1 John 1:1-4 | Fellowship with the Word of Life

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

• Beginning – like in Gen 1 and John 1, talking about the Word of God existing since the beginning. The God of ages from eternity past in whom everything finds their existence and belonging
• ‘which we have heard, seen, looked at (gaze/studied) and touched – how amazing then that the God of the ages made himself so approachable to humanity that he could be heard, seen, gazed at and touched
  • This is like when a Father allows his baby to play with his face
• ‘Word of life’ – the ‘logos of zoe’
  • Christ is not just our logic and reason for our existence but is the sustainer and life-giver to it too!

2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

• John now just simply calls Christ ‘the life’, since he is the author and sustainer of life itself
  • Col 1 – all things were made by him, through him and for him
  • John 1 – in him was life and that life was the light of mankind
• And the life appeared/manifested so that we could see it, and John and we bear witness of this miracle!
  • Like those who claim to have seen Big Foot and ‘bear witness’ to it, John saw ‘life himself’ and testifies to it
• ‘eternal life’ – if we want eternal life (heaven), then we must embrace THE eternal life (Christ)
• ‘with the Father’ – so the Word of Life is with the Father and is already having fellowship with the Father, this is what we are being invited into
• John makes reference of Christ more as a being than a person here: “that which, Word of life, the life, it, eternal life”
  • We need to realise that behind our personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, is a being which is life itself
  • In fact our personal relationship with God is like him allowing us as his toddlers to play with his face, yet there is so much more to his glory and being than we can ever comprehend

3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

• ‘seen and heard’ – all we know about God is what He has revealed to us. We cannot know any more than that which has been seen or heard, as revealed directly from God
  • This is like what Peter and John say in Acts 4:20 “we cannot stop speaking to you what we have seen and heard”
  • The Apostles saw and heard great things, they weren’t deluded, but it was the Word of life revealing Himself to humanity, and they were testifying to this without adding to it or taking from it
• The purpose of John and the other apostles proclaiming Christ is that others may have fellowship
• This is not about having fellowship with John and the apostles directly, but joining with them in their fellowship with God, and the fellowship that God has with himself
  • This is huge then! That we as humble humanity get to have fellowship with the life, the Word of Life, the eternal life and the Father of all Creation! – we get to have fellowship with the God of the Ages
  • Like John being invited to heaven’s party and we are his +1!
• The Holy Spirit is not mentioned in whom we have fellowship with, but we know that it is through the Holy Spirit that this is possible
  • This gives us an indication of the trinitarian relationship of the god-head
  • The Father
  • The Father + The Son
  • The Father + The Son + The Holy Spirit

4We write this to make our joy complete.

• This is one of the purposes of John’s letter, to encourage us all into fellowship with the Word of Life so that our and their joy may be complete
• Our greatest pleasure is to see people enter in and continue in fellowship with the Word of Life
• Christian Hedonism – “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”