1 John

Monday, 9 March 2020

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

John now introduces the subject of light, and he contrasts it to darkness. It is a theme he also brought quickly into his gospel –

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:4, 5

With this in mind, John now builds upon his words of verse 3 which said, “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you.” After saying that, he then noted that in his declaration there might be fellowship, and in that fellowship, there might be full joy. Now, he reveals what is to be declared by saying, “This is the message which we have heard.”

The declaration does not belong to John or any other apostles as the originating source. Rather, the message is one which was communicated to them. Next, he says, “from Him.” The entire thought is that it points to the Source of the message. It is not something that they heard by an intermediate. And any other apostle who declared the message likewise received what is to be said directly from the Source as well. It is this that John now says, “and declare to you.”

What he began in verse 3 is now to be relayed. John has taken his time to get to this point in order to establish that it is of the highest importance to him, and that is especially so because it comes from, and deals with, the Creator Himself. And that thought is “that God is light.”

Light is a real thing. It is something that comes from somewhere and transmits out from that source. However, in the case of God, the two are united as one. Unlike a light bulb (which merely sends forth light), and unlike the sun (which only sends forth light), John says, “God is light.” It is His absolute nature.

But there is more to the thought than just the fact of physical light being relayed. In Genesis 1:4, light is associated with goodness. Therefore, this is telling us that God is perfectly good in His being. There is no evil at all – no malice, no hatred, etc. He is perfectly, wholly, and absolutely defined by light. This is fully substantiated by the next words from John, “and in Him is no darkness at all.”

The psalmist declared this under inspiration (he declared what he received) –

“Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
² Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.” Psalm 104:1, 2

This notion of the dazzling brightness of God is found elsewhere in the Old Testament as well. Thus, the absolute moral purity of God is spoken of. Unlike the deities of other nations and peoples who were angry, vindictive, dark, and unholy, the Lord God is light, and He is morally perfect. Along with this comes the ideas of intellectual perfection, absolute truth, and so on. Everything that is good in the absolute sense is found in God. This is the declaration that John proclaims, and it is that which is then a source of fellowship, and in that fellowship is found joy in its fullness.

The reason for this will be explained in the verses to come, but the idea of why it is so was already seen in John 1:4, 5 (cited above), and it continues throughout his gospel. Again and again, the light is proclaimed about the nature of the Person of Jesus Christ. In John 8:12 (and again in John 9:5) He says explicitly, “I am the light of the world.” In John 12:46, He says, “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”

This is the message, and this is the declaration. Only in Christ can fellowship with the Father be obtained, because only in Him is the perfect moral purity to allow such to take place. But in coming to Christ, the moral purity of Christ is imparted to the believer. And in that impartation comes full, final, and forever fellowship with God.

Life application: To understand more fully what is brought forth by John, we can take a short trip back to 1 Timothy 6:13-16 –

“ I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, ¹⁵ which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.”

As Jesus Christ came from God, He is God. In His deity, He is the same essence being referred to by John. But when we see Jesus in His humanity, He is concealing the glory of God; veiling it in human flesh for our benefit. There is no darkness at all in God, but only light.

In Jesus is the light of God. He reveals to us the fullness of the Godhead, and only through Him can we understand who God is in an intimate way. Apart from the created order, which reveals God in a general sense, we are left with no intimacy unless we know Jesus. And it is through the Bible that we learn about Him. Please! Take time each day to read your Bible.

Heavenly Father, we ask that You open our eyes to the truth of Your written word – the word that directs us to Jesus who, in turn, reveals You to us in an intimate way. We long to know You more fully, so be with us and guide us as we study Your precious word! Amen.

Sunday, 8 March 2020

And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 1 John 1:4

The words here are closely aligned with Jesus’ words of John 15:11 –

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

John, having recently written his gospel, is aligning the thoughts of it and of this epistle together to form a better understanding of what is being conveyed, and it is certainly a way of helping his audience remember what was presented there as well. The submission of the letter, taken together with the gospel narrative, would then form a united whole. If this is what occurred, the two form a unique transmission of detail concerning the Person and work of Christ.

