1 John 1:1

1 John 1:1

What was from the beginning – that which we have heard, that which we have seen by our own eyes, that which we observed and our hand touched – regarding the word of life …

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Remember that the epistles (the books in our Bible that aren’t Matthew through Acts or Revelation) are letters written from a Christian leader to a particular audience.  That being said, look at what John doesn’t include in this letter.  There is no address.  He doesn’t spend any time telling his audience who is writing them a letter.  He doesn’t even stop to recognize the audience!  John just gets right to the point: the focus should be on God.  I’ve never noticed this before today, and I think it’s really neat.  For John, there is no point doing anything but identifying the God who is the power and authority behind the words that he is about to write.  Oh, that I could live my life with this model more often.

How good are you at pointing to God and not yourself?  Why is this an important aspect to consider with respect to spiritual maturity?

Second Thought:

I love John’s verb tense choice.  He is intentional about using the perfect and the aorist (simple past).  John uses perfect with respect to having heard the word and having seen Christ.  John’s point is that the words and the example of Jesus may have been in his past but the effects of those experiences stick with him and continue to affect him.  Yet the observing and touching of Jesus are in the aorist verb tense, reminding us that John isn’t actively seeing and touching Jesus anymore.  It isn’t physical proximity to Jesus that creates spirituality within us.  It is the lingering effects of faith that stick with us and continue to work on us, shape us, and mold us.

Do you ever wish you could see Jesus and be in His physical presence?  While understandable, why is that less important than hearing God’s Word and allowing the Word to soak into our being?

Third Thought:

John reminds us that the Word is from the beginning.  This is very reminiscent of the way that the Gospel of John begins.  God was present at the beginning of the world.  God’s plan of salvation – the Word of life – was already in effect at the beginning of the world.  God was not surprised by sin.  God was not scrambling for a way to make things right.  God knew what was going to happen from the very beginning.  Knowing that His creation would be messed up by sin, He created anyways with a plan in mind.  That’s awesome.

Have you ever considered what it means that Jesus was present at the creation of the world?  How does this help amplify our understanding of God’s love?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 John 1:2-4