TUESDAY
Today we are focusing on the highlighted portions below. So let’s read through it again, paying particular attention to those verses.
1 John 1:1–4 (HCSB) 1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life— 2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us — 3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
The gospel, the life, has been revealed in the physical, material realm. This gospel is rooted in the incarnate Christ. In her commentary on 1 John, Karen Jobes writes, “The truth about Jesus Christ begins with his being an actual person in human history who chose witnesses to explain the true significance of his life, death, and resurrection.” John, and the others whom he references with we, has heard Jesus. He has seen Jesus. He has touched Jesus. Therefore, he is an authoritative witness to the teaching of Jesus.
It’s interesting that John chooses to use the first-person plural pronoun we instead of the singular I. The referent, therefore, could be to himself and the apostles who lived with Jesus for his ministry. He could also be cleverly linking himself to his readers who still believed in his message. As they are together in Christ through belief in the words of his testimony about Jesus, they have then experienced Jesus just as John has. In 2:1, 13-14 he will quickly cross over to the singular, “I am writing this to you.” The use of the plural we could also simply be a linguistic device that the author is employing for his own purpose. Even if he is using the plural as a linguistic device and only referring to himself, which I think is the most likely option, his purpose seems to be to link himself to the disciples and therefore he is one who carries the authority of an apostle witness. John is then saying that he and the other apostles who knew Jesus are the authoritative source on the truth of the Christian life.
Scholars are uncertain as to John’s precise purpose for writing this letter. It doesn’t read like a direct argument against a certain heresy in the early church. Instead it reads more like a general sermon to be delivered to churches under his spiritual authority. It outlines the truth of the Christian faith and life without spending too much time arguing against the heresies that the church was struggling with. However, in 2:19 John notes that a group, which he calls antichrists, have gone out from their community. Most likely this means this group has left the church and abandoned the gospel that John and the apostles taught. It has been widely speculated that this heresy was an early form of Gnosticism. Gnosticism didn’t come into its full form until later in the 2nd century, but it’s likely that the seeds had been planted by the turn of the century (this letter was likely written around 90-95 AD). Gnostics denied that Jesus came in the flesh. Instead, they taught that he only appeared to come in the flesh, but he was actually spirit in nature. If this is the case, it makes sense that John was so strongly emphasizing the physical nature of the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus didn’t just appear to be in the flesh. John had heard him, seen him and touched him.
This emphasis on the apostolic witness to the incarnation is important for a couple of reasons today:
First, the apostles are still the authoritative source on the life of Jesus and the meaning of his incarnation, teaching, death and resurrection. Although the apostles are not still living in the flesh, their writings are the source of this truth. This is why the Bible is so important and it must always remain the authoritative source of truth for the people of God. Our task is to rightly interpret the words of the apostles and hold ourselves under their authority for belief and practice.
Second, this foundational truth of the incarnation, that God took on physical human nature, is a bedrock principle of the gospel. Mary and Joseph witnessed his birth accompanied by the miracles that we read about in Luke 1. The disciples ate with him, talked with him and listened to him. They witnessed his death. They saw him and touched him after his resurrection. Paul notes in 1 Cor. 15 that Jesus also appeared to over 500 people after his resurrection. To write this was a risky move, on Paul’s part. One could easily travel from Corinth to Jerusalem to ask around and see if this was indeed true. The gospel is rooted in real events, in real history, witnessed by real people. Your faith is on solid ground.
Reflection
Today, praise God for the truth of the gospel being rooted in physical, public events. Jesus was seen, heard and touched by the disciples and his ministry was experienced by thousands more. Ultimately his resurrection was witnessed by over 500 people. Thank God that your faith is not a “blind leap” but based on real events that occurred in the physical realm.