In 1 John 1:1-4, John says “we” apostles testify and proclaim to “you,” the church, the Word of Life which we have heard, seen, and handled. John gives a complete Christology in a few short verses. “Word of Life” is obviously a divine title; “heard, seen, and handled” describes one who is truly human. Jesus is the eternal Word of Life made man – He is the God-man, God of God and man of man, fully divine and fully human, with a complete divine nature and complete human nature conjoined in his one person, without mixture, separation, confusion, or change. All of Jesus does all that Jesus does – the eternal Son experiences a human life and death in order to redeem us. John concludes the prologue of his first epistle telling the church he has written them this letter in order to complete their joy (1:4). Two things should be noted here.
First, the sweep of the passage runs from eternity to eternity. He opens, “That which was from the beginning,” pointing to the pre-existence of the Son. The Word of Life has existed from eternity past in fellowship with the Father. The Father has never been without his Word/Son. The one who was manifested to them in the flesh, whom the apostles heard, saw, and touched, preexisted the incarnation. John concludes with the perfection of their joy – a joy that is consummated at the last day and will endure eternally into the future. From the pre-creational joy of the Trinity to the future eternal joy of God’s people after the consummation of all things, the opening verses of this letter stretch out from the beginning of all things to the end of all things. The eternal fellowship God enjoys within himself as the Trinity is now opened up to us in Jesus. The one who is eternal life in himself shares his life with us.
Second, John has sent them this “word” (the letter) to make their joy full, but behind John sending the “word” of 1 John is the Father sending the Word of Life. 1 John is the word of life written because it bears witness to the Word of Life incarnate. John sent a word to fulfill our joy; that is only possible because the Father sent his Word to fulfill our joy. While Jesus is no longer on earth, so the post-apostolic church has to rely on the testimony of the apostles to know the truth about Jesus, we do not miss out on anything. Through the Word and the sacraments, the life of fellowship in the church, we can have the same fellowship with the Father through the Son that the apostles had. Our joy can be just as complete as theirs. While Jesus is now in heaven, the Spirit makes him present on earth in a new and even better way through Word and sacrament (cf. John 14:28, 16:7ff).
—
1 John begins where the gospel of John begins, but it also begins where the gospel of John leaves off.
Obviously the prologue to 1 John in 1:1-4 overlaps and connects with John 1:1-18. The same vocabulary is present – “Word,” “beginning,” etc. The same themes are present – John’s gospel speaks of the Word made flesh, while his first epistle speaks of the apostles hearing, seeing, and touching the Word of Life, which can only happen because the Word of Life was manifested in the flesh. Both prologues teach the eternal relationship of the Father with his Word, and both describe the incarnation. Both teach the invisible God has been made visible in Jesus.
But there is also an advance. When John 1:1 says “in the beginning” it’s an echo of Genesis 1:1. The Word was present with the Father at creation, and the Father created all things through his Word. Without denying that 1 John also echoes the absolute beginning of Genesis 1:1, with the Word of Life having an implicit role in creation, John has added another layer, a new beginning, that has arrived with the Word coming into our world as a man. We can see this if we look at how “beginning” language is used elsewhere, in John’s gospel (15:17, 16:4) and John’s first epistle (2:24, 3:11). John can use “beginning” language to describe what has been true from before creation, but he can also use “beginning” language to describe the inauguration of the new creation in Jesus’s coming. The coming of Jesus into the world is on par with the creation of the world. It is the dawn of a new world, a new beginning within the world. (Obviously the church has captured this with the calendar reset that takes place with his birth; the shift from BC to AD marks a new beginning).
But 1 John 1:1-4 not only link with John 1, the beginning of John’s gospel, they are also link with John 20-21, the end of the gospel. One obvious connection is touching. While 1 John 1:1-3 mention “seeing” the Word of Life 4 times, touching comes at the end of his list of senses in 1:1 – almost certainly a reference to Thomas touching Jesus’s resurrection body in John 20. Touching is climatic.
