Opening Statement - 1 John 1: 1-4

1 John 1:1-4

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 

2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 

4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Today we will begin our study of 1 John by looking at the first four verses in this letter. As I stated in the Introduction post about this book, John wrote this as a letter to combat false teachings that were rising up in the church at the end of the first century. These teachings primarily centered around denying the humanity of Jesus within one group, and another group denying his deity. It boiled down to humans not being able to understand that Jesus was both fully man, and fully God. One group taught that Jesus never took on actual human flesh, but instead appeared as a vision, spirit, or image. The other taught that Jesus was born fully human, however he was "adopted" by God at either his baptism or at his crucifixion. Both of these views contradict the gospels, which show that Jesus was with God in the beginning (John 1:1) and that Jesus was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25). In order to provide a defense of the true gospel and to continue teaching the church how to identify true believers, John writes this letter, and today we will look at verses 1-4, his opening statement in defense of the truth. 

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 

John opens there by referencing back to his gospel (John 1:1) calling attention to the fact that Jesus was in the beginning with God the Father. He further goes on to lay out his credentials of being a witness to the ministry of Jesus while he was here on this earth. It is interesting to note here that John begins this letter in the plural form, using "we" instead of "I", and I believe that John here is using this form to include all of the apostles that had planted churches both within and without the Roman Empire during this time period. It was not just something that John had witnessed, but something that ALL of the apostles witnessed, and this goes to show that John was writing to all Christians, not to just the churches that he planted. Essentially he is saying "remember what Paul, or Peter, or James, or Thomas taught you, they were all true witnesses, just as I was". He goes on to remind the church; we heard him, we heard his preaching, his rebuke of the Pharisees, his testimony that he and the Father are one, heard him cry out from the cross. Not only that, but we saw him; we saw the miracles worked by his hands, we saw lame men walk, saw blind men healed, we watched as he fed 5000 men with five loaves and two fish, we saw the nails driven into his hands and feet, we watched the blood pour from his side after he was stabbed with a roman spear. We looked upon our Lord and Savior as he took his last breath before being taken down from the cross and placed in an empty tomb. Yet, we also looked upon his resurrected body and saw the confirmation in the holes in his hands and his sides (Luke 24:36-43). John has laid bare before the reader the belief that Jesus is God incarnate, Jesus was in the beginning with God, and was made flesh on earth.

2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

Here, in the KJV, verse two is in parentheses. If you remember from English class (I did not, I had to use Google) parentheses are often used to include additional information for explanation or afterthought. So here, John is giving a little more explanation to his readers, that not only was Jesus in the beginning, but that he was manifested, or made evident, and John, by his witness to the life of Jesus Christ, is sharing the eternal life with the reader. Through this entire verse, John is emphatic in the fact that Jesus was in eternity past with God the Father (confirming his full deity) and was manifest in the flesh (confirming his full humanity). Here we also see a cross-reference to 1 Timothy 3:16 in which the Apostle Paul tells Timothy much the same thing, with added detail. God was manifest in the flesh, through his Son Jesus Christ, justified in the spirit, beginning at his baptism (Matthew 3:16-17), seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, beginning with  Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28, and continuing with Cornelius and his family through the ministry of Peter (Acts 10:34-48), believed on in the world, by the church today, and received up into glory, at his ascension (Acts 1:9-11).

3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 

John moves on now into verse three into the overarching purpose of his witness. While it is true that he was writing this letter in response to false teachers invading the early church, the purpose behind the defense of the gospel, the aim of any Christian witness, is to have authentic Christian fellowship with one another, the same manner of fellowship that Jesus has with the Father. In the gospel of John 17:21, we see Jesus praying for his disciples to have that same kind of fellowship with him, that we (the church) may all be one with one another, with God the Father, and with God the Son. Then Jesus declares the purpose of that fellowship, so that the world may believe that the Father sent the Son. By having the truth of God's word surrounding us each and every day, we maintain that fellowship with Him. This fellowship is identical to the fellowship that Jesus maintained with the Father his entire time on earth up to his crucifixion. The same fellowship that was restored upon his resurrection. The authentic fellowship that the apostles and early church maintained with one another. A fellowship that the true church today has with one another, regardless of age, sex, race, location or denomination, if God has called you to salvation, you have that fellowship with His other children. 

4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Here John concludes his opening statement, encouraging his readers that he is not writing to admonish or punish them, but to complete their joy through affirmation of Jesus as the son of God and the only means of true salvation. Here we also see an echo to 1 Peter 1:8 in which Peter tells his readers that their belief in Jesus, even though they have not seen him, their genuine faith in him causes them to rejoice with "joy unspeakable". This joy is not just a temporary feeling of happiness. It is the joy that gets us through the valley of the shadow of death. When the world is crumbling around us and we do not know how much more we can take, this is the joy that keeps us going, keeps us worshipping and serving an almighty God!

Do you have that kind of joy in your life today? The only way to have it is through salvation by the grace of God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ and His eternal work on the cross. If you have that joy and that faith today, then I urge you to share it with someone, let them know the work that God has done in your life. If, however, you read this and do not seem to have that joy, but you desire to have it, please, reach out to me at: exploringexpositor@gmail.com. Thank you, and God Bless you.