“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, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that 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. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:1-4).
The writings of the Apostle John have always had a peculiar charm for the people of the Lord, and I suppose, if for no other reason, for this, that they are particularly addressed to the family of God as such.
If you want truth concerning the kingdom of God in its present aspect, during the mystery days of the kingdom, you will find it in the epistles of Peter, James, and Jude. If you desire truth concerning the Church of God, the Body of Christ, which is being formed by the Spirit during the present dispensation of grace, you find that in the writings of the Apostle Paul. But if you seek truth for the family of God—the believer looked upon as one born again into the divine family—you find that particularly in the writings of the Apostle John. I do not mean, however, that any of these sections of Scripture are confined to the subjects indicated, for while Peter treats primarily of the kingdom, he also speaks of the Church and of the family of God; while Paul treats primarily of the Church, he also speaks of the kingdom and of the family, and while John treats primarily of the family, he also has something to say about the Church and about the kingdom. But God gave a special ministry to each of these New Testament writers, as indicated.
John’s writings were the latest given by the Spirit of God for our edification. There are some dear people who put, it seems to me, undue value upon the writings of Paul, particularly his later ones, those which they call his “prison epistles,” as though these contain the last instruction that God had for His people. However; Paul had been in heaven for probably over twenty years before the Apostle John wrote his Gospel. Then it was years later that John wrote his epistles, and the book of Revelation was, so far as we can learn, the last book given by the Spirit, almost at the end of the first century of the Christian era; so we may be sure of this much—that as God reserved the writings of the Apostle John for the close of the apostolic age, He kept the best wine until the last.
In the Gospel of John we have eternal life as manifested in the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the epistles of John we have eternal life as manifested now in the children of God, those who through grace have been born into His family. In the last verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel the apostle gives his reason for wring that particular book. He says, “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through His name.” Why was the Gospel of John written? In order that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Is there any one here who has any doubt of that, who finds himself questioning whether Jesus is in very truth the Christ of God? Read the Gospel of John. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). And this particular portion of Holy Scripture was written that you might know, that you might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.”
Now look at the thirteenth verse of the fifth chapter of the first epistle of John, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
The Gospel was written that you might “believe that Jesus is the Christ... and that believing you might have life through His name.” The epistle is written to people who already believe that Jesus is the Christ, but have never been settled on the question of their present position or of the possession of eternal life. “That ye might know.” If you have any doubt as to the personality of Jesus, if you have any doubt as to the life and atoning death of Jesus, as to His Messiahship, or as to His Divinity, read the Gospel. But now, if having believed the message of the Gospel, you are still in perplexity as to the question of assurance, whether you really possess eternal life or not, read the epistle; for it is written to “you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” The epistle of John is the epistle of fellowship; it shows us the way into fellowship with God, for He wants His people to be in communion with Him.
John uses certain key words or phrases: “Ye know,” or “we know.” He would have us rest on nothing short of definite, positive knowledge of a divine reality. Then there is the word “believe.” That is one of his favorite words, both in the Gospel and in the epistles. We also read a great deal about “light”— “God is light,” “Walk in light.” Then there is the word “love”— “God is love.” We are to “walk in love.”
After the death of Paul, somewhere around A. D. 67, there arose among the churches, particularly in Asia, a sect that we know today as Gnostics. An agnostic, you know, is a man who says, “I do not know.” People seem to like that term; some of our young folk go off to college and when they get a smattering of knowledge, they say, “I am an agnostic; I don’t believe in this and I don’t believe in that.” Charles Spurgeon used to say that agnostic is but the Greek word for the Latin ignoramus. So that one might gay, “I don’t believe the Bible, because I am an ignoramus!” However, as a rule the agnostic likes his Greek name better than his Latin one. But a gnostic is the very opposite to an agnostic. The agnostic says, “I do not know;” the gnostic says, “I do know.”
