1 John 1:1-4

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.

*** 

John, who also wrote the gospel of John, wrote this epistle about 90 A.D. He was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, and the younger son of the two sons of Zebedee (John 3:17). His brother, James, along with Peter, were the three closest to Jesus while He was here on earth (Matthew 17:1, Mark 5:37). John, being the closest of the three, was called, "The disciple whom Jesus loved," (John 13:23, 20:2, 21:7).

When Jesus was dying on the cross, it was to John that He committed the care of His mother (John 19:26-27). John was the youngest of the apostles, and for a time was exiled to the Isle of Patmos where he saw, and wrote, the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:9). He returned from exile, and is believed to have died at Ephesus at an old age.

John began this first epistle in a similar way to his gospel, speaking about the Word of Life. He gave testimony to what he, and others, had personally heard, seen, and touched--that is the Word of Life Himself. This is the Word which was in the beginning, the Word through which all things were created (John 1:1-3). This eternal Word of life, which was with the Father and was manifested to them, is none other than Jesus Christ in the flesh, and this is who John, and the other apostles, proclaimed to them, and to us through this epistle as well.

John explained that the reason for testifying of Jesus was not just to give them a history lesson, but so they (and we) can come into the same fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ--the Word of God and the second person of the Godhead. Jesus' purpose in coming to the earth was to do what was necessary to bring us into fellowship with the Father and Himself. Not just to those who had physical contact with Him on the earth, but to all those who believe in Him. For it is through the Word--the gospel message which testifies of Him--that we come to know and believe in Him. We receive His implanted Word which gives us new and eternal life.

John was doing much more than giving his readers a lesson in history or a religious doctrine, he was giving them an invitation to come fellowship with God Himself through Jesus Christ. This emphasis on the Word revealed that it is through the Word that we have access to the Father, not through physical contact. In this way, we may fellowship with Him, just like those who had personal contact with Him.




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