1 John 1
1That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2(For the life was manifested, and we
have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was
with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4And these things write we unto you,
that your joy may be full.
5This then is the message which we
have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all.
6If we say that we have fellowship
with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7But if we walk in the light, as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
10If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
With the
phrase Word of life the apostle John makes a pretty good summery of His message
to the church.
John’s teaching is like an energy storm around
an atom where it seems that an electron disappears and reappears further in its
rotation. The other authors of the epistles are analytical dividing mercy,
justification, redemption, salvation, righteousness, and life and dealing with each
as to how it affects the whole. With John you better strap in cause it’s all
one.
Reading his epistles is like a jolt of static
electricity that shocks you and leaves you stunned trying to understand what
just happened. It is as if the Holy Spirit waits excitedly for your
understanding to catch what has been said then plunges back into the storm.
The word of
life which John speaks of is not ink on a page but it is instead a man that had
the breath of God I Him. We read in ink the witness of both prophets and
apostles of who He was but John saw his face when He was grieved and when He
was joyful. Where we read the things He said; John has heard both compassion and
sternness in His voice. He has tasted the fishes and loaves, seen leapers given
new healthy flesh, heard the mourning for Lazarus changed to praise and
astonishment, smelled the dirt and sweat and blood mingled at His crucifixion,
and seen His resurrected body ascend into Heaven. With all these things experienced
forming in John a knowledge of who His Messiah was his testimony is He is the
Word of life.
If we ask a
man to describe his life it is very likely we will hear about labor,
accomplishment, achievements, family, or desires. However life is who you are;
all the things we list when asked are the result of the life in us but they are
not that life. The life in us is experienced. In this same way the description
of life cannot bring us the experience of it.
Jesus said
only the Spirit of a man can know a man. It is for this very reason that we
have been made partakers of the Spirit of God, that we may know Him. The
scriptures say also that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Consider with me what this means.
Those who
love deception speak deception. Those who love a lie speak lies. Those who
desire to have honor of men speak flattery(this does not mean appealing to another’s
vanity but to your own. If my vanity is that real men take what they want then
my flattery may well be insulting and demeaning). If Messiah fills our heart we
speak of Messiah.
If we see
these things then we see that the living Word being the only begotten goes far
beyond the creation in Mary’s womb. The Father spoke from that which was who He
was; so because He is truth His Word is truth, because He is the vital force of
life His Word is Spirit, and because the Father is I AM the existing one the
being which we call life His word is life. The sum of these things is when the
Father spoke he reproduced Himself. So before the foundations of the world the
Son was born. All things where created by Him. One more thing to remember The
Father does not have words as of many but the word as in one. The manifestation
of that word through the prophets and later through the apostles is merely
description of the Word who is the first and the last the beginning and the
end.
So the
express image who has said if you have seen me you have seen the Father Has
also said me and my Father are one for I am in my Father and my Father is in me
has become the word by which the life of the Father is restored into those who believe.
Saying that we too shall be one and as such be one with the Father and the Son
and also our brethren.
In short the
Word of Life is born of the Father and is one in person with the Father but
still His Son. It is by this same Living Word that we who by faith place
ourselves in the death He endured can come into life. The same life that is in
the Son, is living in us making us brethren and children of the Father.
The Word of
life.