There came into the Church those who said, “We have superior knowledge to that of these simple Christians;” and this sect grew very rapidly, and threatened for two hundred years to overwhelm the orthodox portion of the Church of God. They had peculiar ideas in regard to Jesus. Some of them thought that Jesus was simply a man, the natural-born son of Joseph and Mary, and that the Christ was the Divine Spirit who came and took possession of Jesus at His baptism in Jordan and was with Him through life, but left Him when He hung on the cross. These were called Cerinthian gnostics. Today there are those who tell you the same thing, that Jesus was a man and Christ was a Spirit who took possession of Him. This is the basic doctrine in Christian Science, New Thought, The Unity School of Christianity, and in Theosophy, and other modern cults. But this is thoroughly contrary to Scripture, for it says, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus is the Christ is of God”— not that Jesus was possessed by the Christ or was controlled by the Christ, but He is the Christ, and the One who hung on the cross was not only Jesus, the man of Nazareth, but, we read, “Christ died for our sins.” So we must never distinguish in that way between Jesus and the Christ any more than we would distinguish between Mr. Hoover and the President. Mr. Hoover is the President, and Jesus is the Christ. It is perfectly true that Christ is a title, but that title belongs to Him.
There was another set, of gnostics, the Doketists, who denied the reality of the manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ—the reality of His human body. They held that all evil was linked with the flesh, and therefore it was unthinkable that Deity should ever condescend to dwell in a tabernacle of clay. If, for instance, while you gazed upon Him you had attempted to take hold of Him, you would have laid hold of thin air, He was simply a phantom. John meets both these systems in his three epistles.
The opening verses of this chapter deal particularly with the Doketic system. Listen to John, “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, of the Word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” What does John mean? Why, this eternal life has been manifested on earth in a Man. We heard that Man speak; we listened to His words, looked upon His face; we handled Him, we know that He was a real Man; we walked with Him for three and one-half wonderful years. And now John is saying, If you want the truth as to Christ, do not take up with these things that spring up overnight like mushrooms, but go back to that which was from the beginning. For of this we may be sure, “What is new is not true, and what is true is not new.”
There are three distinct beginnings emphasized in Scripture. We read, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). That was the beginning of creation. Some imagine that was about 6,000 years ago; it might have been much more than that, but the Bible does not say. But go back as far as you will and you still find that, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Whenever that event took place, it was God who did it; He was there; He brought the universe into existence. It may have gone through a great many changes before the conditions described in the second verse of Genesis 1, but it was created by a personal God in the beginning, the beginning of creation. Then in John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is the unbeginning beginning. When everything that ever had beginning began, the Word was. He had no beginning but was the eternally existing Son subsisting in the bosom of the Father. Then in the first chapter of this epistle, “That which was from the beginning” is not the beginning of the creation, neither is it the unbeginning beginning of John 1, but it is the beginning of the new dispensation; the beginning of Christianity when the truth was revealed in Christ.
Look at several scriptures that bring this out. 1 John 2:7: “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” This refers to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, the commandment given, by Him. When was that given? From the beginning of Christianity, from the beginning of the new dispensation. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
In other words, John is saying, “Do not take up with anything new; go back to that which was from the beginning of Christianity.” Then read verse 14, “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him [that is] from the beginning.” He is here writing to the “fathers” who have known Him from the beginning of this new age of grace. Then in verse 24 we read, “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” In 2 John 5 we find these words, “And now I beech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.” Don’t go in for something new. That message which you received at the beginning is the message to which you must cling and is that which must abide in you These passages make it clear that this term “from the beginning” does not, as some, have thought, refer to eternity. It is from the start of the new era.
When people come to you and say, “We have a new doctrine, a new teaching, a new system of things,” you can say, “Keep it; as for me I will cling firmly to that which was from the beginning.” We have a “faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
The Mormon says, “We believe the Bible, but we have the Mormon Bible too, and it is a new revelation,” but you reply, “I do not need your new book. I have that which was from the beginning.” When Mrs. Mary Baker Patterson Glover Eddy says, “Of course we believe the Bible, but here is my little book, ‘Science and Health,’ which is something new,” you say, “Thank you, madam; I do not need your Key to the Scriptures; the Word of God interpreted by the Holy Spirit is all I need.” When the Swedenborgians say, “Surely we believe the Bible, but we add to it the dreams and visions of Emanuel Swedenborg,” we reply in the words of Scripture, “He that hath a dream let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully” (Jer. 23:28). When Pastor Russell and Judge Rutherford come along and say, “Of course we believe the Bible, but we must add to it our ‘Studies in the Scriptures’ and ‘the Harp of God,’ if you would really understand it,” we say, “Keep all your seven or ten volumes; we will go back to that which we have heard from the beginning. We do not want anything added to the Scripture; we go back to that which God gave at the first.”
