Fellowshipping With The Father And The Son - Part 2

Review

Last time we learned that John was the pastor of the church in Ephesus. We also learned there were four factors that existed in the city of Ephesus during the time in which this letter was written that show John’s letter is especially relevant for our day.

1) The Christian faith had become tarnished.

Many of the believers were children and grandchildren of the first Christians. The new and bright sheen of the Christian faith had become tarnished. Like a new car or home, the newness had worn off. The thrill and glory of the first days had faded.

2) There was a breakdown of the Judeo-Christian ethics and a disregard of Bible standards.

The high standards of Christianity called for Christians to be different. The children and grandchildren of the first Christians did not want to be different. The new generation of Ephesians had become "cookie-cutter" Christians--Christians in name only. They were ignoring the rule of God in their lives.

3) Persecution was no longer the enemy of Christianity (ref. Stephen - Acts 7:59; James - Acts 12:2).

The danger to the Ephesian church was not persecution from the outside but seduction from the inside. Christianity was not in danger of being destroyed; it was in danger of being changed. The attempt was being made to improve it, to make it respectable.

4) A false teaching called Gnosticism was the real enemy of Christianity.

The term Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge." Gnosticism is a philosophy which centers on a search for higher knowledge.

The Gnostics taught that this knowledge was not intellectual knowledge but a knowledge which the ordinary Christian was incapable of attaining.

There were two main doctrines basic to the Gnostic beliefs:

Supremacy of knowledge -

The Gnostics believed that they were the only ones who were privy to the deep, deep knowledge of God.

Separation of spirit and matter -

The Gnostics believed that all matter considered evil and detestable and the source of evil. They also believed that the spirit was considered good and desirable and impervious to evil.

Because they held to these views, they believed that it was impossible for God, who was spirit and good to become flesh, which was matter and evil, in the person of Jesus Christ. They believed Jesus only seemed to have a body.

Some Gnostics separated the man Jesus from what they referred to as the aeon, the power of Christ.

They believed that when the dove came down on Jesus at His baptism, the power of Christ came and rested on the man Jesus. This power then departed before His death on the Cross. So it was simply the "man" Jesus who died, not Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

These Gnostic heresies denied that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, thus John sets out to set the record straight concerning the humanity of Jesus Christ.

In verse one, John wastes no time in letting his readers know that Jesus was a real man, not a spirit, apparition or phantom.

(1 John 1:1 NKJV) 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, concerning the Word of life;

John tells his readers that he was reporting on Jesus "from the beginning." In other words, he was referring to Jesus’ earthly beginning--His incarnation.

John then offers proof that Jesus was human and not a phantom or a ghost:

We have heard - In the perfect tense. John was writing about something completed in time past, having present results. Like a loud explosion going off. It happens in time but the effect from its ear-piercing blast still rings in your ears minutes later.

Though John wrote some 60 years after the earthly ministry of Jesus, he can still hear the words of Jesus ringing in his ears years later!

What we have seen with our eyes - John was an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus

What we have looked at - theaomai - Greek root for our English word "theatre" - "to gaze intently"

What we have touched with our hands - "to examine closely"

John ends verse one referring to Jesus as "the Word of life." Jesus is the Logos, the message of "the" life. He is the Word of the life. He is the exact representation of the particular life that God is, revealed in bodily form. (Colossians 2:9)

In verse two John tells us that this "life" was manifested or phaneroo, which means "to make visible or known what has been hidden or unknown."

(1 John 1:2 NKJV) the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us;