“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.” ( 1 Jn. 1:1-3)

Though many today (and countless throughout history) have mocked Christians and the veracity of the Scriptures, we have observed that through our study, Scripture is literally replete with intrinsic evidences throughout that testify to its truthfulness. One such evidence is presented at 1 John 1:1-3.

The Apostle John, writing his three epistles probably near the end of his life (in the latter part of the 1st century) seemed to be very concerned to strengthen the faith of the saints to whom he was writing. In so doing, he also offered up correctives to Gnosticism and godless living. Indeed, he states that his primary purpose in writing his first epistle was to give the saints confidence that they, “...may know that [they] have eternal life...” ( 1 Jn. 5:13). What better way, therefore, for John to open an exposition to explain aspects of the faith then to begin with evident facts regarding the reality of Jesus Christ?

He states at the outset that there were witnesses to testify of the realness of Christ. He says, “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” ( 1 Jn. 1:1). There are a few salient points we need to observe in looking at this text. First, we notice that John describes a time frame when this “Word of life” was manifested to them (i.e. those who “saw” “looked upon” and “handled”). He says that this was “from the beginning”. What beginning is John speaking about? It could be that John had in mind the prophetic utterances made of Christ in the Old Testament ( Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2, etc). This could be the meaning, as it is entirely true that Christ is spoken of throughout the entire scope of the Old Testament. This was proven by our Lord Himself while on the road to Emmaus, when He, “...beginning at Moses and all the prophets...expounded unto them (i.e. two of His disciples) in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk. 24:27). Though the Old Testament testimony of Christ is indisputable, it is certain that John, in his letter, has a more specific “beginning” in mind.

Mark, in his Gospel, points out this more specific time-frame when he states, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk 1:1). In like fashion, Mark uses language similar to John in referring to the earthly origin of Jesus and His ministry. John states that at the beginning, “we” (i.e. himself and the other witnesses) “heard”, had “seen”, “looked upon”, and “handled” the Son of God who came in the flesh. This is very important for us to take note of, as one of John’s primary objectives in writing this epistle was to combat the Gnostic heresy.

Gnosticism, generally, was a belief that matter is evil and that spirit is good. Furthermore, Gnosticism was Syncretistic; that is, it was a religion that accepted all other religions into its fold and modified them accordingly to line up with their distinct beliefs. It is not surprising, therefore, that when Gnostic philosophy was introduced into the ranks of the Church via false teachers, they developed the belief that Jesus Christ did not really come physically. He was, rather, a spiritual “emanation” called the “Logos” (i.e. Greek for Word). If He was truly physical then He would, therefore, according to their philosophy, be evil. To them this was untenable so they created this idea of the “Logos”. John, on the other hand, states that Christ was “heard”, “seen”, “looked upon”, and “handled”.

As a further corrective, John rebukes this heresy by saying, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that is should come; and even now already is it in the world” ( 1 Jn. 4:1-3).

John states, therefore, that in “the beginning” when Christ was manifested to the apostles (and many others as we will observe later), He “came in the flesh”, was “heard”, “seen”, “looked upon”, and “handled”.

Next time we will look further into John’s statements at 1 John 1:1and the import of them.