Following the Gospel of John, we continue into other the "Johannine" books (works written by the apostle John). We can easily find many similarities between John's Gospel and his first letter known as I John..
John begins, again, with an emphasis on Christ as the Word who existed from the very beginning. This matches the way he began his gospel. In terms of vocabulary, John continues to use very powerful nouns to describe profound spiritual truths: Life, Light, Darkness, Truth, etc. John consistently maintains his status as an eyewitness sharing his testimony.
In the opening verses, we see John emphasize both the spiritual aspect of Jesus as the Son of God, as well as His physical manifestation in the flesh, able to be seen and handled. As the early Christians struggled to comprehend Jesus, the biblical authors keep them from making two mistakes: to believe that Jesus was a man, nothing more; and to assume that He was divine and His appearance on earth was only a mirage. John, and the other apostles, were adamant that Jesus is both the very Son of God (really!) Who was manifest in the flesh, lived, suffered and died (really!) as a human being.
I love John's impassioned words at the beginning of the chapter. This isn't just some stuff he read about in a book or received through word of mouth. He is like "Bro! We saw Him! We talked to Him ourselves!" For me, it adds some weight to everything that follows.
ReplyDeleteAnd I find testimonies of those who have seen Him today(really!) to be equally powerful. How hard it is to have seen the Lord, only to have those with whom you share Him scoff.
ReplyDelete