1 John 1:1-4: That our Joy may be Complete

That which was [3S Impf Act Indic] from the beginning, that which we have heard [1Pl Perf Act Indic], that which we have seen [1Pl Perf Act Indic] with our eyes, that which we have looked upon [1Pl 1 Aor Mid Indic] and our hands have touched [1Pl 1 Aor Act Indic] concerning the word of life2and the life was made manifest [3S 1 Aor Pass Indic], and we have seen [1Pl Perf Act Indic] and we bear witness [1Pl Pres Act Indic] and we declare [1Pl Pres Act Indic] to you the eternal life, who was [3S Impf Act Indic] toward the Father and was made manifest [3S 1 Aor Pass Indic] to us3that which we have seen [1Pl Perf Act Indic] and we have heard [1Pl Perf Act Indic], we bear witness [1Pl Act Indic] also to you, that also you fellowship you may have [2Pl Pres Act Subj] with us. And our fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And these things we write [1Pl Pres Act Indic], that our joy may be [3S Pres Act Subj] filled [Nom FS Perf Pass Part].

V. 1: With words reminiscent of the prologue to Johns gospel, the apostle opens his epistle with a long, flowing introduction that seems as though it cant quite capture the sheer wonder of the reality it is describing. On the one hand, this person was from the beginning; on the other hand, we heard him, we saw him with our eyes, we looked upon him, and we touched him with our handsthat is, we did all of this to the one concerning the word of life. How do you look upon, see, touch, or hear the word of life? Indeed, how do you see an invisible God? John Stott paraphrases v. 1-4 like this: We proclaim to you, concerning the word of life, what was from the beginning, which we have seen, heard, and touched, and the objects of our proclamation are fellowship and joy.1 While John Stott argues that the word of life should not be understood to refer to Christ himself, but to the message of Christ,2 Lenski convincingly counters this argument: John does not use the simple accusative ton Logon tes Zoes, for this could mean the Word of life or the gospel as preached and taught. He uses peri, concerning, which excludes such a meaning, no one preaches concerning the Scripture Word but preaches that Word itself. What the apostles heard, saw, beheld, handled was the personal Word, the person who is the Logos of Life.3 Although I know much less about Greek than John Stott, Lenskis point that no one preaches concerning the word about Christthey either preach about Christ or concerning Christdoes make a lot of sense to me. Lenski also adds this note that I will have to wrestle with to some extent: Yet a cutting edge against a terrible negation underlies every word. Cerinthus and his supporters are not witnesses, have heard, seen beheld, touched nothing; deny the deity of Jesus, the Life eternal; destroy the fellowship of the believers with the Father and his Son; contradict what the apostles testify; declare, write, and attempt to turn their joy into grief. [paragraph] Read historically with the eyes of the first readers, the full significance of every line appears. Every repetition is freighted with power. All the clauses combine in a mighty basic unit that is impressive, convincing, uplifting, encouraging the readers to stand solid in the divine fellowship against any little antichrist who may have appeared.4 I am very confused about the hubbub in the commentaries to debate whether or not the word of life is identical to the word who was with God from the beginning in the prologue to Johns gospel. For example, Kruse writes: The expression that which was from the beginning functions as one of a series of relative clauses descriptive of the Word of life, which the passage, as it unfolds, makes quite clear refers to the Word of life incarnate in Jesus Christ. The net result is that when the author describes the Word of life as that which was from the beginning, he is in fact speaking primarily of the Word of life incarnate in Jesus Christ, not the Word existing with God prior to the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, the echoes of the prologue of the Gospel found in this statement may imply

John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 57. John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 66-68. 3 R.C.H. Lenski, The interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966), 371. 4 R.C.H. Lenski, The interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966), 370.

