John is probably one of the most misunderstood and abused authors of the New Testament. New Christians are wisely counseled to work through his gospel and first letter almost immediately, and yet sadly our teachers have misrepresented much of the apostle's writings. These misconceptions are rooted in the presuppositions with which the text is approached. If we believe there is a difference between a born-again believer and a true disciple (while granting they are inextricably related), then John must be read in one way. If we believe a born-again believer is one whose faith is such that it necessarily produces a disciple, then John will be read in another. As the evidence for these statements will be born out in upcoming discussions, I will leave proof for then. With that, we will proceed to the text.
- 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--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--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. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (1 Jo. 1:1-4, all quotations ESV unless otherwise specified)
If the purpose of the message is fellowship, then the second idea presented relates to the content. John is proclaiming, “That which we have seen and heard.” What has he seen and heard? The first three verses open with a series of relative clauses that explain this concept more clearly:
“That (1) which was from the beginning, (2) which we have heard, (3) which we have seen with our eyes, (4) which we have looked upon (5) and have touched with our hands, (6) concerning the word of life.” The first five clauses all describe the sixth (note the word “concerning”, which links the object with the preceding descriptors). The “word of life” is that which is from the beginning, which they have heard, seen, looked upon, and touched. The second through fifth phrases can be taken together simply to reference personal interaction with “the word of life.” The first phrase (“that which was from the beginning”) should not be considers to be a reference to the Creation as it does in John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1. Grammatically, if that were the intended meaning we would expect to see “that which was in the beginning” rather than “that which was from the beginning.” The “from” in this phrase is important. It forces the object (in this case, the “word of life”) to be temporal. This also fits into the context, because this same temporal word of life was seen, touched, looked upon, and heard by John. “The beginning” more likely refers to the beginning of Jesus' ministry or of the church in general.
John follows this proof of eyewitness testimony with a parenthetical thought that further explains “the word of life” when he says, “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.” Here, the eternal nature of “the life” is more clearly stated, and is now fully understood to be Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
Thus, John has declared his personal testimony concerning his relationship with the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His gospel. Therefore, we have an appeal to apostolic authority over and against some as of yet unnamed enemy.
The third and final idea presented in this preamble has to do with the “apostolic circle” and rests on the word “we.” To whom is John referring? Some have suggested that he is using the plural pronoun to refer to himself. Because this option is based on pure conjecture, it can be ruled out. No where else in any of John's writing does he refer to himself as “we.” Others suggest that he is referring to himself and his entire school. This can be rejected because John's disciples did not personally see, hear, or touch Jesus—all of which are things with which those in the “we” party were involved. Still others doubt the authorship of John himself and suggest the “we” is the Johannine school. This can be rejected without any consideration if we accept apostolic authorship, as I do. This theory falls to the previous objection as well.
We are forced to ask ourselves: what group of people was John a part of that personally interacted with Jesus before and after His resurrection? The only answer can be that John is referring to “the apostolic circle.” We should note that we are not referring only to the twelve disciples, but rather the whole apostolic group—that is, those whom Jesus personally interacted with and sent out as His missionaries at the Great Commission. For simplicity's sake, we can generalize this “we” to be the original members of the Jerusalem Church.
It becomes obvious that in this preamble, John is asserting that the apostolic circle—those who knew Jesus personally—was authorizing and proclaiming this message to the church. There is a strong air of authority in this passage. It is reminiscent of Paul's repeated appeals to his own apostleship. Implicit in all this is an argument: “Because we are personal witnesses of Jesus Christ, because we are in the apostolic circle, because I am an apostle and one of the original disciples, because of this authority, I exhort you to heed to what I am about to tell you.” It is as if John is saying, “Are you going to listen to them or me?” We will soon see that is exactly the case.
Our purpose statement, again, is as follows: “We proclaim [this] to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.” The proclamation is eternal life (that is, Jesus Christ). Why are they proclaiming it? The purpose of the proclamation—indeed, of the entire epistle—is one of fellowship (“so that you may have fellowship with us”)! As these men, particularly John, had fellowship with God and Christ (v. 3b), having fellowship with them would mean they had the same divine fellowship. However if the church broke fellowship with the apostolic circle (by denying their teachings) they would also be breaking fellowship with God.
“And these we are writing these things so that our joy may be made complete.” Little comment is necessary here. Again, “these things” refers to the letter as a whole in its intentions, which is to keep a proper fellowship with the believers in this particular (and more general, the whole) church. This would bring John much joy, as it would any pastor.
I have to confess that it will be interesting to see if this particular exegesis produces much dissention. I have tried to keep this short and comments brief. As such, I have left out a massive amount of information that is more technical in nature . . . I suppose if the need for it arises, it can be brought out through discussion. For the time being, that is going to be my strategy for this entire series, so we'll see how it goes.
God bless