With this, seeing as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, do you believe 1 John 1:8 and 10 had ever confessed their sins and been cleansed of all sin? Or that they had never confessed their sins and been cleansed of all sin, and were simply self-righteous?
I have very little time because I'm busy at church tomorrow and then away at a meeting of Gideons UK from Monday until Wednesday, so what I don't say now I won't say for a few days.
1 John 1:6.
'If we say......'
1 John 1:7.
'If we walk.....'
1 John 1:8.
'If we say......'
1 John 1:9.
'If we confess......'
1 john 1:10.
'If we say......'
So every verse starts with a conditional statement in the Subjunctive mood:
'If we should....' or
'If we were to......'
So each verse is referring to the same people -
'we' - that is, John himself and the people he is writing to, who are obviously Christians. They are John's
'brethren' (1 John 2:7); his
'little children' (1 John 2:18 etc.); his
'beloved' (1 John 3:2 etc.). He and they together are called God's children (1 John 3:1), their faith has overcome the world (1 John 5:4) and he and they together know that they are of God (1 John 5:19).
So to say that the people in verses 6, 8 & 10 are different from the people in verses 7 & 9 is sheer moonshine. they are one group of people, John and the folk to whom he is writing.
I will try to expound these verses when I have time, but that may not be until Wednesday. But a good, solid commentary will do the job better than I will. I recommend
The Epistles of John by Dr Joel Beeke, but almost any one will do, I expect. Or do a Bible word search on 'walk.' That will be helpful to you.