Study of 1 John 1:1-4

To be honest, I found this passage very difficult to understand due to unnatural sentence structure, and the way John loves to wander from thought to thought. Hopefully, by breaking it down, the doctrines John is trying to proclaim to us will become clear.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked up and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life...

1 John 1:1

• The word of life was from the beginning (of the universe?)
• John/apostles/eyewitnesses heard the word of life
• They saw the word of life with their eyes
• They looked up and touched with their hands
• They are not making this up
• The word of life can be experienced in every aspect

John starts this letter much in the same way he starts the gospel of John. In the gospel of John , the Word is revealed to be Jesus Christ. Here, interestingly enough, he describes the Word as "the word of life" as opposed to just "the Word." While in the gospel, John talks about what was witnessed of Jesus, here, he refers to the experiences. What John is writing are not something he thought up or reasoned, but his message is based on reality that he himself witnessed.

...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...
1 John 1:2

• The word of life was made (by whom?)
• The word of life was made manifest
• Manifest -- adj. clear or obvious to the eye or mind. (revealed?)
• In this context, probably talking about Jesus coming to earth as a human
• John/apostles/eyewitnesses saw this manifestation
• They testify that this is the eternal life
• They testify to us
• They proclaim that this is the eternal life
• They proclaim to us
• The eternal life was with the Father
• The eternal life was what was made manifest to us i.e. the word of life is the eternal life

John focuses so much on Jesus becoming manifest here. What a wonder, it is! He talks about it with the greatest enthusiasm--"GUYS!! I SAW Jesus!!! He was with us. The God of the universe came and visited us!" There is something here that John knows, that he wants and desires us to realize and understand. This is eternal life we are talking about. This is the most important thing that has ever happened and that ever will happen. This is what we have been looking for; everything that we ever wanted, whether we realize it or not, is right here. God, with us. God has made a way for us to live and fellowship with Him again. God is everything we have ever wanted, and He is here. We can have an experience eternal life, fully and completely, in every way.

...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. And we are writing these things so that (y)our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:3-4

• John/apostles/eyewitnesses are proclaiming also what they have seen and heard
• In addition to proclaiming the eternal life that was made manifest
• They proclaim what they have experienced in order that we may have fellowship (with them? or with God?)
• This fellowship they have and that they want us to have is deeper than first appears; indeed it is actually with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ
• So, John and the others are testifying and proclaim what they have experienced and witnessed so that we may have fellowship with God along with them (note: Holy Spirit is not mentioned)
• They are telling us these things so that our/their joy may be complete
• John and the others want us to have fellowship with God and have complete joy
• Is this saying that fellowship with God will make our joy complete?

Obviously, I could have broken this passage down much further and dived much deeper. There is quite a lot here. But mainly, the point here is that what John is telling us is very important. He is proclaiming to us what he has experienced and witnessed so that we may have eternal life in fellowship with God. When we see/understand these things, our joy will be complete. If our joy is complete, there is nothing to add to it. Nothing can stop us, because of what we know and have, which is eternal fellowship with God our Creator.

True happiness comes from following the Word of God

Psalms 119:1-2 ESV
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord ! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,

Psalms 119:18 ESV
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Psalms 119:28-29 ESV
My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

Psalms 119:36-37 ESV
Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

God does not need me

God does not need me in order to accomplish His plans, yet He has invited me to be apart of His glory.

Romans 1:1-6 ESV
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David  according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,"

Thoughts from Mark

In prayer,

Asking for a sign or telling God to do something, as the Pharisees did in Mark 8:11-13, is putting oneself in God's place rather than denying oneself in humility.

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. ¹² And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

¹⁴ Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.¹⁵ And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”^[b] 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” ²¹ And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

I found this passage in Mark 8 interesting because of the main two messages it brings. In the first, Jesus is teaching his disciples by warning them about two types of "leaven": that of being too legalistic (focusing on rules like the Pharisees), and that of being too casual (bad stuff doesn't matter as long as your good/religiousness outweighs it--like Herod pretended). This illustrates the narrow line between two sides of Christianity--truth and love. Both are necessary and important.

The other message speaks on the third aspect of following Christ, which would be faith. So often, we are like the disciples. We see God working in our lives daily, yet we forget them time and time again as we face similar problems. If Jesus can feed thousands with a few loaves of bread, it is silly that we don't trust him to take care of us. Yet so often we do just that.

P.S. cool things I learned today:

Matthew is often described as a tell-it-as-it-is presentation of the Gospel.
Mark, influenced Peter's telling of the Gospel, is themed around second chances.

Perspective: His plan for me is infinitely better

Mark 8:34-38 ESV
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  For what can a man give in return for his soul?  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Singleness is a blessing too

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 MSG
I want you to live as free of complications as possible. When you're unmarried, you're free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God. I'm trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.

1 Corinthians 7:7 MSG
Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.

True happiness comes from following the Word of God

Psalms 119:1-2 ESV
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord ! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,

Psalms 119:18 ESV
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Psalms 119:28-29 ESV
My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

Psalms 119:36-37 ESV
Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

Psalms 119:50 ESV
This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Psalms 119:65-67 ESV
You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord , according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Psalms 119:60, 69, 71 ESV
I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.