I John 1:1  “That which was from the beginning…”
Of time.  When God created everything.

1  “…we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled…”
Eye witness to these things.

3  “…we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us…”
He has seen and known this personally and is sharing it with us so that we might know it also.  Not an opinion, but a personal experience.

5  “…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all”
What God is and is not.  Basic elements, darkness and light.

6-7  “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and 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…”
Walk must match the talk.  Our actions will betray our true attitudes.  Since God is the source of the light, all those who are truly in fellowship with Him will also be in fellowship with others in Him.

7  “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin”
How we can be in fellowship with Him.  We cannot approach except for the cleansing of our sin by faith in Christ.  Commentary also brought out the present tense of the cleansing.  Not just the once for all time which begins our salvation, but the daily cleansing.  New sin doesn’t separate us from Him as Christ has secured that for us, but interferes with our fellowship with Him.  Christ provides daily cleansing to restore that fellowship.

8  “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Verses 8-10 expound on the daily cleansing, the difference between one who doesn’t know Christ and one who does.  We have trusted in Christ for our salvation, but are still attached to a fallen body with a sin nature.  Sin may not rule us, but it’s still there.  First step in getting rid of it is acknowledgement of it.

9  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Since Christ has cleansed us in soul and spirit, all we need do now when we sin is confess it to Him, and He will cleanse us of it.  Confession is not just speaking the words, but a true expression of the heart.  As Jesus told Peter, he who has been cleansed need only wash his feet.

10  “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
We not only deceive ourselves, but we accuse God of lying when He says that all have sinned.  He tells us our state.  We should recognize it and choose to do something about it, that something being confession and repentance.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.