The first four verses of the epistle constitute its prologue. Here the writer affirmed the tangible reality of the Incarnation of Christ and announced that the goals of his letter were fellowship and joy. Verses 1–4 form a prologue for 1 John, telling us that throughout the rest of the book John will proclaim to us what he has observed about Jesus, the Word of life. It begins in an odd way. He said he had heard, seen, and touched the Word of life. Why would John talk about hearing, seeing, and touching Jesus? The answer seems to be related to the false teaching that his readers were hearing. More than likely, false teachers were suggesting that Jesus’ physical body was not a normal body; or that he was an angel, not a man; or that his physical body was an illusion; or some other erroneous speculation.[1] John met this false teaching head-on by saying that he had firsthand experience with Jesus, and based on that experience, he is telling us what he knows about Jesus.
In verses 1-2, we see the proclamation of the Person of the Lord Jesus. The first two verses are a death blow to dualism. The question with this section is what is meant by “beginning”? In verses 3-4, we see a purpose of the epistle.
Verses:
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 revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed 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. (NASB)
Key Takeaways:
- John makes it clear that to deny that Jesus is God is to follow the lies of an antichrist (1 John 2:22–23).
- John had discovered that satisfying reality is not to be found in things or thrills, but in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- Complete joy comes through witnessing personally to our fellowship with God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
Closer Look:
Verse 1: as mentioned previously, John pretty much destroys dualism in verses 1 and 2. Where we start is what is meant by “beginning”? more accurately, we ought to start with what is meant by “what”? We would say who. But the Greek has a neuter. What was from the beginning? Isn’t that strange? Doesn’t that strike you as bizarre? You’d think it would be who. Well just to explain it very quickly, see Matthew 12:41-42. Let’s look at it here for illustration: “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” The “something” in verses 41 and 42 in the “behold” phrases is actually neuter. You must be looking at Christ and His ministry. So likewise, something looks at His person, His attributes, all that He is, and so on. So it may be that here, John starts with a neuter just to get the whole concept of who Christ is in His person and His attributes. That is possible.
Now the question is what do you mean by beginning. What was from the beginning? And it can have 2 meanings. One is the beginning of this age, more explicitly, the beginning of the Christian period. The key verses for this chapter 2 verses 7 and 24. So beginning may be the beginning of this age, could even be the beginning of their faith. The argument for this would be in view of the epistle’s concern with the original message about Jesus Christ, then likely John referred to the beginning of the gospel proclamation.[2] This argument suggests that based on the context of this passage as well as the context of 1 John in refuting false teachers, they take it as John referring to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. If so, the usage is similar to that found in 1 John 2:7, 24; and 3:11. The writer was then asserting that what he proclaimed was the truth about God’s Son that was originally witnessed by the apostles who had direct contact with Him. Numbering himself among these apostolic eyewitnesses, the author described this proclamation as one which “we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands.”
The second possible meaning is eternity past from the beginning. To support this idea is John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with (pros) God” and so on. See further 1 John 2:13: “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.” The third thing that supports this idea is chapter 1 verse 2. Jesus was with the Father and was manifested to us. Chapter 1 verse 2 seems to imply the beginning. The fourth thing would probably be the conflict with dualism. Just to show that Christ was eternal, He did not have a beginning and was not created or born in some cosmic birth. He was existing in the past; that would fit that better than the beginning of faith would. Either one makes good sense, but it probably is the second meaning that John is getting at, at the beginning of the eternity past, the beginning of time.
With these introductory words, the apostle directed his first arguments at the heresy with which he was concerned. The antichrists brought new ideas, not those which were “from the beginning” of the gospel era. Moreover, their denial of the reality of the incarnate life of Christ could be countered by the experiences of the eyewitnesses whose testimony was founded on actual hearing, seeing, and touching (cf. “look” and “touch” in Luke 24:39). John’s message is solidly based on a historical reality.
The exact meaning of the expression concerning the Word of life has been variously explained. By capitalizing the term “Word,” the translations (i.e. NASB, NIV) interpret this as a title for the Lord like that found in John 1:1, 14.[3] But there this title has no qualifying phrase such as the expression “of life,” which is used here. It seems more natural to understand the phrase in the sense of “the message about life” for which Philippians 2:16 furnishes a parallel (see also Acts 5:20). Indeed, as 1 John 1:2 shows, “life,” not “word,” is personified. Thus, John was saying that his subject matter in this epistle deals with the original and well-attested truths that concern “the message about Life”—that is, about God’s Son, who is Life (cf. 5:20). Either interpretation is possible and both have their own merits.
The reality of Christ’s resurrection body may be implied here as well.” Look at the phrase, “touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.” We also can reference Luke 24:39. The reason I say it could be the resurrected body is that Luke 24:39 is after the resurrection and Christ says, “touch Me and see“ because “a spirit does not have flesh and bone as you see Me now have.” “Touched with our hands” or “Handle me” is a very unusual word – and it’s here in Luke 24:39, His post-resurrection body. Again, this would show a conflict with dualism – John hints right at it.