an identity between the Word of life incarnate in Jesus Christ and the one whom the [page] Fourth Gospel speaks of as being with God in the beginning before the foundation of the world.5 V. 2: The only reason that John has sensibly interacted with the word of life is that the life has been made manifest. Jesus Christ has been revealed, and this is the only reason we have come to know him. It is vital, however, that those who were with him pass along the message to those of us who were not there. This is the reason that John notes that we bear witness and declare to you the eternal life. For those of us who have lived so long after Jesus, we are blessed to hear the message of Jesus passed down. Concerning the word marturoumen, Burdick writes, Bultmann indicates that the verb martureo referred to legal testimony, especially that of an eyewitness.6 About the phrase ten zoen ten aionion, Burdick explains, It is unending life, but it is also life marked by such qualities as spirituality, glory, and abundance, and which may be possessed in the present as well as in the future. In 1 John 1:2 this life is personified in Him who is its source and its substance. In Himself, He is eternal life, both quantitatively and qualitatively conceived.7 John Stott reminds us the significance of the meaning of bear witness and declare. First, he writes concerning bear witness, this: The true witness speaks not of what he has gathered second-hand from others, but of what he has himself personally seen and heard.8 Second, concerning declare, he writes: If martureisthai is the word of experience, apangellein includes the authority of commission. The experience is personal; the commission is derived. In order to witness, the apostles must have seen and heard Christ for themselves; in order to proclaim, they must have received a commission from Him.9 John chooses an interesting preposition to describe the way in which the life was with the Father, because he does not actually use the word with at allhe uses the word toward (pros), which literally means something like facing (prosopon is the word for face). This is the same word used in John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was pros God, and the Word was God. Instead of calling Jesus the Word, John refers to him here as the Life. Lenski (who originally pointed this out when I was reading his commentary on John 1), writes this: We have pros ton Patera; in John 1:1 it is pros ton Theon. Our English with conveys the idea of pros rather inadequately. R. 623 calls it the face-to-face preposition and in 625 adds that it is employed for living relationship, intimate converse. We take this in the highest sense. It is not predicable of angels or of saints but of deity, of the Son alone.10 This Life has been made manifest to usbeing made manifest is extremely important to John. It isnt that Jesus gave us something or zapped us with his power or even taught us good moral principles. Instead, the glory of the gospel is that he revealed himself to us. The gospel is that we behold Christ! V. 3: Particularly, Christ was made manifest to the apostles as they saw and heard Jesus. To us, Christ is made manifest as John declares Christ to us.
5

Colin Kruse, The letters of John, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 51-52. Donald Burdick, The letters of John the Apostle : an in-depth commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 102. 7 Donald Burdick, The letters of John the Apostle : an in-depth commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 103. 8 John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 62. 9 John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 62. 10 R.C.H. Lenski, The interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966), 376.

When John declares Christ to us, we have fellowship with the apostles, whose fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. By extension, this means that when John declares Christ to us, we gain the same fellowship that the apostles have with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. On this note, Stott points out that here The purpose of the proclamation of the gospel is, therefore, not salvation but fellowship. Yet, properly understood, this is the meaning of salvation in its widest embrace, including reconciliation to God in Christ (fellowshipwith the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ), holiness of life (see verse 6), and incorporation in the Church (yewith us).11 Fellowship is an extremely important word: Koinonia, fellowship, is related to koinos, common, used in secular Greek to refer to things held in common, such as common ownership, the common property of a married couple.Koinonia therefore [page] means fellowship, participation, partnership. In contrast to metoche it pictures an active participation, not mere passive sharing. In 1 John koinonia describes a fellowship based on a common faith in the incarnate Son of God. Because of that faith held in common the believers are participants in a common interpersonal relationship with God and with one another.12 Kruse notes that koinonia partially refers to commitment to the mission: Koinonia in 1 John 1:3, 6, 7 appears to denote a personal relationship [page] with the author or with God, and may, in 1:3 in particular, include the idea of commitment to a common task, that of the proclamation of the Word of life.13 Stott applies this necessity of fellowship: We cannot be content with an evangelism which does not lead to the drawing of converts into the Church, nor with a Church life whose principle of cohesion is a superficial social camaraderie instead of a spiritual fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.14 But, as Lenski points out, there is a reason that John is writing about the fellowship of the apostles: Why does John not say at once that you, too, may be having fellowship with the Father and his Son? Why does he insert the apostles and say with whom their fellowship is to be enjoyed? Because of the antichrists, Cerinthus and his separatist following.15 This is not, however, a tip-of-the-hat to Roman Catholic doctrine of the church, because the emphasis is not on the apostles, but on the apostolic witness: Throughout the past centuries even as today those who reject the testimony of the apostles have no fellowship with them, have no fellowship with the Father and with his Son, who is none other than Jesus Christ. Although they may preach God and fellowship with God as much as they please they are antichrists (4:3) and deny the Father as well as the Son.16 V. 4: Johns whole reason for writing is wrapped up in the fruit of the fellowship: joy. He writes that his our joy may be filled.

John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 63. Donald Burdick, The letters of John the Apostle : an in-depth commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 104-05. 13 Colin Kruse, The letters of John, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 60-61. 14 John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 64. 15 R.C.H. Lenski, The interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966), 378. 16 R.C.H. Lenski, The interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. Jude (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1966), 379.
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How is Johns joy filled by writing? John experiences joy by drawing people into the fellowship that he enjoys with the Father and the Son. Stott puts it this way: And what is the secret of fullness of joy, the complete and perfect felicity which we obtain from the Gospel (Calvin)? It is in the fellowship which the proclamation creates; for if the immediate purpose of the proclamation is the establishment of fellowship, the ultimate purpose is the completion of joy. This is the divine orderangelia, koinonia, chara.17

17

John Stott, The Epistles of John, an introduction and commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 65.