Whether this is the case, or whether they were sent separately, John’s words here are perfectly consistent with the gospel, and they demonstrate that what Jesus said to the disciples is now intended by John to be realized in those who later read his letter as well as his gospel. Understanding this, he begins with, “And these things we write to you.”

This immediately speaks of what he has said in the first three verses. What has been presented so far is reliable, it is confirmed by certain testimony, and it deals with the very Creator of all things in relation to His manifestation in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The words also are certainly inclusive of the entire epistle. As this is so, and as the words of the epistle often carefully and intricately align with the gospel narrative, that too must be considered as a part of what will bring full joy. And again, as that is so, and as the gospel narrative aligns harmoniously with the rest of Scripture, showing that Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of everything prophesied and anticipated in advance, the entire body of Scripture is implicitly included in that which will bring forth what John speaks of here. And that is, “that your joy may be full.”

Some texts say “our” instead of “your.” The difference then would be that the joy Jesus promised to the disciples in John 15 would only be fully complete when the message of Him was properly, accurately, and fully transmitted by them. This was their task, and in expressing the gospel, they would receive the fulness of the joy that Jesus spoke of. Another option is that it could be John including himself and the other apostles in with his audience in one message of joy being realized for all as their message is received and accepted.

Either way, the extension of the joy to the reader is obvious. There is to be a fulness of joy in understanding that God Himself has taken such minute interest in His creatures and has come to reveal Himself to us as He did. In reading, meditating on, assimilating, and living by what is presented in Scripture, the joy of God which is found in Jesus Christ can be ours – in its fulness. What a testimony to our need to be in the word always.

Life application: In the book of 1 John, we are given seven reasons for the things he writes –

1) that our joy may be full; 2) that we might not sin; 3) to share the commandments of the faith; 4) because our sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name; 5) because we know Jesus – who was from the beginning; 6) because we have overcome the wicked one; and 7) because we know the Father.

All of these carefully weave together into one major reason – the first given – that our joy may be full. Think it through…

1) If we don’t sin, we are living rightly in God’s presence and are freed from condemnation and/or judgment – a true joy.

2) If we receive the commandments and accept them, we will be following the instruction our Creator has given. This instruction is for our benefit, not ill. Therefore, when we receive them and follow them, it is a true joy.

3) The fact that our sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name means that we are granted eternal life. The wages of sin is death; therefore, if we are now sinless in God’s sight, we receive eternal life – a true joy.

4) Knowing Jesus means knowing the Creator. He “was from the beginning.” As there can only be one Creator and everything else is contingent and temporary, then Jesus Christ must be the eternal Word of God – the means of creation. Therefore, to know Him is to know true joy.

5) Overcoming the wicked one is something mankind has waited for since expulsion from Eden. Restoration between us and our Creator was impossible until Jesus came. But through Him we have that restoration. This, in turn, opens the doors to a restored paradise – this is true joy.

6) Knowing the Father is to know the Source. He is the One we look forward to with anticipation – ever straining our human hearts in hopes of knowing Him. Jesus reveals to us the Father because He and the Father are One. Through Jesus, we have the full revelation of who God is and are restored to eternal felicity and intimacy with Him – our joy is full.

Praise be to God for what He has done in the Person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Truly in knowing the Bible which tells us of Jesus, we can then know Jesus. And in knowing Jesus, we can know the very heart of our Creator, and we have attained joy to its fullness!

Simply unimaginable! What a glorious honor to be called a child of the Living God because of what Jesus did on our behalf. There is no greater joy to be obtained in all of creation than the restored relationship we now possess! We look forward to the Day when our faith will become sight and our eyes will behold the beauty of the Lord forever! Amen.

Saturday, 7 March 2020

…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3

With the parenthetical thought of verse 2 complete, John returns to the thought which began in verse 1 by saying, “that which we have seen and heard.” In this, he reverses the thought of verse 1 –

Verse 1 – That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes
Verse 3 – that which we have seen and heard

The restatement of the thought is to solidify the fact in our minds that this really happened, and that their testimony is reliable. What the eyes have seen, the ears also heard. There is no disconnect between the two, as if there was a delusional vision. Rather the senses were united in what occurred.

