Download discussion questions:  1 John 1:1-5

Our first discussion group began with what is intended to be our weekly pattern:  we spent about ten minutes to read through the passage individually and to work through the discussion questions.  Since this was our first time together, I then spent a few minutes describing the inductive method we will be using:  What does it say?  What does it mean?  What does it mean for me?  (For more detail, see the article Inductive Study Guidelines.)

Then we turned our attention to the text.  This brief beginning of John’s letter is quite full of first-person pronouns such as “we,” “us,” and “our.”  There was a general agreement that English grammar classes are a distant memory, so I suggest a brief refresher.  Grammar is a part of any language, and the better we understand grammar, the better we can understand what the Biblical writers (or anyone else) is saying.

Someone pointed out that the repeated references to we and our and us make this passage clearly a report of eyewitnesses.  The letter begins on a personal note about experiences the writer had.  (We did not discuss the authorship of the letter but assumed the traditional view that it was written by the Apostle John, surrounded by his disciples.  For a little more introductory detail, see “The Letters of John – A Brief Introduction.”)  Perhaps some of John’s associates had also been followers of Jesus and His earthly ministry.  Even the form of the letter itself sets a tone of a corporate experience and a community of believers.

The next question was about verbs (grammar, remember?).  What did the “we” do and what happened to the “us” that is so important?  Why did the Apostle begin his letter with a long string of actions?  We saw and heard and looked on and touched and testify and proclaim.  One person in our group summarized the list as “sensory language” – not just ideas or theories or philosophy.  John was quite emphatic about the physical reality of what he and others had experienced.  The group pointed out the repeated use of “see” and “look” (v. 1,2,3) and “heard” (v. 1,3).  This were real sensory experiences with real eyes and real hands (v. 1).  Why would he be so adamant?  Why is that emphasis key to everything else he had to say in the next five chapters?

Sometimes when reading Scripture it is helpful to think about the backstory.  What stirred John to write about all those sensory experiences?  A member of our discussion group pointed to the controversies in the early church about the exact nature of Jesus.  Was He human?  Was He divine?  Both?  Some kind of mixture?  John’s sensory language made it clear that Jesus was human with a real body that could be seen and heard and even touched.

Our group didn’t discuss the very opening phrase (“That which was from the beginning…”), but it now occurs to me that this is John’s brief mention of the other side of the human/divine question.  The churches that John was writing to (probably in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) had been started by those who had read the gospel John wrote.  Like this letter, that gospel, begins at the beginning, with the pre-existent Word, the Son and His life before creation.

The churches almost certainly included converts both from Judaism and paganism.  Jewish believers would have no trouble believing that Jesus was really a man.  However, a lifetime of teaching that there is only one God might make it very difficult for Jewish Christians to see Jesus as divine.  Pagan converts had been brought up among more gods than you can count.  They might want to add Jesus to that list, but they would also doubt He could really be a mere man.  In the first few lines of his letter, John laid the groundwork to help both these groups toward the miraculous truth of Jesus as God Incarnate.

Writers tend to repeat words or concepts that are important, so looking for repetition can help us understand the author’s thought process.  We have already noted the repetition that emphasized John’s sensory experiences of the man Jesus.  Our discussion pointed out several other words that keep coming into this brief passage.  John’s message is about life (v. 1, 2), and proclaiming a message about that life (v. 2,3,5).  That life involves fellowship (twice in v. 3).

We talked about the two uses of the word “fellowship” in verse 3:

• so that you too may have fellowship with us
• our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ

Is John describing two kinds of fellowship?  How are the two phrases related?  It seems that he is describing fellowship with God (“with the Father and with his Son”), and he is inviting his readers to join in that corporate fellowship.  Note the repeated preposition “with.”  He could have said “with the Father and the Son” and combined both together.  Instead the Apostle emphatically pointed out the unique fellowship with each – with the Father, and with the Son.  Once again, here at the beginning of the letter, John is introducing another theme.  Our fellowship is with each member of the Triune God (John will bring in his comments about the Holy Spirit later in his letter).

That fellowship is John’s reason for writing this letter:  “so that you too may have fellowship…” (v. 3).  (It is always helpful to look for phrases such as  “therefore” or “so that” or “in order that” to understand why a writer wrote.  If he tells us, we don’t have to guess!)

John’s fellowship with the Living God grew out of the sensory experiences he had with the Incarnate God.  He desires others to enter into that same communion.  He wants his readers to grow in the corporate community of fellowship with God.  The result of joining that fellowship leads to his second statement of purpose:  “so that our joy may be complete” (v. 4).

Joy is what happens when we are experiencing fellowship with God.  That joy is made more complete (or “full” as in some other translations, such as King James) as we experience it together with other believers.  Our unique, personal interactions with God combine to increase our fellowship with each other and with the Father and with His Son.

How might this message have been attractive to the original readers?  Our group had numerous suggestions:

• This message was the eyewitness account from someone they knew and trusted.
• The writer was both authentic and authoritative.
• Fellowship and community were central to the message.
• Everyone desires joy.
• A world of dark chaos wants light.
• The message was inclusive and inviting.

Not only did John “proclaim” his message, he also wrote it (v. 4).  As one member of the group suggested, this preserved his message for us.  His message of fellowship and joy is attractive to us and can draw us further into fellowship with each other and with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John’s message also provides a model for us.  How attractive is our experience of knowing God?  As we share our lives and our relationship with God, how appealing is that message to others?  May our communion with the Father and with His Son make our joy so attractive that others are drawn to know God as well.