John shows that Jesus was a real Man, for he declares, “We have heard Him; we listened to His teaching as we walked with Him; we heard Him speak; we have seen Him with our eyes.” The gnostics said that He was merely a phantasm, but John insists on His true humanity, “That which we have looked on intently.” He was not deceived. Somebody comes up to me and says, “I want you to meet my friend, Mrs. So-and-so;” I say, “I am glad to meet you,” and I turn away because others are crowding about me. The next day I meet this person on the street and she says, “Don’t you know me?” I reply, “Your face is familiar; where did I meet you?” “Why, I met you yesterday at the Moody Church.” I have to say, “I beg your pardon; the trouble is I did not gaze intently enough to have your features impressed upon me.” The apostle says, “We were not deceived; we saw Him and gazed intently upon Him; we know He was a real Man, and He filled the vision of our souls.” Then he adds, “That which our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” It was not merely that he heard and looked, but he laid hold upon Him, and when he laid hold upon His arm, it was not thin air; and when John lay upon His breast at supper, it was not a delusion. Christ Jesus is a Man of true flesh and blood!
What a wonderful thing it is that the very first truth in the Christian revelation is that God became Man—the amazing grace of it all; God came down into His own world as a Man, came so near to us in order that He might reveal Himself to us and die for our sins. He was made a little lower than the angels in order that He might settle the sin question for us, and so the apostle says in verse 2, which is really parenthetical, “For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” Think of it! Eternal life was manifested on earth!
Do you want to know what eternal life really is in all its fullness, in all its purity? Study the life of Jesus; read the four Gospels. John says, “The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Although you and I do not see Him now with our natural eyes, yet through the testimony of John and his fellow-apostles we are enabled to see Jesus, to see the manifestation of eternal life. So he says, in verse 3, “That 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.”
Fellowship is a distinctly New Testament word. I do not mean that you will not find the English word in our translation of the Old Testament, but there it has the thought of companionship. In Christianity it is far more. When you hear the benediction pronounced, “The love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,” do you stop and think of what that means? People of altogether different heredity, different environment, different cultural standards, saved by the same grace, indwelt by the same Holy Spirit, are brought into marvelous fellowship one with another.
I remember a number of years ago sitting at a table eating with two Christian workers, one a colored man, the other a Japanese. Suddenly my Japanese friend said to us in his quiet oriental way, “What a wonderful thing is the grace of God! Just look at this, a black man, a yellow man, and a white man, all one in Christ Jesus! By nature each one filled with suspicion of the other, and even with a feeling of repugnance tard each other, but by grace all one in Christ.” This is not something artificially pumped up or produced by any effort of your own, but it is the effect of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, the work of the third Person of the Trinity.
But now the object of fellowship is occupation with Christ. We read, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” In 1 Corinthians 1:9 we read, “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of His Son.” Men try to get up fellowships, and they are poor things at the best. The only fellowship I know anything about is the fellowship of God’s dear Son. Men may have these fellowships if they will, but, thank God, every believer has been called into the fellowship of God’s Son. The Apostle John says, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” I like that—our fellowship.
I remember years ago I was telling a brother about a certain missionary, and this brother to whom I was speaking happened to be one of a particular group of Christians with which I am intimately associated. He looked rather bored while I was speaking with him, and when I had finished he said, “And is the brother in our fellowship?” “If you mean some little clique of Christians, no, I do not think he is in our fellowship; but if you mean the fellowship of the Son of God, yes, he is in our fellowship.” Our fellowship is the fellowship of the Body of Christ as set forth in the communion, “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ?” What a marvelous fellowship this is!
Do you want to know how to get into this fellowship? There is only one way—through a send birth and the gift of the Holy Spirit of God. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, be born again, and the Spirit will come to dwell in you and bring you into “our fellowship.” Fellowship means common thoughts and interests. Have you learned to know a Saviour’s love? Do you enjoy the precious things that the Apostle John is telling us about? Has the glorious truth of eternal life as revealed in the Son of God become a reality to you? Then let us share it together. I know a little about Christ and you tell me a little of that which you know, and our hearts are warmed. That is real fellowship.
John concludes this section with these words, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” You have a measure of joy now; you will have more as you get better acquainted with Christ. You have a measure of happiness now; you will have more as you get to know Him more intimately.
The fifth verse begins the message that John gives to Christians in order to bring them into the fullness of that fellowship with God.