Video Blog to this lesson: I John 1:1-4 (Part 1)
I Jn 1:1-4
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— 2 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 made manifest to us— 3 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. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (Underline is my emphasis)
As we study scripture one of the first things to look for is words that are repeated in a passage. In First John 1:1-4 we see a few words that are repeated; Which (6), seen (3), heard (2), manifest (2), and proclaim (2)! This should draw our attention to and cause us to start looking them up to see if they are all the same word. We need to understand why different words are being used. Understanding the style or purpose of the writing helps us to answer some of these questions.
John writes this epistle to address the influence of Gnosticism. He does this with simple but yet direct wording and phrases. The ideas which he places before us are among the deepest mysteries of revelation: man’s relation to God, to the evil one, and to the world; the Incarnation; the Atonement; the judgment to come; the Son’s relation to the Father and to the Spirit; the essential characteristics of the Godhead. And all this is stated in propositions, which commonly contain simple words in a very simple construction. “Now are we children of God.” “He that doeth sin is of the devil.” “The world is passing away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” “The Father hath sent the Son, the Saviour of the world.” “The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” “God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all.” “God is Love.” What form of expression could be more simple? There is not a dependent sentence or a relative clause in any of these statements, much less an involved construction. And the words used are of the simplest. Yet who can fathom the depth of such statements?(1)
What we need to do is look up each of these repeated words and their definitions. Your homework today is to do just that. We will come back tomorrow with this information and see what God has revealed to each of us.
I will start today with the word "which!" It is found 6 times in the first 3 verses. In the Hebrew, this word (Hos) is defined as (Who, or Which)! This is a singular pronoun which means it is addressing one noun! All the other times the word "which" is used it means the same thing except in verse 2. The word used here is (Hostis) and the meaning of this word is (Whoever, or Who)! This word is found to be a relative pronoun. This means that it qualifies a noun by relating it to another phrase or sentence. In this case John relates Verse 1 and 2a to the latter part of Verse 2. This connection is JESUS!
So to conclude today let us walk away understanding that John is constant in his writings. In the Gospel of John and in this epistle (I John) he introduces Jesus. If you would like to know what that may look like today take a look at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix3MHV_RfeM. If today, you might be reading this and thinking to yourself, "I don't know Jesus" let me introduce you. He is the one who will love you, care for you, lift you up when needed, and tell you when you are doing wrong. This is who John is revealing in his writings found in the Bible. Blessings my friends!
Pastor Rod
(1) The Pulpit Commentary: 1 John. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (ix–x). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
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