The Word & Walk of Life: 1 John 1

The Word of Life (1-4)

The Word of Life is God incarnate (1-2a)

The Word of Life was from the beginning

Echoes John’s gospel

John 1:1 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Some discussion regarding John’s meaning of beginning. It is either a reference to Jesus as preincarnate or to the beginning of his relationship with Jesus on earth.

I’m inclined to see this as a reference to Jesus as preincarnate because

the language is so similar to that of John 1:1, which clearly references Jesus existing before the creation of the world

John’s reference to Jesus and the Father existing together in v. 2, which is most certainly a reference to eternity past.

But what about the neuter pronoun at the beginning of v. 1 (that which)?

If John in referring to the preincarnate Jesus here, which I think he is, then we might have expected him to use a masculine pronoun (Him who was from the beginning).

I realize we want to be careful not to let minor details to distract us from the main concerns of the text, but I do think it’s worth our time to consider this. I want us to see a connection that is quite explicit in the first four verses. The connection between the word of life and the proclamation of the word of life. Proclamation is referenced in v. 2 & v. 3.

I suggest we are meant to see the Word proclaimed as much as we are meant to see the Word as a person. In other words, the message of Jesus is intimately connected to who Jesus is.

So John’s connection between the Word proclaimed and the Word of Life may help to explain the neuter pronoun in v. 1 (that which).

Eye witnesses of the Word of Life

John emphasizes the fact that he, along with the other disciples were eyewitnesses to the incarnate Christ.

we have heard, we have seen, we have looked upon (v. 1)

John and the other eyewitnesses saw God incarnate in space, time and history.

Remember the false teaching John is confronting in this letter (Docetism). There were some who were teaching that God may have appeared in the form of flesh, but did not actually become flesh because flesh is evil. This is a serious error because without God becoming flesh, there is no atonement for our sin.

So John, in emphasizing that Jesus is God incarnate by making clear that he was among the eyewitnesses of Jesus before His death and resurrection.

The Word of Life was revealed

verse 2 begins with the word and which is not evident in the ESV. the reason this is significant is because John is introducing another idea about the Word of Life noted at the end of v. 1.

this life has been revealed or was made manifest.

The Word of Life (v. 1) is proclaimed as eternal life (v. 2) is the revelation of eternal life itself.

The word translated made manifest in the ESV is in many places in the NT. One

1 John 3:5 ESV

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

1 John 3:8 ESV

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Romans 16:26 ESV

but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

That Jesus was made manifest brings His mission to the forefront. It’s not that He came into existence as a result of His manifestation to man, but that He proclaimed the purpose of His incarnation in being made manifest to people. His purpose was to bring eternal life to His people.

The Word of Life eternally existed with the Father

which was with the Father references much of what we have already considered.

That Jesus existed with the Father from the beginning means that He is not part of the creation. He is the Creator. All that was created was from Him.

John 1:2–3 ESV

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

So we’re talking about the Word of Life, and we sought to show that He is, first of all God incarnate. As we move into v. 3 we see that

The Word of Life is essential for fellowship with God and God’s people (3)

Faith in Christ is the basis of fellowship with God and God’s people.

John proclaimed the message of the Word of Life, which is the message of eternal life.

What was the aim of his proclamation? that his hearers would have fellowship with the Father and with him and everyone else who possesses eternal life.

that you may have speaks to John’s aim. It is his hope that through his proclamation of eternal life, his hearers will respond in a way that results in having fellowship with God and His people.

Fellowship with God is the prerequisite for fellowship with God’s people.

Fellowship mean to share in common. What do God’s people share in common with God?

Convictions

Priorities

Loves

Affections

We delight in Jesus Christ, and it is this delight that brings us together with others who share in the fellowship.

The Word of Life feeds our joy (4)

There is some discussion whether we should read verse 4 as our joy or your joy. It does seem to me however that our joy is correct.

John states the purpose of writing about the identity of the Word of Life: His and the other eye witnesses’ joy

Is this selfish?

No, my Dad after I hit a home run

John’s joy was fed by people to whom he was ministering came into fellowship with God. When people embraced the Word of Life as God incarnate, who took on flesh to save His people from their sins and who came into fellowship with others who have done the same, John joy increased.

We’ve considered the identity of the Word of Life as John described him in verses 1-4. As we move into the remaining verses of this chapter, we will now consider the ethical implications of the message of the Word of Life. John again emphasizes the connection between the person and message of the Word of Life in v. 5 (This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you), and then launches into the way of life for those who have responded to the Word of Life in faith.

