The Word of Life
1 John 1: 1-4
The Letters of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Max A Forsythe
Introduction: This is not my
first experience with these letters of the Apostle John. It was because of a sermon concerning the
fundamental orthodoxy of the Christian faith preached from this first letter
that led to my future being ruined within the old liberal institution wherein I
had come to maturity. It was an early John
Stott commentary, soundly evangelical in its framework that appealed to my
conservative biblical worldview. The
essential problem, as I remember it, concerned the true truth of biblical
reality defined in The Creed of Chalcedon. That creed had been a defining moment in the
history of the early Church, and its creedal emphasis on the person and place
of Christ remained the focal point of American Christianity until after World
War Two.
Here is the
philosophical problem within the contemporary world and too much of the
Church. Karl Marx had written in the
Nineteenth Century that the Great Ideas of Western Civilization were generally
nothing more than so much idle phantasmagoria.
That word “phantasmagoria” is defined
by the Oxford American Dictionary as “a
rapidly shifting scene or imagined figures.” What Marx and the other worldly philosophers
meant, was similar to the then emerging scientific method that all of reality
must be carefully measured by means other than the traditional mode of inquiry. Thus, at its lowest level, if something could
not be sensed by approved means of human activity – then theoretical ideas must
be rejected not only as untrue but also as having any claims on the human
affections. Thus, by definition and
social acceptance all of the Great Ideas were thrown into the garbage can as
unreal. If it can’t be sensed it can’t
be real, many would insist. Of course,
it has taken a century or more for those apostate creeds to gain a wide
acceptance across the broad fabric of the American culture.
It is altogether
appropriate that we take up the counter themes of biblical truths in this
regard for our day and age. Of course
the conflict that I have described has been ongoing since the establishment of
the Church. The first time I preached through these
three letters, I chanced upon Augustine's commentary on the Epistles of
John. Now the timing of Augustine's
sermon series coincided with the closing of the Donatist period in
Our concern in this matter, however, centers on the
pivotal year of 415, when he stopped his regular discourse on the Gospel of
John, and substituted the short series on the Epistles. The purpose of his preaching
was to make a final dispute against the Donatist cause. A few weeks later, when
he resumed the series on the Gospel of John, references to the Donatist dispute
ceased almost completely. We may infer, as one commentator encourages us that
charity had at last won the day – even as Augustine had hoped: that victory might be achieved by the
spiritual arm alone. However, he was
compelled to take action in the name of love. "Love,
and do what thou wilt" is the most famous saying in Augustine's
series. Yes, he argues in the seventh sermon, love may cause different people
to do different things. And everything that we do must be done in love! And
that love is twofold. It is our love of God in our relationship to Jesus Christ
and our love of God's elect, the saints of His Church.
Development: I would add to that equation the old
motto of the denomination of my birth: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials forbearance in
love.”
In that statement is a challenge for our own
beloved Presbyterian Church in
Today, we will consider the first four verses of 1
John, chapter one: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it,
and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the
Father and was manifest to us – that which we have seen and heard we proclaim
also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our
joy may be complete.”
Here John's first thoughts are focused upon the
Word of life which appeared, which he saw, to which he testifies and from that
Word of life he proclaims eternal life one and the same with the Father's. And here in these short verses we have the
essential answer to all of those who like Marx deny the idea of the
resurrection. There are many people who are
like Marx in their conceptualization of “the faith once given to the saints.” After all, to the majority – Christianity is
nothing more than an idea or theories that could, in conjunction with the
concepts of the other worldly religions lead to a betterment of mankind if we
could all just get along and put away notions that God’s revelation in being
true truth has any solid implications for defining and limiting any and every
sinful expression.
However, the apostle demonstrates the validity of
the resurrection according to essential sensual examinations of the reality of
the risen Christ. Look carefully at
verse one: “that which we have seen with our eyes, which
we looked upon and have touched with our hands” Do you remember the
experience of the Apostle Thomas when the risen Christ appeared and invited him
to “put your
finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my
side. Do not disbelieve, but
believe.” Therein are three
of the five senses upon which moderns would insist are necessary to validate
some form of reality. To that recorded
testimony, we must add also the blood of the martyrs who died insisting that
what they had senses and heard and touched was real, it was true and God
Himself had appeared in the flesh.
