“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)

John, in his epistle, states at the outset that there were witnesses that testified to 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). The apostle is concerned here to give those to whom he writes evidence as to the existence of Jesus Christ. His main intent, however, is not to “prove” Jesus to an unbelieving world, but rather to provide testimony, that by such testimony the believers, “...joy may be full” ( 1 Jn. 1:4). Near the end of his letter he further states that his purpose in writing was that, “...ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son God” ( 1 Jn. 5:13). The issue here is assurance for believers.

Some may attempt to extract from this verse that John is indeed writing to unbelievers because of his statement, “...that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God”. This, however, is not the case. The sense of what John is saying is that he wants the saints to have assurance; his statement about them believing is a commendation to them, meant to strengthen the belief they already had, not to give them something that was foreign to them.

How do we know that John was writing to the saints—to those who have already been saved? The answer is simple: At 1 John 2:1, John calls the recipients of his letter “My little children.” He then goes on and calls them brethren at 2:7, and then at 2:12 he states again that he is writing unto “little children” (i.e. a term for believers, cf. Gal. 4:19) because their “sins are forgiven.” He carries on from 2:13-14 talking about “fathers” and “young men” (i.e. those who are strong in the faith), and states that they have known Christ and overcome the “wicked one” (i.e. Satan). He then calls his readers at 2:18 “little children” again. At 2:21 John makes the emphatic statement, “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it...” These abundant evidences should suffice to prove that John is indeed writing to believers in Christ, even though there are many more proofs which could be cited.

The reason we are taking the time to correctly identify the recipients of John’s letter is to make sure (at the outset) that we understand the purpose for this epistle. Many in the Church today attempt to persuade people to become Christians via the “evidences” they can cite. They attempt to “prove” God. Citing evidence is not wrong in and of itself, but there seems to be a mishandling today of that evidence. We need to understand aright the purpose of such evidence, and in doing so be able to maximize the use for which it was designed.

The primary focus of any evidence for the truthfulness of Scripture should firstly be to strengthen the Christians faith, not to produce faith in an unbeliever. Unfortunately, many have this backwards today. A predominate mode of evangelism today is to “prove” the existence of God or the “historicity of Jesus.” These things are not bad in and of themselves, but the Scriptures state that the Gospel, “...is the power of God unto salvation...” ( Rom. 1:16). And that, “...faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” ( Rom. 10:17). Too often we Christians get so caught up in the evidence that we forget to preach the Gospel!

We are not saying that if someone sincerely has a question of Scriptural validity that we should not answer it. We should answer it ( 1 Pet. 3:15), but always remember that we need to answer clearly and concisely. That way unbelievers can be refocused to see their condition as a sinner before a holy God, and that redemption can only be had in Jesus Christ ( Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:12).

John, in his first general epistle, identifies his audience as Christians. As with “all Scripture” ( 2 Tim. 3:16, 17) being, “...quick, and powerful, and sharper than any towedged sword...” ( Heb. 4:12) John’s epistles are indeed timeless and have application for all of the saints throughout the ages, indeed, even down to us. God’s Holy Spirit (communicating through John, 2 Pet. 1:21) knew, with Christians of all ages, would need to grasp assurance, gain instruction, and live a holy life upon this earth for the glory of the One who makes men holy ( 1 Pet. 1:15, 16).

May we, as frail and feeble people, understand John’s passion in writing to us as we continue to learn what the Spirit of God wants us to grasp from the writings of the “disciple whom Jesus loved” ( Jn. 13:23; cf. Jn. 20-24). Amen.