1 John - Chapter 1

I John - Chapter 1

Jesus manifested as a physical man

The Apostle John was addressing the seven churches in Asia Minor.  That means he was speaking to believers in Jesus Christ, of whom most were Gentile believers who had left their pagan beliefs when they came to belief in Jesus.  Keeping in mind from the last lesson on the Background of 1 John, the false cultic belief of Docetism had entered into the churches, claiming Jesus did not come as flesh, blood and bone, but only as a spirit to the world.  This metaphysical heretical belief came out of Gentile paganism in that their gods roamed the heavenlies simply as spirits and never came to earth as physical human beings. 

Metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentiality and actuality...  "Wikipedia"

Docetism claimed that those who saw Jesus in the flesh was simply seeing him as a ghost-like figure, and it was a figment of their imagination.  Because pagan worship considered flesh of no importance to any of their dieties, that meant they could do what ever they wanted because the gods was not interested in fleshly behavior.  In other words, no one ever sinned.  This same belief filtered into the church, encouraging carnal, fleshly behavior.  This was totally heretical.

We will see those beliefs now confronted in this 1st chapter of 1st John. 

1.  That 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, concerning the Word of life - 2.  the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.  

The Apostle John was firm to emphasize that Jesus, whom he called the Word of Life, has always been - from the beginning with His Father God, reigning in heaven.  In other words, Jesus and God are One substance (John 1:1), the One true God. 

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus left His diety (godhead), coming from the Father in heaven, and came down to earth to manifest Himself as a physical man. (John 1:14). 

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John was careful to emphasize the He and the other apostles and disciples bore witness to His physical presence upon the earth.  They personally seen His body with their own eyes, and touched His flesh with their own hands.  He was real!  In other words, Jesus left His godhead in heaven and came down to earth as a flesh, bone, and blood - a human man.

John continues on to claim that eternal life comes from Father God in heaven, and through Jesus eternal life is now manifested - come to mankind.

Fellowship

3.  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  4.  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Through Jesus, who is God, as well as the Son of God, John proclaims with excitement, we want to have a deeper relationship (communion) with you as fellow believers because we all can have a deep relationship (communion)  with God through His Son Jesus Christ.  This is true fellowship (Greek-Koinonia).  I write these things so that you many experience joy to its fullness.  

Koinonia
Christian communion - Fellowship.  Joint participation and unity within the Christian Church, the Body of Christ.
"Wikipedia"

The Apostle John is telling us that our relationship to Christ and other believers goes beyond just knowing each other.  He is telling us to have a close communion, first of all with Christ, and second, with other believers.  This is how to experience true joy in our Christianity. 

Personal Application:  Where we go to church becomes a vital part of our Christianity.  Attending a Bible believing and practicing church and having close fellowship with other believers in our church becomes critical to our experiencing true joy in our Christianity.

5.  This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

I am declaring to you, John spoke, that this is the message Jesus has spoken to us, and I declare it to you.  God is light and in Him (Jesus the godhead) there is no darkness.  If God is light, what then is light?  Truth - the pure sinless truths of God and His Word is light, and in that there is no darkness.  Therefore, anyone who says they have fellowship (communion) with Jesus, but lives in the lifestyle of sin, they are liars.  The two are incompatible.  The fruit of their lifestyle is the living truth of what they truly believe.  Matthew 7:16 tells us that "you will know them by their fruits" - again, the fruit of their lifestyle is the living truth of what they truly believe (Galatians 5:19-23). These scripture verses alone tell us that anyone who believes in the cultic practice of Docetism, or any other practice that violates the Word of God, was living under false belief in what the Word of God teaches. 

Remember, Docetism believed Jesus simply came as a spirit and carnal living was not a sin and acceptable; therefore, they believed, God would not judge anyone after the flesh.  They could live any way they wanted.  Totally false heretical teachings.

Personal Application:  To be a true "believer" in Christ, one must believe Jesus is God, yet He is also the Son of God who came to earth in the flesh as a man, suffered and died for the penalties of our sins, God rose Him from the dead, and Jesus is soon coming back to receive His body of "believers" unto Himself to be with Him forever.  At the moment that belief comes, the Holy Spirit then enters within the heart of new believers to teach, guide, empower, comfort, convict one of sin, and deliver them into a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).  Therefore, a true "believer" desires to live by the fruit of the Spirit.  The two works together - faith and obedience.  While belief (faith) in Christ saves one unto salvation (Eph 2:8-9), obedience is the heart's desire of one who believes (Eph 2:10).  Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). 

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 

If our lives reflect the light (the pure truth) of the Word of God, however, being obedient to its instructions, which is life, we not only have true fellowship with other believers, because we all think and desire to act like Jesus, but we know when we do sin, which we will do from time to time, we have forgiveness of sins.  The Word of God tells us that through the blood of Jesus, forgiveness of sins belongs to us. 

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

On the other hand, if we say there is no sin in us - that we do not sin, as Docetism would claim, we not only deceive ourselves, but we are lying to others.  We all sin because we were born with a sin nature.  It is, therefore, impossible to walk in the light of the Word of God when God's truth does not dwell within us.  We must have the power of the Holy Spirit, which is God's truth, living and operating within us to be able to walk in the light of the Word of God and get rid of sin.

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Again, everyone sins, because everyone was born with a sin nature.  A believer who has the power of the Holy Spirit operating in his or her life; however, does not "practice" sin.   Consistent sinning becomes repugnant to a true believer and the desire to be cleansed of that sins and be pleasing to God is strong within the heart of that believer.  Because we all sin, the indwelling Holy Spirit not only convicts believers of sin, He is our advocate to our Father God to help us lead a repentant lifestyle.  As such, whenever we sin, our hearts want  to repent and confess our sins to God, and when we do, God will forgive us just as He has promised.  He is ever so faithful to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Our hearts are again cleansed and true fellowship (communion) with God is restored.  Sin no longer is a barrier between us and God.  In this, God is so pleased.

10.  If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Again, everyone sins because we were born with a sin nature.  To deny that, we make God a liar.  Because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, that sin nature was passed on down to the rest of humanity.  God is firm when He tells us we all sin and are in need of repentance and confession to bring on His forgiveness.  Even Christians sin, which puts a hindrance in our fellowship between the Lord and us.  Thankfully, we have the advocate of the Holy Spirit to convict us of what sin is.  Then we can confess and ask for forgiveness.  Again, we do not want to walk in deception by saying we do not sin.  That would simply make God and us a liar, lacking the truths of the Word of God within us.  Praise God that we can come before God in repentance to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness.  When we do, we again have open fellowship (communion) with the Lord.

Personal Application:  We have seen in this lesson the importance of knowing the historical background of why the Apostle John wrote to the seven churches in Asia Minor.  The cultural and political atmosphere of the times definitely affected the Church and the writings of Scripture.   It is important as Christians to know the history of the Church to understand more clearly the depth of what the Scriptures were saying to Christians of then and how it affects us as Christians today.  

In the same context, as we are now in the end of the end of times, and we are living in Bible times as well.  It is so important to keep watch over what is going on in our world, and especially our political world because we are seeing end-time scripture happen right before our eyes.