1 John 1.1-4-The Prologue
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 2, 2017
First John: 1 John 1:1-4-The Prologue
Lesson # 15
1 John 1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us, 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. (NASB95)
We begin our study of 1 John by noting the apostle John’s use of a prologue at the beginning of this epistle rather than the normal identification of the author and addressees.
The prologue begins in verse 1 and concludes in verse 4.
The prologue to 1 John introduces the reader to important themes, which will be more fully expanded upon later in the epistle.
(1) The importance of eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnation and resultant hypostatic union of the eternal Word of life, the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 4:14, 5:6-12).
(2) The importance of the hypostatic union as a part of God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ and this revelation concerns the manifestation of the eternal life of the Father (cf. 4:2, 5:6).
(3) The opportunity, privilege and responsibility to enjoy and experience eternal life in time is available to every believer (5:11-12, 5:20).
(4) The opportunity, privilege and responsibility to enjoy and experience fellowship with the Trinity as a result of possessing eternal life (1:3-7).
The word “incarnation” is from the Latin: In and caro, the stem carn means, “flesh.”
In the context of Christian theology, the “incarnation” is the act whereby the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, without ceasing to be what He is, namely God the Son, permanently clothed His deity with a sinless human nature, which He did not possess before the act, thus making Him, the unique theanthropic person of the cosmos.
The “hypostatic union” is a technical theological term describing the unique theanthropic Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and which states that He is undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever.
In theology or specifically Christology (the study of Christ), the term “hypostatic union” is used by theologians to describe the teaching of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and true sinless humanity in one person forever.
The New Testament emphatically teaches that in His person, Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ was both God and man (John 1:14; Rom. 1:1-4; 8:3; 9:1-5; Phil. 2:5-11; Col. 1:19-22; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 1:1-4; 4:1-3; 2 John 7).
Many of these passages such as Romans 1:3-4, 8:3, Philippians 2:6-11, John 1:14 and 1 John 1:1-3 make it clear that the eternal Son of God clothed and veiled His deity with a sinless human nature and became a human being.
Like the rest of the letter, the prologue to 1 John does not contain any of the usual features associated with a letter in New Testament times.
The prologue is composed of five relative pronoun direct object clauses: (1) HO ēn apʼ archēs (Ὃ ἦν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς), “What was from the beginning” (verse 1) (2) ho akēkoamen (ὃ ἀκηκόαμεν), “what we have heard” (verse 1) (3) ho heōrakamen tois ophthalmois hēmōn (ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν), “what we have seen with our eyes” (verse 1) (4) ho etheasametha kai hai cheires hēmōn epsēlaphēsan (ὃ ἐθεασάμεθα καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν), “what we have looked at and touched with our hands” (verse 1) (5) ho heōrakamen kai akēkoamen, apangellomen kai hymin (ὃ ἑωράκαμεν καὶ ἀκηκόαμεν, ἀπαγγέλλομεν καὶ ὑμῖν), “what we have seen and heard we proclaimed to you also” (verse 3).
The first relative pronoun clause expresses the eternal nature of the Lord Jesus Christ while the second, third and fourth refer to the eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the incarnation and resultant hypostatic union of the eternal Word of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The relative pronoun direct object clause at the beginning of verse 3 is resumptive and summarizes the second and third relative pronoun direct object clauses in verse 1.
The prepositional phrase peri tou logou tēs zōēsn (περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς), “concerning the Word of life” contains the theme of the epistle, which of course refers to the unique theanthropic Person of history, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All of verse 2 further explains this theme and clarifies the eyewitness apostolic testimony in relation to this theme which is resumed in verse 3 with the fifth and final relative pronoun clause.
In the prologue, John is speaking here of the eternal life that the Lord Jesus Christ manifested during His First Advent, which he was an eyewitness to, and not the act of becoming a man, which was accomplished through the virgin birth.
John is saying here that He was a witness to the hypostatic union or in other words, that the eternal Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, namely, the Son of God had become incarnate.
In relation to this eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the hypostatic union, John in the prologue appeals to three senses: (1) Hearing (2) Seeing (3) Touching.
He says in the prologue that he, the other apostles and disciples saw, heard and touched the Lord Jesus Christ, thus refuting Cerinthian and Docetic Gnostic teaching that stated that He was not a human being.
They were witnesses to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh.
There are two hina purpose clauses contained in the prologue: (1) hina kai hymeis koinōnian echēte methʼ hēmōn (ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνίαν ἔχητε μεθʼ ἡμῶν), “so that you too may have fellowship with us” (verse 3). hina hē chara hēmōn ē peplērōmenē (ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ♦ἡμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη), “so that our joy may be made complete.”
The first purpose is that John’s readers might have fellowship with him and the other witnesses to the hypostatic union who are saved and are having fellowship with one another because they are living in eternal life and this fellowship is with the Trinity.
The second is that John and the other witnesses to the hypostatic union might have joy knowing that they have fellowship with the Trinity and himself as well as those who were witnesses to the dispensation of the hypostatic union, which is synonymous with the First Advent.
This eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the historicity of the hypostatic union of Jesus of Nazareth was designed to refute Cerinthian and Docetic Gnosticism that was threatening the church in Ephesus as well as the other churches in Asia.
The first four relative pronoun direct object clauses are paired with the main verb in verse 3.
All of verse 2 is connected in thought to the prepositional phrase that expresses the theme of the prologue at the end of verse 1.
Verse 4 refers to the entire preceding three verses and contains the second and final purpose clause contained in the prologue.
This purpose expresses John’s desire that he and his fellow witnesses to the hypostatic union will have joy knowing that his readers are having fellowship with him, his fellow witnesses as well as with the Father and the Son.
Therefore, verse 4 refers to not only the theme (i.e. the Word of Life) but also to the eyewitness apostolic testimony concerning the hypostatic union as well as its proclamation.
In regards to the significance of the first person plural verbs in the prologue, it has been suggested by many expositors including J.B. Lightfoot that these verbs are not genuine plurals but equivalent to first person singular and refers only to the author.
But this is not the case, it is quite apparent from later references in all three of the Johannine letters that John employs the first person singular when he desires to refer to himself alone.
1 John 2:12-14 is a clear example of John using the first person singular six times in reference to the writing of the letter.
The first person plurals in the prologue are not simply referring to John alone but rather are including a group of people who are to be distinguished from the readers to whom the epistle is being written.
These individuals that the first person plurals are referring to are none other than witnesses to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact God in the flesh and it is their eyewitness testimony that is expressed here.
So these first person plurals in the prologue refer to the living apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who were witnesses to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever as demonstrated by His earthly ministry.
More than likely, John was the only surviving apostle at the time he wrote this epistle, thus he may simply be referring to the surviving disciples.
Now, the first person plural references later on in the epistle do not refer to John and the surviving disciples, but rather are references to the recipients of this epistle as opposed to John’s opponents.
As we will note, the context clearly indicates that these five relative pronouns in the prologue are referring to the unique theanthropic person of history, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is made clear since John states in the second, third and fourth relative pronoun direct object clauses that he heard, witnessed with his own eyes and touched with his own hands the incarnate eternal life from the Father, Jesus Christ.
