1 John 1:1-5

Introduction

1st John was likely written to be passed from church to church as the letters he wrote to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3.

Gnosticism had began to creep into churches in Johns day, so a lot of this book was written to destroy the heresy with an eye witness account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

Some of the main teachings of the Gnostics were

Knowledge is superior to virtue

the nonliteral sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood by only a select few

evil in the world precludes God’s being the only creator

The incarnation is incredible because deity cannot unite itself with any material such as a body

Their is no resurrection of the flesh

Ryrie said this in his introduction to 1 John “The ethical standards of many Gnostics were low, so John emphasized the reality of the incarnation and the high ethical standard of the earthly life of Christ.

Two main word are love (occurs over 50 times) and know (occurs 38 times)

John maps out 3 main components of the saving knowledge of God which we will see as we study this book over the next several weeks

Faith in Jesus Christ

Obedient response to God’s commands

Love for God and others from the heart

Spurgeon said this “This epistle shows how Jesus expects his followers to honor him in practical church life and wherever God calls his people to go and serve.”

Verse 1

That which was from the beginning

Notice the similarity between the opening verse here and in John 1:1.

Read John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Both introduce Jesus as being there in the beginning with God.

Notice the word was, showing that Jesus wasn’t created, but he was already there before anything had even been created.

John starts this letter with apologetics or a defence of the faith. The Gnostics didn’t believe that God could become flesh and this would immediately refute that claim

which we have heard

we here is talking about the 12 apostles.

The Apostles would have set under the teaching of Jesus for 3.5 years and Mathias who replaced Judas Iscariot would've spent time with Jesus as well.

They had heard the teachings of Jesus, the parables, the sermons, the rebukes, they had heard everything, so even if the Gnostics didn’t believe in the scriptures in a literal sense, John and the other Apostles were eye witnesses of what Jesus had said.

John wrote Jesus’ words in his gospel about everlasting life.

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Which we have seen with our eyes

The Apostles literally saw God in the flesh

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

What amazing things the apostles would’ve gotten to see as they travelled with Jesus.

I’m sure as John is penning this letter he is thinking back to the miracles they witnessed and the lives that were changed because of Jesus’ ministry here on the earth.

Which we have looked upon

They literally looked eye to eye with Jesus, they watched him live a sinless life, they saw him heal the sick, they saw him calm the sea, they saw all of those things as he was going about the mission his father had given him which was to seek and to save that which was lost.

Peter tells us this in 2 Peter.

2 Peter 1:16 “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

It would be impossible for the Gnostics to recant eyewitnesses of God in the flesh. The Sanhedrin tried to stop Jesus but they couldn’t, they tried to stop his disciples and they couldn’t, and now the gnostics couldn’t stop it either.

And our hands have handled

They literally rubbed shoulders with the Son of God while he was here on earth.

John got to lay on his chest

Remember after the ressurection Jesus appears to His disciples and in Luke 24 he says this

Luke 24:39 “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

Or in John 20 where Jesus tells Thomas to put his finger in the nail pierced hands or his hand in his side.

John 20:27 “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”

Of the Word of life

John tells us about this as well in John 1:1-4.

John 1:1–4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

While the gnostics tried to disprove the legitimacy of the word of God and questioned if God could really take on flesh, John proves them wrong in Just one verse

John was writing this letter late in the first century after all the other apostles were dead. He was stressing to the younger generation that he and the other apostles heard Jesus speak, saw him with their own eyes, beheld his glory, and literally touched God in the flesh, and they can trust him!

Verse 2

For the life was manifested

The life here is talking about eternal life.

John is saying that eternal life was manifested or made clear or obvious through Jesus Christ.

And we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life

They saw eternal life in the flesh in Jesus Christ. He is the giver of life and life eternal through the blood he shed on the cross.

They not only saw it but the bore witness of that eternal life, and it cost ever apostle their life except John, although he did survive getting boiled alive for preaching the gospel. Think about the apostles and the sacrifice they made for us to have the gospel today.

Peter - Crucified upside down

Andrew - Crucified

Thomas - Speared

Philip - Crucified

Matthew - Stabbed

Bartholomew - beaten then crucified

James - Clubbed and stoned to death

Matthias - Burned

Simon - Crucified

Judas (not Iscariot) - Stoned

All of these men gave their lives for the Gospel to continue so that the recipients of this letter could receive it as well

Which was with the father and manifested unto us.

Notice Jesus is the eternal life that was with the father and then made obvious to us

To sum up verse 2 John was saying “We have been shown life in God as it really is when we have seen Christ, and we know that he is able to show that same eternal life to you”

Verse 3

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you

The word declare here means to make known, to manifest or communicate plainly to others by word.

What was John declaring in this letter?

The perfect life of Jesus

The death of Jesus on a Cross

The burial of Jesus, where he stayed 3 days

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead

All of these things would disprove the gnostic teachings that had entered churches.

That ye may also have fellowship with us

The gospel brought them into fellowship.

We can have fellowship with others because of the Gospel

And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ

The fellowship we can have with the Father through the Son is the same fellowship we as believers can have with one another

Paul wrote the church at Corinth about this fellowship

1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What Jesus did on the cross brought us into fellowship with God

John 17:22–26 “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Verse 4

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

These things is referring to verse 1-3, where they are reintroducing Jesus and the eternal life he brings to those who have slipped into Gnosticism.

Of you want your Joy to be full, you must find your joy in Jesus and nothing else.

Jesus is the only one who can fill us with Joy.

Conclusion

John was an eyewitness of Jesus, he had seen everything and because of that he could refute the naysayers.

Have we spent enough time with Jesus that we can refute the naysayers as well? Have you seen God move in your life? Has he proven himself over and over? if not you should find out why. He desires for our Joy to be full.