1. Introduction to the letter
Authorship
Five people in the Bible are mentioned by the name of John: John the Baptist; John the Apostle; John in the family of a high priest; the father of Apostle John and the Hebrew name for the evangelist, Mark.
Though most believe the same person wrote the Gospel of John, the three epistles, and the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, some feel that 1st John was not written (as traditionally held) by John the apostle, the son of Zebedee. Some feel that it was written by another John (the elder or presbyter, 2 John 1; 3 John 1). But if we examine the evidence, it all points to John the elder being the same as John the Apostle and the author of this letter.
Date and Place of Writing
The three epistles of John were probably written to churches in Asia Minor while John was ministering in Ephesus. The Epistles of John are usually dated A.D. 80-95. However, the exact date and place cannot be determined with certainty.
Theme
There are several themes found in 1 John. The variety of themes in this letter and let us know that it was a pastoral letter meant to be circulated all over Asia Minor and not just directed to any one church
Gnosticism
One of the more prominent themes has to do with the Gnostic movement A movement that would be fully developed in the second century, Gnosticism was already beginning to seep into the church.
The teachings of Plato had begun to be entertained by the church and those teachings were responsible in part for the existence of a small but vocal minority who claimed a special "knowledge" (gnosis, Gk.). This group held that this knowledge was not developed in the regular Christian.
This knowledge centered on the concept that the spirit was good and all matter was inherently evil. Since all matter was evil to the Gnostics, they had a problem with the idea that God took upon Himself an actual body in the person of Jesus. The way the Gnostics got around the fact of the incarnation was to teach that Jesus only “appeared” to have a body. To the Gnostics, Jesus was an apparition; a phantom.
Thus John, inspired by the Spirit of God writes in chapter one of his letter:
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life--
1 John 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
Jesus wasn’t a phantom; He was God incarnate; He was God in the flesh.
Assurance of Salvation
A second important theme in 1 John is the assurance of salvation. If you have ever wondered whether you could lose your salvation after getting it, read 1st John. John lets his readers know in no uncertain terms that they could have eternal life. One of the more notable passages of assurance in is found in chapter five:
1 John 5:11 And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.
Love
A third prominent theme in 1st John is love. The word appears in the epistle more than thirty-five times. One of the most memorable of these “love verses” is 1 John 4:8 where John writes, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Christian Behavior
A fourth theme found in 1st John relates to that of proper Christian behavior. The Gnostic philosophy not only had a problem with the body of Jesus but had problems with the existence of the human body.
They believed the human body to be evil and attempted to make it good by depriving it of legal pleasures of life. This was called asceticism.
Related to asceticism was antinomianism, which viewed the body as hopelessly evil. They concluded that there was nothing one could do to make the body good so they worked spirit and allowed their body to do whatever it wanted.
This view of Christian behavior did not take personal responsibility for sin—“it was the evil body that did it” they would say. Thus John writes in 1st John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
That’s our brief introduction. Now let’s begin to look at the text in more detail.
2. Pure Joy – Getting a Hold of God (The Incarnate Word) (Ch. 1:1:4)
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life—
John begins his letter with the statement, “That which was from the beginning…” Notice he did not say, “He who was from the beginning.” John is not directly referring to the Lord here but the things concerning our Lord.
In his Gospel (the 4th book of the New Testament), John begins with the words, “In the beginning was the Word.” The context lets us know that this beginning was the beginning of creation. John is saying that when all of creation came into existence, our Lord was already in existence.
Since Jesus already existed before creation He Himself must be uncreated and since He is uncreated He must be without beginning. Since He is without a beginning He must be God. In the Gospel of John, John begins with creation and looks back to eternity and in the beginning of creation Jesus already was.
In the first epistle of John, John begins with creation and looks forward to the Incarnation of Jesus. When he says, “That which was from the beginning” he is referring to those things concerning our Lord Jesus when creation was already created.
In 1st John, John is looking forward (from creation) to the time when God would step down from His throne in heaven and come to earth as a man. The epistle of First John is not dealing extensively with the time before God took on a body because that’s not what was troubling the church by the false teachers.
