sharing in common), appears here for fellowship. It describes shared participation with the Father and the Son, making the claim in verse 6 a claim about lived connection.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us