John leaves out the words “and our hands have handled” from verse 1. In this, the mind must insert that thought, which is actually an effective way of having someone mentally remember that point as well. If someone said, “John is tall, handsome, and rich,” and then a minute later said, “John is handsome and tall,” the mind would reach back to retrieve the third thought by itself.

In leaving out “and our hands have handled,” and in that now being called to memory in this way, John continues with, “we declare to you.” This, once again, takes us back to the post-resurrection occurrence which was cited in the commentary of verse 1 from Luke 24. After revealing Himself to the apostles, John’s gospel takes up the narrative –

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
²⁶ And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
²⁸ And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29

The apostles had handled Christ, but Thomas was not with Him. Later, Thomas was there, and he too saw Him, speak to Him, and touch Him. It is this final proof, added to all of the times they had previously been with Him, that assured them concerning the Word of life. The apostles, through John’s words now, declare that life, as he says, so “that you also may have fellowship with us.”

The testimony of the apostles was given, but it is only a testimony. There must be an acceptance that what is presented is true. In accepting that, the blessed state of fellowship is realized – not just in understanding, but in full possession. This is the reason for John’s repetition of thought from verse 1. He understands that faith must be involved. Jesus said as much, and so he is giving the surest testimony he can so that it can come about.

In receiving their words, there is, as he says, “fellowship with us.” But in their fellowship already exists a higher fellowship which will likewise be granted to those who, by faith, accept their words. Of this, John says, “and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

The Greek has an article before fellowship which, if included in the English, would make the translation cumbersome, but it is important to see – “indeed, the fellowship now, the of us, is with the Father and with the Son of Him – Jesus Christ.” John is providing emphasis in showing that the fellowship which exists – which they have and possess – is not just among one another, but it is inclusive of both the Father and the Son. It is the distinctive characteristic which belongs to true believers.

There is a harmony which is – right now and always – realized in this communion. Further, John carefully repeats the preposition meta, or “with,” before both “Father” and “Son” – with the Father and with the Son. In this, he is clearly and unambiguously showing that the two are separate entities within the Godhead who are both involved in the fellowship which exists among believers.

Life application: Despite the unclear, or purposefully twisted, thinking of cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Bible clearly proclaims the Godhood and Manhood of Jesus Christ. Here John is addressing the Gnostic belief that Jesus wasn’t truly a man, but was rather a spirit being. His proclamation could not be any clearer. This is similar to the gospels which relate that they physically handled and also ate with Jesus. The writing is purposeful, and it is meant to make explicit the physical nature of the risen Christ – something various cults, incredibly, still deny.

It is this incarnation which allows the fellowship described in today’s verse. Without a complete understanding of Jesus, we can never truly understand God the Father. But, because of Christ’s coming, we have the surety that our fellowship with them is real, and in turn our fellowship among other believers is both sound and worth pursuing. Unlike other relationships, that of Christian fellowship should be on an entirely different level because of the work of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, You are the tie that binds – You tie us to a sound understanding of God the Father; You tie us to eternal fellowship with the Holy Spirit; and You tie us together as friends in the fellowship of believers. Because of You, our fellowship is complete. Thank You for what You have done to unite us! Amen.

Friday, 6 March 2020

…the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 1 John 1:2

John, after introducing us to “the Word of life,” now begins a parenthetical thought beginning with, “the life was manifested.” Here, he is using the term “the life” in a manner almost synonymous with “the Word.”

Like at other times, it is expressing the nature of Christ. He is the Truth, He is the Light, He is the Way, etc. The words “the life” are no different here. The One who bears the meaning of “life” – in its fullest sense – was manifested, meaning made clear, or made known. He was plainly revealed in the coming of Christ.

This is analogous to what is said of Christ in John 1:14 which says, “And the Word became flesh.” The only difference is that a different characteristic of Christ is revealed in these words. In the gospel of John, He is the Word – the One who explains the Father to us, He is the Life – the One who reveals life itself to us, and so forth. The various terms are given to help explain these natures so that we can come to a fuller understanding of who Christ is.