The Gnostics were teaching deception that attacked the humanity of Jesus so John writes: “That which was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life—“ (1 John 1:1)
In verse one alone, in order to refute the Gnostic heresy concerning Christ, John offers several proofs that Jesus was actually a human being.
1.) “What we have heard.”
John and his fellow disciples heard the Son of God speak in a human voice.
* He didn’t hear Jesus speaking through mental telepathy or ESP.
* He didn’t hear the Son of God through a whispering wind.
* Jesus wasn’t speaking “from within their spirits”
John and his fellow disciples heard the Son of God speak in a human voice.
The verb “heard” is in the perfect tense, which refers in the Greek to a process completed in time past having present results. John could have used the aorist tense which is a snapshot of the something that has happened—frozen in time.
What this means is that John goes out of his way to use the Greek tense that lets us know that he did not hear the Lord speak on just one occasion, but that he had heard Jesus at many times and in many ways in the past that still reverberates in his thinking up through the present time.
John and the other disciples had heard Jesus speak over and over again; in other words, Jesus was human.
2.) “What we have seen.”
If their testimony of hearing Jesus speak didn’t convince you that He was human, John turns to the sense of vision. He lets his readers know that they saw Jesus with their own natural eyes.
But John uses a particular Greek word to describe the act of seeing (horao). John was assuring his readers that not only did his eyes function correctly as he focused on the Lord; he understood what he was seeing. Even though he was some thirty years removed from the earthly ministry of Jesus, he still remembers what he saw. He was not a victim of an optical illusion.
3.) “What we have beheld or looked upon.”
Not only did John and his fellow disciples see with their natural eyes, they saw with contemplation. They gazed with amazement and wonder at what they saw.
The Greek word (theaomai, theh-ah'-om-ahee) for “beheld” or “looked upon” also translates into our English word, theater.
Imagine for a moment that you have spotted an object in the distant sky. It reflects the sun like a crystal or shiny piece of metal. If you limit your look to a glance, turning and walking away you would not be sure what it was. But if you kept looking and followed it as it got closer and bigger, you would discover it to be a plane.
John was letting his readers know that what they saw was much more than a cursory glance; they were able to sit back and gaze and contemplate and soak in what they saw. What they beheld was indeed human. Jesus was not a ghost or apparition; they had beheld Him and were persuaded that He was indeed human.
4.) “What our hands have touched.”
This means more than touching someone. The Greek word used here means “to handle with a view to investigation;” “to examine closely.”
Continue to use your imagination with me and follow the incoming plane to the runway. In the old days you could meet a passenger as he or she was getting off the plane—perhaps some of our older folk remember the days when you could almost walk up to the plan.
John writes, “what our hands have touched.” The word “touched” is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in Genesis 27:22 where we find the aged and blind Isaac hearing the voice of Jacob but when examining his hands perceived they were the hands of Esau.
The same word is used in Luke 24:39 where the resurrected Jesus appears to his skeptical disciples and says, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
They walked with Him, they talked with Him and they ate meals with Jesus. John was more than likely remembering the time they were eating the Passover meal together as he reclined against the master’s breast.
But don’t think for a moment that the disciples were always inviting these touches. I believe that many of the disciples first touched Jesus only after He had reached out to touch them.
The Leper
Mat 8:2 And behold, a leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."
Mat 8:3 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
The Blind Men
Mat 20:32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"
Mat 20:33 They said^ to Him, "Lord, we want our eyes to be opened."
Mat 20:34 And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
The Children
Mark 10:13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Mark 10:15 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."
Mark 10:16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them.
The song says, “He touched me…”
Shackled by a heavy burden,
'Neath a load of guilt and shame.
Then the Hand of Jesus touched me,
And now I am no longer the same.
Refrain
He touched me,
Oh, He touched me,
And oh the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life—
5.) “concerning the Word of Life—”
The term “Word” comes from the Greek word, logos. Logos means "word, thought, concept, and the expressions thereof." Here it is applied to Jesus, who is all that God is and the expression of Him (1:1, 14).
Just think of this. Jesus is the Word of Life—He is all that God is—the very expression of God.
