Right Thinking – 1 John (Winter SWO)
1 John 1:1–3
“[1] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—[2] the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—[3] that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
1 John 4:2–3
“[2] By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
What’s The Point?
Once, on a crisp October day, my wife decided to make some pumpkin pies. She mixed the can of pumpkin with some ingredients and put them in the oven. The house smelled wonderful; I could hardly wait to eat some pie. When they were finally cooled, I put one quarter of a pie on my plate, covered it in whipped cream, put a huge bite in my mouth, and immediately spit it out. It turns out that if you forget to put two cups of sugar into pumpkin filling it ends up not tasting like pumpkin pie at all. There are certain things you cannot omit from pumpkin pie and it still be pumpkin pie.
John makes a point similar to this in 1 John—not about seasonal desserts but about Jesus. There are things we must believe about Jesus in order to be Christians. There are certain things we cannot omit from the Christian faith and it still be the Christian faith.
This is one of the central messages of John’s letter, and he doesn’t waste any time getting to this point. In the first three verses of the letter, John points out five things we must believe about Jesus: he is eternal, he is the Word of life, he is the Son of God, he is the Christ, and he became incarnate (came in the flesh).
First, Jesus is eternal. He entered into the world he created. John doesn’t use this specific word in chapter 1, but he says that Jesus “was from the beginning” (1:1) and “was with the Father” (1:2). Jesus has always been. He does not have a beginning and will not have an end. This is impossible for us to fully understand, but Jesus being eternal is essential to our faith. To deny Jesus’ eternal nature is to deny Jesus.
John calls Jesus the Word of life (1:1) and the eternal life (1:2). These titles are important because they identify Jesus, and they also identify us with Jesus. Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is eternal. As the Word, he speaks life to us, and from his eternal nature we receive eternal life. We must believe these things about Jesus because by them we receive eternal life.
Next, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This language should be fairly familiar to us. The title “Son of God” is used twenty eight times in the Gospels to refer to Jesus. In believing this we are confessing that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. To deny Jesus as the Son of God is to deny his divinity, and if we don’t believe Jesus is God then our faith is in a mortal man. Proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God is essential to our faith.
We must also proclaim that Jesus is the Christ. Again, this seems almost too obvious; we use the name Jesus and the title Christ interchangeably. But what are we saying about Jesus when we call him Christ? The title Christ means the same thing as the word Messiah—chosen or anointed one. When we call Jesus, the Christ, we are proclaiming that he is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament and has God’s anointing and authority.
Lastly, we must believe in Jesus’ incarnation. John says that Jesus was “made manifest,” (1:2) and speaks about actually seeing and touching him. John is making sure his readers know that Jesus was a real person. He wasn’t a spirit; he wasn’t a figment of their imagination. Jesus was God in the flesh; fully God and fully man. Later, John even says this confession is the difference in knowing God and not knowing God (1 John 4:2-3). If we confess that Jesus became flesh to rescue us, then we know God, but if someone does not believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, they are not from God.
John gives us all these things as a way that we can test ourselves and know that we are truly saved. He does not want us to doubt our salvation; he wants us to be sure of the hope we have in Christ.
Scripture Memorization
1 John 4:2–3
“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…”
Prayer
Jesus, I praise you because you are eternal. You have always been and will always be. You are the Word by which everything was created, and you are the Word that gives me life. I believe that you have always existed in perfect communion with the Father and the Spirit in the Trinity. I am amazed at how you came as the Messiah to redeem your people. You left your heavenly glory to dwell amongst those you created. You humbled yourself to be like us in order to identify with us. Thank you for becoming like me so I could then become like you.
Reflection
- Look at the list of things that John affirms in 1 John 1:1-3. Spend a moment reflecting on those and confessing that you believe those things about Jesus.
- Write out a list of other things that you must affirm about Jesus.
Discussion Questions
- Why is Jesus’ incarnation so important?
- What are some other doctrines we must believe about Jesus?
If you have any questions, please reach out: harry@swoutfitters.com. All of the Scripture referenced in this study is from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.