1 John 1.2a-The Revelation of the Word which is Truly Life
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 15, 2017
First John: 1 John 1:2a-The Revelation of the Word which is Truly Life
Lesson # 20
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. (NASB95)
“And the life was manifested” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun zōē (ζωή), “of life” (3) third person singular aorist passive indicative form of the phaneroō (φανερόω), “was manifested.”
The conjunction kai means “specifically, namely, in other words” since the word is epexegetical meaning it introduces an assertion which serves to define explicitly what can be concluded or implied from the previous five assertions about Jesus Christ in verse 1 from the perspective that He is eternal life incarnate.
The first assertion is that the eternal life, which has always existed with the Father was from eternity past.
The second is that this eternal life, which has always existed with the Father was heard by John and other people.
The third is that this eternal life, which has always existed with the Father was seen by himself with his own eyes as well as other people.
The fourth is that this eternal life, which has always existed with the Father was observed by himself and other people.
The fifth and final assertion is that he and others touched with their hands this eternal life, which has always existed with the Father.
Now, here in verse 2, the conjunction kai introduces the assertion ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη which expresses the fact that the Word which is truly life and was heard, seen, observed and touched by the writer and others, was revealed implying it was incarnate.
This assertion makes explicit what can be concluded from the five assertions in verse 1 since hearing, seeing, observing and touching this Word who is the life is equivalent to revealing this Word who is the life which is invisible.
The fact that eternal life existed from eternity past implies that it was invisible to human beings and incomprehensible to human beings since God who is eternal is invisible and incomprehensible to human beings.
Thus, the fact that this life was heard, seen, observed and touched expresses the idea of revealing something that was invisible and incomprehensible to human beings.
Eternal life was revealed to human beings as demonstrated by the fact that it was heard, seen, observed and touched by human beings.
Therefore, this life was revealed to human beings as demonstrated by the fact that it was heard, seen, observed and touched by John and others.
As was the case when the word appeared in 1 John 1:1, the noun zōē here in 1 John 1:2 means “life” and refers to eternal life which is an attribute of each member of the Trinity and thus an attribute of Jesus of Nazareth since He is being referred by the five assertions in verse 1 and the five in verse 2.
The articular construction of the noun zōē is anaphoric meaning that the article is telling the reader that this noun appears at the end of verse 1 and retains the same meaning and referent here in verse 2.
The verb phaneroō is used of the Word which is truly life which is of course a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the eternal life incarnate who was previously hidden from view in heaven but after His incarnation was made visible on earth as a man among human beings and angels.
The word is used here and in 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 1:10, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:20, and 1 John 3:8 for the hypostatic union of the Son of God, who is the eternal Word of God.
In 1 John 1:1, the verb phaneroō should be translated “to reveal” and not “to manifest” since the English word “reveal” has the connotation of making known something previously hidden, concealed or secret, which phaneroō connotes.
This is why the Greek word musterion is used of the incarnation of the Son of God in 1 Timothy 3:16 since it denotes the concept of revealing something that was previously secret or unknown before an act took place.
Thus, the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of the Son of God was a “mystery” because it revealed God who was previously hidden, concealed and secret before the incarnation.
The aorist tense of the verb phaneroō is an ingressive aorist which emphasizes the action of this life entering into the state of being revealed to human beings to John and others by the Holy Spirit.
The passive voice of the verb phaneroō is a “divine-passive” expressing the idea of this life receiving the action of being revealed to human beings by the Holy Spirit.
1 John 1:1 We are now proclaiming to each of you what has always existed from eternity past, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we observed for ourselves, even what we touched with our hands concerning the Word which is truly life. 2 In other words, this life was revealed. As noted previously, we have seen so therefore we are now proclaiming by testifying to each of you this life, which is eternal, which because of its eternal nature has always existed face to face with the Father. Indeed, it was revealed to each one of us. (My translation)
1 John 1:2 contains six more assertions regarding the Word which is truly life, which are in addition to the five presented by John in 1 John 1:1.
Of course, all eleven assertions are about Jesus Christ since He is the member of the Trinity who revealed God to human beings (cf. John 1:18).
Furthermore, He Himself declared to John and his fellow apostles and disciples that He was eternal life incarnate (John 5:26; 6:33, 35, 48, 54, 63, 68; John 8:12; 10:28; 11:25; 14:6; 17:1-3).
When John speaks of “we” in these verses or “us,” he is referring to himself, and his fellow apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ.
The first assertion in verse 2 makes explicit the five assertions in verse 1 and declares that this Word which is truly life and was heard, seen, observed and touched by John and others, was revealed or in other words, it presents the obvious conclusion of the previous five assertions in verse 1.
This first assertion in verse 2 makes explicit the five assertions in verse 1 since hearing, seeing, observing and touching this Word which is truly life is equivalent to having this Word which is truly life revealed to you.
The fact that eternal life which was existing from eternity past and thus invisible to human beings was heard, seen, observed and touched expresses the idea of revealing something that was invisible and incomprehensible to human beings.
In other words, eternal life was revealed to human beings as demonstrated by the fact that it was heard, seen, observed and touched by human beings.
This Word who is the life of God was revealed to human beings as demonstrated by the fact that this Word who is the life of God was heard, seen, observed and touched by John and others.
Therefore, this first assertion in verse 2 maintains that the incarnate eternal life of God, namely, the Son of God, Jesus Christ was revealed to John and his fellow apostles and disciples of Jesus.
One of the reasons for the incarnation and hypostatic union of Jesus Christ was to reveal God to man (John 1:18).
There would be no manifestation of God to man without the incarnation and subsequent hypostatic union of the Son of God.
God reveals Himself to human beings in four ways: (1) by nature or creation (Psalm 19:1-6; Rom. 1:19-20). (2) Human conscience (Romans 2:14-15). (3) The Living Word, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 1:24; Heb. 1:1-3). (4) The Written Word, the Bible in its original languages.
The Lord Jesus Christ during His First Advent revealed the life of God to both men and angels and by doing so revealed the character and nature of God since eternal life is one of the attributes of God which help to compose His divine essence.
The Lord Jesus Christ during His First Advent revealed the eternal life of God, which was previously secret or hidden to both men and angels.
Only God has the ability to reveal Himself, thus, men and angels are excluded from being the agents in revealing God.
They can pass along to each other what God has revealed to them but humans and angels can never reveal God to others without God first revealing Himself to them.
A comparison of Scripture with Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit revealed to both human beings and angels who the Lord Jesus Christ was during His First Advent.
God the Holy Spirit’s job both during the Lord’s First Advent, church age, tribulation and millennium dispensations is to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to human beings in order that they might make a decision to accept or reject Him as Savior.
All of Scripture as well as First John indicate this as well that the Spirit’s job during the church age dispensation is to reveal the person of Christ.
Jesus Christ is not the divine agency here in 1 John 1:2 since He is the Word who is the life of God.
As we noted, the articular construction of this noun zōē in verse 2 points back to the word’s usage at the end of verse 1 indicating that in verse 2 it has the same referent and meaning as it did in verse 1.
Furthermore, the divine agent is also not the Father since John 1:14 teaches that no one has seen the Father but the Lord Jesus Christ explained the Father during His First Advent.
John states in his Gospel and here in his first epistle that it is the job of the Spirit to reveal and mediate the Person of Christ (John 14:16-17, 27-28; 16:5-15; Rom. 1:1-4; 1 Cor. 2:6-15; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 4:1-2; 5:6-12).