3. Essentials of the Faith Pt 2: God made manifest

1 Jn. 1:1-4 The Word Made Manifest

John’s letter was written in response to the false teaching of the Gnostics in several areas. The area being addressed in John’s introduction is the incarnation of Christ. The Gnostics believed that Christ entered Jesus when He was baptized and left Jesus before His crucifixion. This is in direct contradiction to the Scriptures. It is the hypostatic union, Jesus being fully God and fully man in one person that we forever have the tangible expression of God as seen in Jesus and we forever have Him as our federal head in the presence of God, the tangible expression of our righteousness imputed to us and the eternal sacrifice for our sins. Without the hypostatic union there is no atonement. Without the hypostatic union there is no resurrection and Jesus would still be in the grave. Paul said : 1Co 15:13-17 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. (14) And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (15) We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. (16) For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. (17) And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

This letter combats the false doctrine of those who received the truth and rejected it and provides assurance to those who remained faithful to the Apostolic message.

1Jn 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

It does not mean that you must be able to define what hypostatic union is before you are saved, but it is clear that saving faith is predicated on the acceptance of the apostolic message of who Jesus is.

1Jn 1:1-4 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.

Structure of the Verse:

Verses 1-4 comprise one sentence in the Greek. Verse 2 is a parenthetical phrase expanding on verse one. There is an ‘and’ in the Greek at the beginning of verse 2 that continues the thought of verse one but is not translated for whatever reason. In the reading of the text you noticed that he repeats words…alot: hear 2x, seen 3x, proclaim 2x. He uses life 3x and fellowship 2x. He uses the word ‘and’ 10x. And is a connecting word that expresses continuation of thought or joining together a series of related events. Even the simplest of words like ‘and’ are important to our study of the Scripture. Hearing and seeing are aorist verbs. They heard and saw in a point in time in history AND what they heard and saw continued to have a deep impact upon the apostles all the days of their life. There is a sense of urgency in these four verses. This is something John does not want us to miss. 1) The Life was Made Manifest. 2) The Life is Testified of and Proclaimed 3) The Life is the Basis of our Fellowship 4) This Life is the Basis of our Joy

I. The Life made Manifest

There are certain words when coming to the Word of God cause me to home in so acutely it is difficult to focus on anything else. It is mental, sensory overload. Life is such a word as it relates to our Lord Jesus. The Life is all that God is. He is life in, of , and unto Himself. The ever-existing Life has no beginning and no end. The Source of all life Paul told the Athenians Act 17:28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ Paul is preaching in the Aeriopogus not a church or synagogue. This is true not just for Christians but for all mankind. In Him everyone lives, moves, and has their being. But we know that mankind has rejected the Creator and worships and serves the created. Everything that has lived, lives, or will live is because of the well spring of Life that is God. Col 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. Gen 2:7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. It goes beyond biology. Just as the Father has life in Himself, Jesus is Life and the life was the light of men. The Life is more than biological, it is Deity. Existent in all eternity past with the Father, He is the source of all spiritual life. Even as Jesus breathed life into the lifeless form of Adam and he became a living soul, so He breathes spiritual life into men’s dead souls that they become living souls. Creation cannot contain this Life, He stands outside and above creation and the Scriptures in Psalms 113:6testify that He humbles Himself to behold the heavens and the earth. He defines what life is in His being. Life, His life is the light of men. Light illuminates and gives warmth, it defines good and exposes evil. Life defines death as the absence of life even as light defines darkness as the absence of light.

The Life, infinite, incomprehensible in the exercise of God’s great power coalesced into a fully human man. 100% God 100% man. Who can comprehend, who can take in the wonders of the glory of God in Christ Jesus the Lord?

The Life was made manifest, that is to say that which was previously unknown was made known fully. That is to say that it was God who initiated and made it happen. It is He who manifested it to the apostles through the work of the Spirit. It is more that a physical revelation it is manifestation in the true nature of the Life. Light rays are invisible to the eye. But when it strikes a prism the color spectrum is revealed. The curtain was pulled back and understanding granted so that the Apostles understood and confessed ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

I wonder what that exact moment in time was for them, when the light of understanding overcame the darkness of ignorance. Ex: Before I had Lasik surgery on my right eye it the only real use I had of it was for peripheral vision. My left I was used for everything else. Right after it was like seeing in 4k. Everything was sharper and clearer. This is what the light of God given understanding does. Jesus was no longer just teacher, or Rabbi. He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God made manifest. They saw the storm calmed with a word, the demoniac once naked, now clothed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus, Lazarus raised from the dead, the blind made to see and the lame walk. The saw the arrest, the trial and the crucifixion. John watched Him cry out ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?;’ and watched His last breath. And on the third day He was made manifest to them again as the Eternal Life. At His death dejected and afraid but manifested as the Eternal Life afraid and dejected no more.

The same work of God in revealing who Christ is to Simon and the apostles also made Christ manifest to us through the same Spirit.

