THE REALITY OF FELLOWSHIP ( 1 JOHN 1;1-4)
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To what does "from the beginning" refer? How could John's original readers make his joy "complete"?
1 WHAT WAS FOM THE BEGINNING,
WHAT HAVE WE HEARD,
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.
in the latter part of the first century, Gnostic beliefs began to infiltrate the church, giving rise to false teachings that threatened "the faith that was delivered to the Saints once and for all" (Jude 3)
The word Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis ( "knowledge" ) and the Gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge about Spiritual matters. Gnosticism had 2 main lines of thoughts of the person of Christ. Docetic Gnosticism (from the Greek verb dokeo "to seem")
claimed that Jesus wasn't a real human being. He just seemed to be human. Cerinthan Gnosticism ( named after its founder, Cerinthus) denied the Diety of Christ, claiming that he was a pwerful being, perhaps like an angel,but he was not deving.. All of the apostle John's books (John's Gospel, 1,2,3 John Revelation) were written toward the end of the first century, and in light of the Gnostic threat at that time is not surprising that the Gospel of John emphasizes Christ's deity (against Cerinthian Gnosticism) with numerous evidenses of His humanity and that 1 John does the reverse. In 1 John the apostle took on Docetic Gnostiscism to show that Jesus was truly a human being. while also defending the truth of His deuty.
Both 1 John and John's Gospel start with "the beginning" but the reference point is different, " In the beginning" (John 1;1) takes us back to eternity past when "The Word". the pre- Incarnite Christ, eternally existed with the Father and then created the World in 1 John 1;1 FROM THE BEGINNING is best understod as the time of incarnation when "the Word became flesh" (John 1;14)
John reminded his readers that he was an eye witness of the incarnation (1;1-4). By the end of the first century, the Apostle John, probably close to a hundred years old, was the only living apostle. That John was with Jesus in the flesh is precisely what he meant with the four statemens in verse 1: WHAT WE HAVE HEARD, WHAT WE HAVE SEEN WITH OUR EYES, WHAT WE HAVE OBSERVED, AND HAVE TOUCHED WITH OUR HANDS. Despite Gnostic claims to the contrary. Jesus was fully human, and John emphatically declared that he could vividly remember the times when he had HEARD Christ teach and preach, when he had SEEN Christ in the flesh when he had OBSERVED Christs actions such as performing miracles, and when, he had even TOUCHED Christ with his own HANDS. The Gnostics claimed to have secret knowledge, but this knowledge was really a lie. It is as if John was saying to his raders, "Don't listen to the Gnostics claims about Christ not being human. I was there!"
John's message was CONCERING THE WORD OF LIFE, a reference to Jesus as the eternal Word (John 1;1-3) and the source of life (John 1;4 14;6). Similarly, Jesus is called THE ETERNAL LIFE (1 John 1;2) because He provides that life to those who believe in Him...
To be continued next Sunday
God Bless
:) 1|1|thank you|blessedx5|I_am_blessedx5@yahoo.com|06:10:42|11/09/2009|
;0) 2|1|Thank you!|Skaytes|skaytez@gmail.com|06:28:03|11/09/2009|
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