1 John 1 Debrief: Part 1

Hi All,

It has taken me several hours of debrief (that's what I call it when I rewrite and mull over my thoughts about a sermon) to put all of my notes and thoughts down in writing about 1 John 1 so far.  The debrief is so long, as a matter of fact, that I am going to do two posts, one today and another tomorrow, so it doesn't consume so much of your time to even read it, no less react to it.

Please know that if you think differently than I do on these verses, say so. We can have a discussion. I can be corrected, counselled and encouraged. I need it! So, without taking any more of your time today, here goes nuthin'!

Purpose of 1 John

1.  expose false teaching

2.  give assurance of salvation

John exposes the lack of morality and uses his eyewitness testimony to Christ to confirm the incarnate Christ.

Observation of 1 John 1:1-10

John immediately refutes the Gnostic idea that Jesus wasn’t the Christ but only seemed to have a body and was not the incarnate Word of God, by stating emphatically that he (John) was one who:

saw with his own eyes,

·         heard with his own ears,

·        handled with his own hands and

·        had a close relationship with Jesus

·        Jesus' life was made manifest* by the Father 

Jesus WAS the:

·        Word of life

·        Eternal life

·        God’s son

·        From the beginning

·        Made manifest*

·        Declared to them

·        Gave access to fellowship** with God

·        And as a result, fellowship together with other believers

·        Joy giver

This Truth was declared so that:

·        We may have fellowship together

·        We may have fellowship with the father

·        We may have fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ

·        our joy may be full.

The message declared is this: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

*Manifest: plain, open, clearly visible to the eye and obvious to the understanding.

**Fellowship: communion, intimate familiarity

Our deepest (intimate) shared (communion) factor as believers is that of our shared redemption in Christ. It is our unity.

We also have a shared relationship with Christ in God.

·        We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit

We, in authentic fellowship with each other,

·        draw strength from one another

·        share service

·        share full joy that comes from the Lord

Fellowship can be interrupted by darkness: waning morality and ethics and dishonesty. This doesn’t break the permanence of relationship, though.

Walking in light sustains fellowship.