John then repeats the same idea that he said in verse 1, “and we have seen.” “That which was from the beginning” was seen. “That which” was the Word from John 1:1, but it is also the Life. The apostles had seen the very source of life itself – with their own eyes. He was manifest unto them not as a secret enlightenment for a select few, but as a means of conveying the truth of God to the world. For this reason, John says they “bear witness.”

In John 1:7, John the Baptist came “to bear witness of the Light.” The One who would draw all peoples to Himself as a beacon through His death, as noted in John 12:32, is also the One who would come to give life. Certain people were selected to bear witness to these things. There would be an experiential knowledge which would lead to a personal testimony, and that would lead to the proclamation of the gospel.

Understanding this, John then says that he and the others who had seen these things now “declare to you that eternal life.” The Greek is much more precise, stating, “the life, the eternal.” The apostles declared the Life. It is He who is the Life, and it is He who provides eternal life. There is a development of thought being presented.

Adam was created to live and not die. But through sin, death entered the world. In the doing of the law, man was promised to live (Leviticus 18:5). But fallen man is incapable of fulfilling the law. However, Christ, the Life, was capable of doing so. In His fulfillment of the law, He could provide that eternal life for man by removing the law, taking it out of the way, and thus bringing eternal life.

The process requires more than the words of John to understand. Indeed, it takes all of Scripture to grasp what God has done in Christ, but John’s words make the simple proclamation that it is so. This is the declaration of the life, the eternal life “which was with the Father.”

In saying that the Life was with the Father, it is saying that He is prior to the creation. The same Life that was with the Father, apart from any created thing, is the Life that was manifested to the world in Christ. They are not two, but one. This is confirmed by Jesus’ own words, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).

The Father expresses Himself in and through the Son. The life that is in the Father is the Life who came to dwell among the people He created. It is this Life that John says, “was manifested to us.” This Life – which has always been, but which has not been seen in man since the fall of Adam – is what was presented to the world. Christ came to perform a mission which was to restore life to man and to thus reclaim man for the Father in the state which He was originally intended to exist.

Of this, Vincent’s word studies states –

“In living, active relation and communion with the Father. ‘The preposition of motion with the verb of repose involves eternity of relation with activity and life’ (Coleridge). The life eternally tended to the Father, even as it emanated from Him. It came forth from Him and was manifested to men, but to the end that it might take men into itself and unite them with the Father. The manifestation of life to men was a revelation of life, as, first of all and beyond all, centering in God. Hence, though life, abstractly, returns to God, as it proceeds from God, it returns bearing the redeemed world in its bosom. The complete divine ideal of life includes impartation, but impartation with a view to the practical development of all that receives it with reference to God as its vivifying, impelling, regulating, and inspiring center.” 

Life application: When reading John’s gospel and epistles, it’s hard not to get the sense that he simply couldn’t believe the blessing of encountering Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His words overflow with amazement at the immensity of what he had personally experienced.

From eternity past, the Word existed. But John exclaims that he and others saw the Word, looked upon the Word, handled the Word – all evidences of the incarnation. This is the life that was manifested to him and those he walked with. He again says, “we have seen” the Word. It is as if he is saying, “It’s really true and my words are insufficient to explain; let me repeat myself in an attempt to do so.”

Because of the absolute surety the apostles held concerning their eyewitness, John says that they bear witness, and declare what they had seen. One can imagine him going to bed, night after night, and saying, “These eyes beheld the Lord; my own two eyes.” When waking up in the morning, he probably repeated himself, “My own two eyes….” And so, he proclaims what he saw – that the eternal life which was with the Father became flesh and dwelt among the sons of men. It is this Life – this bridge between the finite and the infinite – which was manifested to a select group of people who would tell the story of eternal life to a world stained by sin and by darkness.

John will continue to weave together his words in a way which will detail the work of the Word, the significance of the Word, and the love of God as displayed in the Word. All of this was done to give eternal life to anyone who would but believe. Take time to think about the eternal Word of life, coming in human flesh to reveal the heart of the Father.

Surely no greater story has ever been told than that which details the life and work of Jesus Christ. O God, thank You for allowing our eyes to see Jesus in the pages of the Holy Bible. In seeing Him, we see You. May we faithfully study the words You have provided, and may our doctrine be pure as we pursue an understanding of His work and His glory. Amen.