Verse 2: “The Life” which the apostles proclaimed is intensely personal. Not only has that Life appeared, but it is nothing less than “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us.” The Incarnation is unquestionably in view. This life is eternal, was originally with the Father, and now has appeared on earth. This supports the historic Christian teaching that Jesus is coequal and coeternal with God the Father (as well as the Holy Spirit, who is not mentioned in this passage).
As you read John’s letter, you will discover that he enjoys using certain words and that the word “manifest” or “revealed” is one of them. “And the life was revealed,” he says. This life was not hidden so that we have to search for it and find it. No, it was manifested—revealed openly! Because Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself, He has a very special name: “The Word of Life.” This same title opens John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Why does Jesus Christ have this name? Because Christ is to us what our words are to others.[4] Our words reveal to others just what we think and how we feel. Christ reveals to us the mind and heart of God. He is the living means of communication between God and men. To know Jesus Christ is to know God!
Verse 3: The objective John had in mind in writing about these significant realities was that you, the readers, “may have fellowship with us,” the apostles. Since he later, in 2:12–14, made it entirely clear that he regarded the readers as genuine Christians, his goal was obviously not their conversions. It is an interpretive mistake of considerable moment to treat the term “fellowship” as though it meant little more than “to be a Christian.” The readers were already saved, but they needed this letter if they were to enjoy real fellowship with the apostolic circle to which the author belonged.[5] In the final analysis that apostolic “fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. John is probably referring to the ongoing fellowship of people who are already believers. The readers needed to be sure of who Jesus was and of their salvation. If they doubted their salvation, their fellowship with the Father and Son would be limited. If Christians are not in fellowship with God, they cannot be in full fellowship with other Christians. Christian-with-Christian fellowship is rooted in fellowship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. It appears the false teachers had called into question the salvation of the readers, so John was reaffirming their faith
Probably the false teachers denied that the readers possessed eternal life. If so, and if the readers would begin to doubt God’s guarantees on that point, their fellowship with the Father and the Son would be in jeopardy. This, of course, is not the same as saying that their salvation would be in jeopardy. As believers they could never lose the gift of life which God had given them (cf. John 4:14; 6:32, 37–40; not all will agree on this point), but their fellowship depended on walking in the light (1 John 1:7). The danger to the readers was that they might be allured into darkness by the appeal of the antichrists. How seductive their godless appeal was emerges in this letter. John’s aim, therefore, was to furnish his readership with a necessary reaffirmation of the basic truths of their faith so that their fellowship with God would be sustained.
Notice again that fellowship is one of the purposes of the Book. It is not the entire purpose but one of the purposes of chapter 1 at least. It is interesting that fellowship occurs 4 times in the Book and all in this chapter. This is the only chapter in 1 John where fellowship occurs. But it shows that obviously, this chapter does deal with fellowship.
I want you to notice something else. Did you notice there are 2 kinds of fellowship? Vertical fellowship and horizontal fellowship. “I’m writing these things to you that you may have fellowship with us;” horizontal. “And indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” which is vertical. Two kinds of fellowship. More so, did you notice vertical fellowship precedes horizontal fellowship? He says, “I’m writing these things to you that you have fellowship with us. But I want you to know before we get any fellowship, our fellowship is with the Father with his Son Jesus Christ.” That is very interesting. It means that just because two people are Christians, fellowship does not automatically follow. You can have two people that are Christians, one is walking with the Lord and the other is not, and you just cannot have fellowship together, it won’t work. In reality, that is the principle of church discipline, you break off the fellowship, you cut it off. So just because two people are Christians does not mean fellowship automatically follows. You can only have fellowship if both are in fellowship with the Lord. You have had the experience of walking with the Lord and being with somebody that is not walking with the Lord and it is just not working. It just doesn’t work, there is just not fellowship and that’s what John is saying here. “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Two aspects of fellowship, fellowship is the result of eternal life and secondly, it is the result of a walk with God.
Verse 4: The prologue concludes by linking John’s own joy with the spiritual welfare of his readers. John rounded off the prologue with a delicate personal touch. If this letter would succeed in fulfilling its aim for the readership, the writer himself (and his fellow apostles) would reap spiritual joy. “We write, so that our joy may be made complete.” This statement is similar to one the same author made in 3 John 4: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” He reaffirmed these truths so that their joy could be made complete. The apostles so shared the heart of Christ for His people that their own joy was bound up in the spiritual well-being of those to whom they ministered. If the readers retained their true fellowship with God and with His apostles, no one would be any happier than John himself. John was so concerned about their welfare that he could not experience complete joy himself as long as they were struggling with doubt created by these false teachers.[6]
[1] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 155.
[2] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 883.
[3] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 883.
[4] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 474.
[5] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 883.
[6] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 156.