Introduction
We believe the letters of John, known as 1, 2, and 3 John were written by John the Apostle, who wrote the Gospel of John, and was one of the Twelve. It appears that John left Jerusalem before Rome attacked and destroyed the city in 70 A.D. He moved to Ephesus and ministered there. This is the same city in which Paul stayed and ministered for three years.
This letter we call First John was likely written from Ephesus to churches in the area. It is addressed to no specific person or church, so it may have been a circular letter to several churches in the area that held to the gospel as John presented it. It was written after the Gospel of John, around A.D. 85-90.
John’s purpose in writing the letter is to refute the false teachings of some who have left the churches.
1:1-4
The Word of Life
The beginning of this letter should remind you of the beginning, or prologue, of John’s Gospel. If you will read that before you read these four verses, you will see the similarities.
As he did in his gospel, John used the introduction to this letter both to describe Jesus and to stress John’s first hand knowledge of Jesus and his teaching.
So he began with “that which was from the beginning” to stress the divinity and eternal existence of Jesus. (1) In John 1:1, John wrote “in the beginning was the Word” to say the same thing. He reflected back to Genesis 1:1, which says “in the beginning, God…”
Jesus is not a created being, he is God. He is the second person of the Trinity. He has always existed.
John referred to Jesus in verse 1 as “the word of life”. This is again similar to John 1:1, when he wrote “in the begging was the Word”.
Next, John stressed his personal knowledge of Jesus. Jesus was that…which we have heard, which we have seen…and have touched”. (1) John personally heard Jesus teach, he saw him with his own eyes, and he touched him with his own hands”. We can trust the teaching of John because he was a witness to Jesus’s life, death, burial, and resurrection, and because he heard him teach.
John went on to say that Jesus was made manifest. He existed before taking on human flesh when born to Mary, but was largely hidden. He was with the Father in heaven. (2)
But, God the Father sent him to the world. (John 3:16) Beginning with his birth, he was seen. God manifested him, or made him visible and obvious. He was seen by Mary and Joseph, by the shepherds and by the wise men. He grew up and was seen by many, including the disciples. John was one of those disciples.
John he proclaimed what he and the other disciples saw and heard. They preached was Jesus preached and told of what they saw him do. (3) That is what Jesus commissioned the disciples to do: to make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them all that Jesus taught. (Matthew 28:18-20).
John’s motive for doing this teaching and writing, in addition to simple obedience to Christ, was to lead them to believe so those to whom he wrote could come into the fellowship of the Father and Son and the fellow believers. (3) Those who believe and follow Christ, have fellowship with him and the Father, and with all those who believe. John had that fellowship and wanted others to have it too.
Having this fellowship in Christ would bring joy both to John and to those who believed the message. (4) You may have experienced this fellowship and joy. Have you ever met someone new and found an instant rapport in conversation, then found they were also a believer? That is fellowship in Christ. That rapport and that joy should continue forever.
The fact that we can have fellowship with the Father means we can know him. Jesus, in fact, said “And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. (John 17:3) That eternal life begins when we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. We know him and, therefore have fellowship with him. This is only for believers. Jesus said No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)
So, we see, God is knowable. He is not, however, comprehensible. That is, no finite being can fully understand God or know all there is to know about him. The Psalmist wrote “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3) He went on to write that his understanding is beyond measure.” (145:5) We can know God, but we cannot fully comprehend him for he is God and we are not.
Fellowship with God
1:5-10
How do we stay (walk) in fellowship with God? It flows from the character of God. God is light. Light is a metaphor for God’s holiness and purity. He is completely holy.
God is separated from sin. John wrote “in him is no darkness at all”. (5) He is devoted to his own glory and honor. The seraphim around his throne cry out “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; thew hole art is full of his glory”. (Isaiah 6:3)
Since God is holy, those who would have fellowship with him must be holy. God said “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”. (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16) That is why John wrote “if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth”. (6)
This certainly struck at the heart of false teachers who said they were God’s men, but lived sinful lives, as Peter noted in his letters. It also strikes to the core of every man and woman who claims be believe but lives in continual sin. They do not practice the truth. You cannot walk in darkness and light at the same time. Further, since those people do not have fellowship with the Father and the Son, they do not have fellowship with other believers.
If we do walk in the light, striving to be holy and to avoid sin, because God is holy (“as he is in the light”), we have fellowship with each other, with fellow believers. We also have cleansing from sin through the blood of Jesus. If we did not, we could not begin to come into the presence and fellowship of the Father. Our sins would disqualify us.
We cannot say we have no sin. (8) That would be deceiving ourselves, as well as others. The Bible says all have sinned. (Romans 3:23) Therefore, to say we have not sinned, is to make God a liar and show that his word is not in us. (10)
Believers sin. Hopefully, we sin less as we mature and grow in Christ. But we sin. The concept of perfectionism is false. No one on earth lives without sinning, except Jesus.
Because we sin, we confess our sins. When we do, God forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Since we want to stay in close fellowship with the both the Father and Son, we should continually repent of our sin and confess it to God. Martin Luther’s first thesis was “When our Lord and Master said “Repent”, he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”
We come to Christ in repentance of sin. (Mark 1:14-15). We continue to live in repentance. Ours sins do not cause us to lose our salvation, but they distance us from God and hinder our fellowship with him. Therefore, we confess. If we do not, we risk having our hearts hardened so that we become more distant from the Father.
The more quickly we confess, the more quickly he forgives and we are restored to full fellowship with him. He will always forgive and cleanse, for he is faithful. (9) He will also forgive because he is just and will not deny forgiveness and cleansing because the blood of Jesus earned it.
Further, the more quickly we confess and move back into fellowship with God, the less we will be tempted to sin more and act contrary to his will and his heart.
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