In order to appreciate what John is saying here we need to go back to the Old Testament to review how God related to mankind.
Isa 6:1 In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Isa 6:2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isa 6:3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Isa 6:5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
This was a vision that was given to the prophet Isaiah. He was not in the very presence of the Lord. To see God in the fullness of His glory would be certain death. In fact, there is a passage of Scripture where we find someone having the audacity to ask God to show him His glory.
Exo 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"
Exo 33:19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."
Exo 33:20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"
The Scripture says that no one can see God in all His unfiltered glory and live. Certainly, no one can touch God and live. Yet, John says in his letter, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life—“
This presents us with a problem. How is it possible to see with our eyes, behold and touch with our hands God? How does one get a hold of God?
John continues in verse two…
1 John 1:2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
Here John is giving his readers a definition of “eternal life.” Eternal life was on display to John and the other disciples. They saw it, they gazed upon it (theater) and they handled it and now they were proclaiming to others this eternal life which was none other than Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Here we are told that believers can have fellowship with one another and that we also can have fellowship with… (hold on to your seats)…God. With all that we learned about God and His glory, how does one get a hold of Him and now, how does one have fellowship with Him?
Before I answer those questions, let’s briefly talk about fellowship.
In Christian circles we use the word “fellowship” all the time. We had fellowship last Sunday at the church dinner. LightHouse, our women’s environment is going to have a fellowship on the 18th.
But what is fellowship? Fellowship is the word koinonia in the Greek and means “having in common” or “sharing with.” Christian fellowship means sharing the things of Jesus Christ.
The late Dr. J. Vernon McGee gives an example of where the word fellowship is used correctly.
Dr. McGee had the privilege of being at Oxford University as a tourist and seeing the different schools that comprise the university. While on this tour he visited one school which specialized in Shakespeare.
Dr. McGee said, “Now suppose you wanted to know all about Shakespeare so that you could teach that subject. You would go to Oxford University and attend the particular school specializing in that subject. When you ate, you would sit down at the board, and there you would meet others who were studying Shakespeare, and you would meet the professors who did the teaching. You would hear them all talking about Shakespeare in a way you had never heard before.
For instance, in the play Romeo and Juliet most of us think that Juliet was the only girl Romeo courted. It is shocking to find that when he said, "One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun/Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun," that two-faced Romeo was talking about another girl!
At this Oxford University Shakespearean School you would hear many things that would let you know that you had a lot to learn about Shakespeare. So you would begin to study and pull books off the shelf in the library and go to the lectures.
After you had been at the school for two or three years, they would make you a fellow. Then when you would go in and sit at the board with the other students and professors, you would join right in with them as they talked about the sonnets of Shakespeare. You would have fellowship with them, sharing the things of Shakespeare.”
Now when the typical church group gets together for fellowship, most of the time they are eating and drinking and having some kind of activity that may not have much to do with sharing the things of Jesus Christ.
It’s not that we don’t know how to fellowship—we do know how to fellowship. It all depends on what the subject is and how much we are interested in it.
Looking back in 1st John, don’t you get a sense of the excitement John must have felt as he penned these words, “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”?
What was John excited about? John was excited about the things that he and the other disciples had seen and heard concerning Jesus Christ that they wanted to proclaim to others so that they would be able to fellowship around or share in these same things.
I remember when Six Flags first opened. I believe it used to be called Adventure World but was bought by Six Flags. There was a time when all people talked about was Six Flags. People would trade stories about which new rides that were added, especially the new water park.
This is how it was with John and the rest of the disciples who had heard and seen and beheld and touched Jesus.
They probably got together after Jesus had gone back to heaven and talked about all that He said and did. I can imagine Peter saying, “Remember when He did His first miracle and turned the water into wine?”
Then another disciple would say, “But that didn’t beat the time He raised Lazurus from the dead!” Still another disciple would ask, “Did you get what Jesus was talking about when He told us that we would ‘hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’”
But while all this was fellowship with one another around the things of Jesus was exciting, this was not what gave John goosebumps. What really excited John was the fellowship that he had with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. In other words, the disciples were enthused and energized and amazed that they could have fellowship with God.
