‘If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.'
John once again returns to the question of those who declare themselves in no need of forgiveness. They, he says, are in the wrong. They have clearly not come to the God who is light. They most of all need forgiveness for they are liars. ‘If we say that we have not sinned we make God a liar', and have clearly not received His word. For does His word not say that sin is to come short of the glory of God? (Romans 3:23). And is there any living man who would dare to say that he in no way comes short of the perfection and holiness of God? Such men are deceived and unaware of the reality of sin. They may achieve their own petty little standard, but they have failed to be aware of God's true standard which requires total moral and spiritual perfection, a perfection beyond their present capability. It was such men as this that John had in mind when he wrote these words, men who had come into a false position, men who had dismissed morality as irrlevant, men who needed to be renewed in an awareness of their own sinfulness, that they might return to the true light, and to the true God and His true Son Jesus Christ.
That Christians can have victory over known sin through Christ and His Spirit at work within them is gloriously true. But in all there will be sins of omission, sins of falling short, which while they may not be obvious to them will at times be obvious to others. Thus, says John, we must all acknowledge that if we say that we have not sinned we prove our own folly and make God a liar (that is One Who teaches falsehood - 1 John 2:22).