A second thought in this passage involves the
reality of the Divine presence in the life of Christ. Calvin explains, “[Jesus]
was not known as the Son of God by the external
form of his body, but because he gave illustrious proofs of his Divine power,
so that in him shone forth the majesty of the Father, as in a living and
distinct image.” Commentator Peter Barnes adds a
further observation: “The Christian faith is not simply a set of ideas about
daily living; it is the proclamation of Christ and his coming into the world as
a fact of history.”
It is this reality which the world would deny
absolutely and always. But the biblical
evidence must be considered and a personal choice made by one and all. Either the man Jesus was a charlatan, a con
artist, or else he was crazy mad. The
only other possible choice is that He was exactly who He said He was: “I and the Father
are One”, and “if you have seen Me,
you have seen the Father.” In
that all too obvious choice we can better understand these opening words of the
Apostle: “That which was from the beginning,
… the life was made manifest.”
John in all his writings is more direct and
immediately specific than the other gospel writers. For him, there is no doubt who
Christ was from the beginning of His sojourn on earth and even before. This man Jesus was God incarnate who has
loved us with an everlasting love revealed to us through the reality of the
Christ as He is truly recorded in the scriptures. This affirmation is
important because it reminds us that Jesus is different from our common
condition. It is an affirmation that
Jesus is an actual part of the triune Godhead. This fact is understood by
hindsight when we see a phrase like "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness" as early as the
beginning of the Old Testament. Of course the same fact is especially
celebrated in the opening verses of John’s gospel and attested in the book of
Hebrews where it is affirmed, "Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever.”
John’s third thought is in verse three where he
gives the purpose of the proclamation that those who hear might have fellowship
as well. And that fellowship is not with John and the saints alone, but with
the Father and Jesus Christ. There we
have the two fold sense of relationships hinted earlier, the vertical and the horizontal. Our relation with the Lord of life and the
relations we have with one another.
Pastor Barnes tells us “Christian fellowship
is not simply enjoying oneself with other Christians at a picnic. There is nothing wrong with that, but we need
to be clear first as to what constitutes Christian fellowship. Fellowship concerns sharing at the deepest
level; it speaks of a partnership.”
Further, “Only those who would receive what
John wrote about Christ could share in this fellowship.”
This is why total strangers, who are friends of
God, can come into the fellowship of our congregation and feel like part of the
family almost immediately. This is also
why you can visit another congregation where the word is taught and the Lord is
loved and realize the sweetness of fellowship there even as you can here.
John’s last thought in this passage today concerns
the joy associated with fellowship in Christ and Church. Does this remind you of the first catechism
question? “What is the chief end of man?” Of course, we know the answer well: “to glorify God,
and to enjoy him for ever.” Please,
this is not in some Christian hedonistic manner as some would have it
today. And I know this is a subtle
point, but the completion of our spiritual joy as Calvin describes it: “by full joy, he
expresses more clearly the complete and perfect happiness which we obtain
through the Gospel. … He therefore, has at length made a proficiency in the
Gospel, who esteems himself happy in having communion with God, and acquiesces
in that alone; and thus he prefers it to the whole world, so that he is ready
for its sake to relinquish all other things.”
Pastor Barnes sums this up in these words: “When you have
fellowship with the Father, the Son and with other Christians on the basis of
Christ as the Eternal One made flesh, you will know joy.” Of course, we all realize from long lives
that every Christian Church does not deliver spiritual joy in and through
Christ alone. And as we continue into
this short book, we will see that there are tests to measure the orthodoxy of not
only ourselves, but also of our church.
And if the following questions can be answered rightly – then our joy
may be made complete as we wait for the Lord to return.
Conclusion:
In verse two, John tells us again that the Life
actually appeared, He has been seen and the entire Church must testify to that
reality. Then in the last part of that second verse, John proclaims the eternal
reality of Jesus Christ. He was with the Father and for a brief time was in our
very midst. John and the others spent several years walking and talking with
Jesus all over
Resources Used:
Alexander, William. The
Expositor’s Bible: Epistles of St John.
Barnes, Peter. Welwyn Commentary Series:
Knowing Where We Stand.
Burnaby, John. Library
of Christian Classics – Augustine: Later Works.
Calvin, John. The Comprehensive John Calvin Collection (Ages Software).
Stott, John. Tyndale
New Testament Commentaries: Epistles of John.
Good News Publishers. The
Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
Copyright (C) 2002 Christ
Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in
. .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .
http://www.tulip.org/jhn/1jn01b.htm To Subscribe or
Unsubscribe go to:
http://www.tulip.org/trf-list/
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this
notice.