Remember all that we learned earlier about God and His glory? How does one have fellowship with Him? Especially in light of the one fact that I didn’t mention—that we are all sinners—how does one have fellowship or share things in common with a holy God?
To answer this question we need to look back to Exodus chapter 33:
Exo 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"
By this time Moses has seen the miracles of the Lord—the rod that turned into a serpent and back again—his hand that turned leprous and back again. He had experienced the burning bush that wasn’t consumed. He had seen the plagues that God sent to deliver His people from Egypt. He had witnessed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. By now he had eaten the manna and the quail and drank water from the rock.
But Moses here in Exodus 33 Moses wasn’t asking for another sign—he had seen enough signs from God—Moses wanted God himself. Moses hungered and thirsted for a deeper, intimate relationship with the God of the miracles and signs.
Exo 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"
Exo 33:19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."
So God answers and I think that He is speaking to Moses and anyone else who would come to read of this encounter. God is letting Moses and us know that what He is about to do is His prerogative. He doesn’t owe this revelation to Moses and He certainly doesn’t owe it to anyone else.
God also tells Moses in this encounter in that what He is about to do is a gracious act on His part and a display of His compassion because as verse 20 says, if Moses was to see God’s face he would stop living—he would be smitten by the glory of God.
Exo 33:21 Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;
Exo 33:22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
God is doing just what He said He would do—He is being gracious and showing His compassion. He is directing Moses to a safe place. Notice that God says, “it is a place by Me.” It is also a place that is found on a rock.
It should be no surprise to the Bible student that Jesus is the Rock of the Old Testament.
Isa 26:4 "Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.
1 Cor 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
1 Cor 10:2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
1 Cor 10:3 all ate the same spiritual food,
1 Cor 10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
To recap, the LORD says in verse 21 and 22, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.”
Notice that Moses doesn’t fiddle around trying to come up with a way to see God’s glory and live. He is not found scheming and inventing ways to get to God while trying to circumvent God’s holiness.
Moses is submissive to God who says, “I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.”
This is what salvation is all about. It is recognizing that we are sinners under the judgment of a holy God because of our sins. God desires for us to have fellowship with Him but hanging out with God would kill us—because of His holy glory.
Gone are the days when God used to fellowship with an innocent Adam and Eve—when they sinned it ended all of that and their death sentence was passed on down to each and every person through the seed of a man and the womb of a woman. You and I affirm this death sentence with each and every time we sin.
God tells Moses, “I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.” "Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." (vs. 23)
The English word, “back,” comes from the Hebrew word, achowr, aw-khore, that means “what comes last” or “the after effects.” God was telling Moses that it would be impossible to see all of God because he couldn’t take it, but Moses could see the after effects of God.
Now considering these additional things we have learned about God and His glory can you see why the Apostle John would get so pumped up about having fellowship with God?
While Moses’ encounter with God is still fresh in our mind, let’s hold our place in First John and look at chapter one of the Gospel of John.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Where did they behold His glory?
Mat 17:1 And six days later Jesus took^ with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought^ them up to a high mountain by themselves.
Mat 17:2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
Mat 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
Mat 17:4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Mat 17:5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
Did you notice that Moses was among the gathering of the disciples on this mountain? Peter was so taken aback by this experience that he wanted to stay there.
John 1:15 John bore^ witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'"
John 1:16 For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
John 1:18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
The glory of God that Moses had to be protected from was now on display in the Rock, Jesus Christ. Did you notice that the disciples did not die?
Thus back in the epistle of First John, the disciple that Jesus loved writes in verse four, “And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”
They had come to experience fellowship with God and John was excited about it and wanted to proclaim it to others so that they would experience this fellowship too.
They had come to experience fellowship with God—the Creator; the One whose glory outshines the sun; the One who is unapproachable
God would put on a robe of flesh, leaving His throne in heaven and come to earth to dwell among us!
The songwriter says that He is the very same God that spins things in orbit but also runs to the weary, the worn and the weak. His hands that flung the stars in space are the same gentle hands that hold us when we’re broken and conquered death to bring us victory.