II. The Life We Testify and Proclaim - (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

Another "and" connects this historical reality with the personal experience and testimony of the apostles: "and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life. Still another "and" further connects their past experience with two present activities: "and testify and proclaim to you". The two present tense verbs testify and proclaim convey two aspects of the same activity. The verb testify is a legal term of giving a true account of events witnessed. The emphasis of testify is the communication of THE TRUTH. To proclaim is the broadcast of a message. The emphasis of proclaim is in the actual act of COMMUNICATING the truth. To proclaim gives the sense of a herald delivering the message of the KING to the people. John refers to himself in his gospel as ‘the one whom Jesus loved’ avoiding naming himself. In similar fashion he uses "We” taking the focus off himself, and as the subject of both verbs, expresses John's deep sense of solidarity with the apostolic testimony.

The subject of their authoritative proclamation was "the eternal life" The article with the adjective "eternal" underlines the quality of this life. It is of unending duration. As Hogg and Vine note,

It is used of persons and things which are in their nature endless, as, e.g., of God, Rom. 16. 26, of His power, I Tim. 6. 16, and of His glory, I Pet. 5. 10; of the Holy Spirit, Heb. 9. 14; of the redemption effected by Christ, 9. 12, and of the consequent salvation of men, 5. 9, as well as of His future rule, 2 Pet. 1. 11, which is elsewhere declared to be without end, Luke 1. 33; of the life received by those who believe in Christ, John 3. 16, concerning which He said "they shall never perish," 10. 28, and of the resurrection body, 2 Cor. 5. 1.31

This life is characterized not merely by unending continuance but by the very nature of God. Its eternal, preexistent quality is explicitly declared in the added identification, "which was with the Father". The word "which" marks the distinctive identity of this Life as a Person who "was with the Father." The verb "was" denotes past continuing existence, while the preposition "with" depicts the continuing "face-to-face" relationship with the Father, distinct from the Father yet in active fellowship with the Father as equals. In John 1:1 this relationship with the Father is assigned to "the Word," and here it refers to "the life" as personal and preexistent, that is, the preincarnate Christ.

This personal, preexistent Life "was manifested to us" in the incarnate Jesus. The repeated verb "was manifested" underlines this fact as a unique historical reality.

III. The Life is the Basis of Our Fellowship - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed ourfellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ

John reverses the verbs used in verse 1 coupled with another proclaim to you to indicate that what the Apostles received they were to pass on. He was carrying on the commission give by Christ. Mat 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He, as the last Apostle was remaining true to His calling.

We see in this text the horizontal and vertical relationship of fellowship is directly connected. If we are going to be consistent in interpreting the pronoun ‘us’ as John and the rest of the apostles and knowing that at the time of this writing he is the sole surviving Apostle what could be possible mean by ‘fellowship’ with us? First, what is fellowship? The best scriptural definition I have found is Act 2:42-47 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (43) And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. (44) And all who believed were together and had all things in common. (45) And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. (46) And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (47) praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

John’s use of the pronoun ‘our’ is inclusive of the readers and not limited to ‘us’.

There is no Biblical fellowship apart from the apostles teaching. There is a plethora of people chanting the mantra ‘no doctrine but Christ’. One, those who say such foolishness have just stated their doctrine, and two right doctrine is absolutely essential to right practice, right worship, right fellowship. Holding to what they proclaimed is absolutely essential not only in the horizontal relationship with one another but the vertical fellowship with the Father and the Son.

IV. The Life is the Basis of Our Joy.

In verse 4 John stated the goal of his letter: 1Jn 1:4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. "And" introduces another aspect to this glorious picture. These things refers to what John has just written in verses 1-3. In saying "we write" John now narrowed the scope of the apostolic witness and proclamation to the written communication that was presently engaging his attention and efforts. His emphatic "we" underlines that he was doing so in keeping with his apostolic commission.

Depending on the translation you use it will be translated ‘so that our joy may be made complete (NASB, ESV) or your joy may be made complete (KJV, NKJV). The difference comes from the Greek manuscripts used to translate. ‘Your joy’ comes from the Textus Receptus gives the expected response showing John’s concerns for readers. The reading "our joy," could mean one of two things. It could either be understood as the joy the Apostles had in fulfilling their commission or the ‘our’ could be inclusive of John and his readers.

The "joy" in view is "cheerfulness, that is calm delight, which is the result of conscious union with God, of conscious possession of eternal life . . . and which raises us above our circumstances of trials and afflictions." May be made complete is the acknowledgement that perfect joy is not here but will be made complete on the day we stand and fellowship face to face with the Father and with His Son.

To summarize

Application:

I would encourage us all to meditate long on the incarnation of Christ. Our salvation, justification, sanctification, adoption into the family of God, our future glorification are all a result of our Lord Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man accomplishing for us what we could never hope to do for ourselves.

1. Though we are not like the apostles in that they saw, heard and touched the Lord Jesus Christ. We are those who have received with the gladness of salvation the apostolic testimony of the incarnate Christ. Do we testify and proclaim the truth? If what John meant by ‘making our joy complete’ was the participation in the Great Commission, is that our joy? How was it that shared the gospel with you? Who was it who was faithful to proclaim to you Eternal Life? Rom 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

2. Fellowship, and I say this as an encouragement. It is a joy for us to come here and fellowship with you. The love the saints have for one another is apparent, the genuineness of affection, and the joy displayed at just being together is a constant source of encouragement. I thank God for what this church enjoys and pray that it only increases and deepens.

3. What is the source of your joy? Is our joy fixed on the pleasures and comforts of this world or is it Christ?