Further, John ends his gospel with multiple references to the apostles bearing witness to Jesus’ person and work. The verbal and written testimony of the gospel through the apostles gives us the same access to Jesus they enjoyed during his earthly ministry. Apostolic testimony to Jesus substitutes for and replaces hearing, seeing, and touching Jesus. 1 John 1:1-4 picks up on these themes. John 20:29 stresses those who did not get to see Jesus with their own eyes as the apostles did but do believe in their testimony are blessed. 20:31 says John has written these things that we may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in his name. 1 John 1:1-3 make the same point – John has written this letter to proclaim and testify what he and the other apostles saw/heard/touched, so that others may believe and thus have fellowship with the apostles and with the Father and his Son. Apostolic testimony plays the same role as empirical experience; the apostles entered into fellowship with Jesus by hearing/seeing/touching him, but we share in that same fellowship as we believe the word they proclaim. Our fellowship with the Father and Son comes through fellowship with the apostles and their witness.
John 21:24-25 again stresses the function of apostolic testimony. John bears witness to these things – his gospel is a legal record that speaks the truth about Jesus so that those who did not get the same empirical experience of Jesus on earth do not miss out on anything. We have the more sure word of the apostles, and on that basis, we have access to the Son and the Father who sent him. Again, 1 John 1 picks up where John 21 leaves off – stressing the foundational role of the apostles’ witness and writings. John says we testify and proclaim (1 John 1:2-3). It is precisely this testimony and proclamation that brings them to fullness of joy in Jesus (1:4). “Testimony” is the authority of experience. “Proclamation” is the authority to speak as another’s messenger. The apostolic officer combines both forms of authority – they were eyewitness to Christ’s ministry and resurrection, and they had been specially appointed as his messengers.
Finally, the question is sometimes asked, “Where is the Holy Spirit in a passage like 1 John 1:1-3? The Father and Son are mentioned, so why isn’t the Spirit?” The answer is, as so often is the case, that the Spirit’s work is implicit in what is said. The Spirit is right where he wants to be, lurking in the background, lavishing glory on the Father and the Son. Jesus, of course, honors the Spirit, even as he honors the Father, in his upper room discourse in John’s gospel, and this is the key. Where is the Spirit? He stands behind the apostolic witness/proclamation, inspiring all they say and write about Jesus, assuring its inerrancy and imprinting it with divine authority. See John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:7-15, etc. The apostles’ testimony to Jesus is really the Spirit’s testimony to Jesus through the apostles. Because of what the apostles have heard with their ears, seen with their eyes, and touched with their hands, they can open their mouths to speak – and when they do so, their speech is inspired by the Spirit. They can use their hands to write – and when they do so, what they write is inspired by the Spirit. Thus, the whole Trinity really is present in 1 John 1:1-4: That which the apostles have seen and heard they declare to us in the power and inspiration of the Spirit; these things are written to us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that our fellowship with the Father and Son, and our joy in the Father and Son, may be complete.
—
In John Stott’s commentary on the Epistles of John, he has an excellent introductory section on the apostles as eyewitnesses. He notices sometimes John uses “we” to refer to the apostles; in these cases “we” apostles (as eyewitnesses) speak to “you,” believers who do not have eyewitness experience of Jesus, but rely on apostolic testimony. In other cases, “we” includes the apostles and all believers in one group. The apostle Paul does the same thing, sometimes distinguishing himself himself from other believers because of his unique status as an apostle, while other times associating with his readers as a fellow believer. Stott summarizes:
“The whole difficulty arises because the writer of an apostle was a man holding two positions. In one sense, associated with his fellow apostles, he was unique; in another sense, associated with his readers, he was just a comment…Only the context can guide us as to whether his “we” is uniquely apostolic or commonly Christian.”
When doctrine is at stake, he retains the “we-you” mode of address. He teaches and they learn from him. But when dealing with ethical duties common to all Christians, he use “we” language to include himself and his readers.
This reminds me of Augustine’s famous line: “What I am for you terrifies me, what I am with you consoles me. For you I am a bishop; but with you I am a Christian. The former is title of duty; the latter, one of grace. The former is a danger; the latter salvation.”
TPC Pastor's Page 