Notes and thoughts from 1 John 1:1-4

John's community, probably in Ephesus 35 or 40 years after Paul the Apostle was martyred.

Two camps: 1) Solid belief in the deity of Christ, with a weaker view of his humanity.
2) Some saw Christ as a full human being, but did not stress his divinity as much as they needed to.

John writes to fuse these two groups together and to ward off attacks from those in the congregations against those who have swerved to either extreme.
Extreme 1) Belief that Jesus was not physical because He was good and all physical things are corrupt.
2) Belief that Jesus was not fully God.

John's style is to tie into previous works of God that are well known. For example, in Revelation 1:1

ESV Revelation 1:1 ¶ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

NLT Revelation 1:1 ¶ This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John,

ESV Daniel 2:29 To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.

ESV Daniel 2:45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure."

ESV 1 John 1:1 ¶ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

NLT 1 John 1:1 ¶ We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.

ESV Revelation 4:1 ¶ After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

ESV Revelation 22:6 ¶ And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place."


ESV Genesis 1:1 ¶ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

ESV John 1:1 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

NLT John 1:1 ¶ In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1 John 1:1-4

ESV 1 John 1:1 ¶ That which was from the beginning,

That which was from the beginning is a reference to the Eternal One-Jesus Christ who is the Almighty God.

which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we looked upon and
have touched with our hands,

Jesus Christ was physically here...they heard him, saw him, looked upon him and touched him.

concerning the word of life--

Questions: Why does he say 'seen with our eyes...and then look upon'
What's the difference?

Marshall says it is seen and gazed on...

References that John assumes in 1 John 1:1-4 include
John 1:1-18 which he has already written?
Genesis 1:1 ...in the beginning.
John 1:1 links 'ARCHE with the LOGOS'
1 John 1:1 speaks 'FROM ARCHHS' and ties in to the LOGOS of ZWHS

THE WORD OF LIFE ECHOES THE ONE WHO SPOKE LIFE INTO BEING

This is classic Johannine style. Alluding to earlier works rather than direct quotes is a hallmark of John's gospel and
of the Apocalypse.

The distinguishing feature in 1 John 1:1 is APO...the preposition

Is Christ the message or is it the gospel message which was prepared from before the foundations of the world?
"Send a girl a message saying you love her...vs sending her a very expensive ring". Both are a 'message of love'.
The same is true here...God sent us a message saying He loves us through Christ's coming...and Christ Himself is
the message of God's love for us.

ESV 1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

ESV 2 Corinthians 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

THE EMPHASIS IN 1 JOHN 1:1-3 IS THAT THE MESSAGE IS IDENTICAL TO JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.
Heb 1:1

Marshall teaches that the Word of life is a reference to the message of the gospel which brings life...but may also be a reference to Jesus himself...
and that John left it intentionally ambiguous so that both are implied...with an emphasis on the gospel rather than the person of Jesus.

1 Jn 3:14, Jn 5:24, Jn 3:16, 36, Lk 20:36; Acts 5:20, Phil 2:16; John 1:4; John 11:25; 14:6


James Montgomery Boice on the epistles of John.

What is Christianity?
x
Evidence for it...

Objective Evidences:

what we have heard...
May refer to what was written down....but probably refers to the teaching of Jesus Himself to the disciples.
Emphasize that what he said was really something...nothing like Him ever heard before...John 7:46; Mt 13:16, 17; Luke 10:23,24

what he has seen refers to John 20...the unnamed disciple who saw...three different Greek verbs used culminating in the one used here. It was John's encounter with
the resurrection of Jesus.

Touch with their hands is a reference to Luke 24:39...Jn 20:24-28 captures the idea without expressing the very thought.

Subjective Evidences:

'the life appeared' refers to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
John 1:10

None can repeat the objective experiences of Jesus Christ...however we must all experience Jesus personally in our hearts and minds for us to be true witnesses of Him.

This Message was not for the disciples only...but for the whole world. Mat 28:19-20; Mk 16:15; Ac 1:8

Contrast was against gnosticism which was a withdrawal from the world to seek special knowledge of God.
Christians were called to change the world through proclamation. Proclamation is devalued today because people want to make their own message up. But the proclamation of a specific message about The Message was always a crucial point.

In the same way that Jesus has seen the Father and has borne witness of Him...so the disciples now are to bear witness of Jesus because they have seen Him. Except their seeing is not just spiritual...but is a physical siting. John 3:31, 32; 18:37....John 15:27
Stott says they were not only qualified as eyewitnesses, but Jesus gave them an authoritative commission as apostles to preach the gospel. John writes it all down to complete his joy.

ALL THIS IS DONE TO ENABLE THE READERS TO ENTER INTO THE FELLOWSHIP.

The fellowship here includes the idea of salvation.

A salvation that doesn't result in integration into the body of Christ is not at all what Jesus inspires John to write about.