The Walk of Life (5-10)

The character of the walk of Life (5)

The walk of life is sourced in God

Light = truth: this is how John defines it in verse 6. People who walk in darkness are liars and do not practice the truth. We might have expected that John make a reference to light after bringing up darkness, but he uses truth as the the antithesis to darkness

God is the source and measure of all that is true. Another way to put it would be that nothing is truly understood until it is understood in the light of God.

Darkness is that which is against the truth. Darkness is all that God is not.

When we concern ourselves to know and live the truth, we are ultimately giving ourselves to live under, and to, and for God because God is truth.

This reality is what must shape our walk… our way of life

The application of the walk of Life (6-7)

The walk of Life is shown in our desires (6)

Consider what John says about walking in darkness in the next chapter:

1 John 2:8–11 ESV

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

So what is evident here is that those who walk in darkness live lives of hypocrisy. Claiming to be followers of Christ, but living in such a way that contradicts that claim. Here John calls out people who claim to be Christ followers and but hate others who claim to be Christ-followers.

But notice how darkness is described in 2:8: passing away. This same word, passing away (one Greek word), shows up again just a few verses down in chapter 2. Look at verse 17:

1 John 2:17 ESV

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

So by tracing the idea of walking in darkness from 1:6 to 2:8-11 and then to 2:17 is an attempt to show that the quality of our walk or way of life is demonstrated in our desires.

Notice what v. 17 says, the world is passing away along with its desires. Worldly desires, whatever they may be, are desires that lead to the pursuit of that which is temporary and ultimately meaningless apart from God.

Everyone who loves the world more than God is walking in darkness. And living this way, John says back in chapter 1:6 lies and does not practice the truth.

The truth is that we are to delight in God more than in any pursuit of the world. The truth is that God is infinitely more precious than anything that we can come to possess or achieve in this world.

The walk of Life is demonstrated by our posture towards our sin (7)

Verse 7 seems to reference both fellowship with God and with one another. Verse 6 makes clear that fellowship with God is impossible if we walk in darkness. In verse 7, walking in the light is evidence that we have fellowship with God

But, remembering the context, back in verse 3 fellowship with other Christians is referenced (that you too may have fellowship with us). All this to suggest that John is referencing both fellowship with God and with other Christians in verse 7. And the condition of this fellowship is walking in the light, that is, walking according to the truth or in obedience to God since the truth is ultimately God. Of course, living this way requires we have a posture of war to our sin.

Notice the second half of verse 7: the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. What does John mean here?

We know what he doesn’t mean, perhaps more easily, than we know what he means. John is not referring to moral perfection. If this were the case, there would be no need for cleansing. Let alone what John says in the next verse: if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.

So then what does John mean? Another grammatical point to make here. the word cleanses appears in the present tense. So what John is saying here is that as we walk in the light, that is, as we walk in obedience to God, the blood of Christ continues to cleanse us from sin. We acknowledge that we will continue to struggle with sin in this world.

Christ came to conquer sin. This conquering of sin shows up in its power to conquer the our indifference towards sinning.

Hebrews 9:14 ESV

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Those who walk in the light receive through the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, purified consciences from sin in order to serve God.

Walking in the light means seeing things the way God sees them and responding the way he does. We walk in the light when we hate the sin we fall into and name it for the ugly thing it is and agree with God about it and turn from it. So confessing sin is a crucial part of walking in the light.

The clarification of the walk of Life (8-10)

The walk of Life will reveal our sin (8)

To claim to be without sin is self-deception

But this is what walking in the light does. It exposes our sin.

This shows up in our consciences, or response to our sin, our willingness to seek forgiveness and forgive.

The walk of Life leads to confession of sin (9-10)

As much as walking in darkness is denying our sin, confessing our sin is part of what it means to walk in the light.

Confession and repentance is fundamental to living (walking) the Christian life. If we are not denying our sin, the only God-honoring way to acknowledge it it to confess it God, and ask Him for the power to repent of it.

We are cleansed from our sin as we confess it to Him. We do not achieve this cleansing. Remember, repentance from sin is a gift from God

2 Timothy 2:24–25 ESV

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

This is the way of life. acknowledging our sin and confessing it to God. This has an ongoing cleansing effect.

The blood is what cleanses, not our confessing, but our confessing displays our recognition of our ongoing need for forgiveness.

Verse 10 repeats much of what was said in verse 8, but intensifies the offense of marginalizing or dismissing our sin. We make God a liar. God says we struggle with sin and therefore need forgiveness. We should agree. The death of Jesus occured because of our sin, this is the truth. We need to walk in it.