The Letters of John

Tyndale New Testament Commentary

John Stott

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781783593439
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Christianisme

John's affection for the recipients of his letters is clear: 'They are his "dear children", his "dear friends", ' as John Stott points out. He continues, '[John] longs to protect them from both error and evil, and to see them firmly established in faith, love and holiness. He has no new doctrine for them. On the contrary, he appeals to them to remember what they already know, have and are. Whenever innovators trouble the church, and ridicule whatever is old or traditional, we need to hear and heed John's exhortation, to continue in what we have learnt and received, and to let it continue in us.'

1 John: ANALYSIS

1. THE PREFACE (1:1–4)

2. THE APOSTOLIC MESSAGE AND ITS MORAL IMPLICATIONS (1:5–2:2)

1. The denial that sin breaks our fellowship with God (1:6–7)
2. The denial that sin exists in our nature (1:8–9)
3. The denial that sin shows itself in our conduct (1:10–2:2)

3. FIRST APPLICATION OF THE TESTS (2:3–27)

1. Obedience, or the moral test (2:3–6)
2. Love, or the social test (2:7–11)
3. A digression about the church (2:12–14)
4. A digression about the world (2:15–17)
5. Belief, or the doctrinal test (2:18–27)

4. SECOND APPLICATION OF THE TESTS (2:28–4:6)

1. An elaboration of the moral test: righteousness (2:28–3:10)
2. An elaboration of the social test: love (3:11–18)
3. A digression about assurance and the condemning heart (3:19–24)
4. An elaboration of the doctrinal test: belief (4:1–6)

5. THIRD APPLICATION OF THE TESTS (4:7–5:5)

1. A further elaboration of the social test: love (4:7–12)
2. A combination of the doctrinal and social tests (4:13–21)
3. A combination of the three tests (5:1–5)

6. THE THREE WITNESSES AND OUR CONSEQUENT ASSURANCE (5:6–17)

1. The three witnesses (5:6–12)
2. Our consequent assurance (5:13–17)

7. THREE AFFIRMATIONS AND A CONCLUDING EXHORTATION (5:18–21)

1 JOHN: COMMENTARY

1. THE PREFACE (1:1–4)

The opening of the letter is remarkable in that it lacks any salutation or personal reference. In this it differs from all the other New Testament letters except Hebrews. For the bearing of this on the question of authorship see Introduction, p. 17. All commentators have found this first paragraph involved in syntax and abstruse in meaning. It is, in fact, a ‘grammatical tangle’ (Dodd). We must try to disentangle it. The main verb, which does not occur until verse 3 (apangellomen, we proclaim), shows that the preface is concerned essentially with the apostolic proclamation of the gospel—what it was, and why it was made. In outline the first sentence begins with four relative clauses in apposition to each other (That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched), followed by the phrase concerning the Word of life. Verse 2 is a parenthesis, explaining how that which was from the beginning could have been heard, seen and handled, namely because the life appeared, and elaborates what is meant by life in the expression Word of life. This parenthesis so interrupts the flow of the sentence that verse 3 opens with the resumptive relative clause what we have seen and heard before we finally reach the main verb, we proclaim to you. The rest of verse 3, and verse 4, describe the purposes, immediate and ultimate, of the apostolic proclamation, namely, so that you also may have fellowship with us and to make our joy complete. In brief, therefore, and omitting the parenthesis of verse 2, the sentence might be paraphrased: ‘We proclaim to you, concerning the word of life, what was from the beginning, which we have seen, heard and touched, and the objects of our proclamation are fellowship and joy.’

Before considering the preface in detail, two questions about the phrase concerning the Word of life (peri tou logou tēs zōēs) need to be discussed. The first is whether logos is here personal or impersonal, that is whether it is the semi-technical designation of the Son found in the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel or whether it is rather a synonym for ‘the message of the gospel’ (Acts 15:7). The second question is whether the clause introduced by peri is in apposition to the four relative clauses which precede it, or whether it qualifies them (or they it). For a detailed consideration of these questions see Additional note: ‘The Word of life’ (p. 72). The conclusion reached there is that the Word of life is not a title for the Son, the Word or Logos of the Fourth Gospel Prologue, but an expression for the gospel, the message of life; and, secondly, that this ‘word of life’ is the general subject of the apostolic proclamation, the particular emphasis of which concerns that which was from the beginning, which we have heard … seen … and … touched. In other words, what the apostle stresses in his proclamation of the gospel is the historical manifestation of the eternal.

We are now in a position to approach the preface as a whole. Its noble sweep unfolds the purpose of God from eternity to eternity, from that which was from the beginning (1) to the fullness of joy (4) experienced by Christian believers, which will not be finally consummated until the end. Five stages are discernible in the unfolding of this divine purpose, indicated by the words beginning (archēs, 1), appeared (ephanerōthē, twice in v. 2), we proclaim (apangellomen, 3), fellowship (koinōnia, twice in v. 3) and joy (chara, 4).

a. The eternal pre-existence

Dodd interprets the opening phrase of the beginning of the gospel. The author is announcing, he says, ‘what has always (“from the beginning”) been true about the word of life’. In other words, he is not introducing ‘any innovation or afterthought’ but proclaiming ‘the unchanged, original content of the Gospel, over against novel forms of doctrine’.1 Now, it is true that ‘the beginning’ is used in the Fourth Gospel with reference to the beginning of Christ’s ministry (John 6:64; 15:27; 16:4), which was virtually the beginning of the Christian era, and in the letters with reference to the individual’s Christian experience (2:7, 24; 3:11; 2 John 6).

Nevertheless, the similar expression at the opening of the Prologue to the Gospel (‘In the beginning was the Word’) suggests that here too the beginning of all things is meant. The phrase is so used of the eternal God in 2:13–14 and, with a less clear time reference, to the devil sinning ‘from the beginning’ in 3:8. Moreover, since the words precede the clauses which we have heard … seen … touched, we should expect the meaning to precede them logically too. The eternal Son was before his historical manifestation; the preaching of the gospel came after. Finally, the expression is parallel to that in the parenthesis of verse 2 the eternal life, which was with the Father. In both phrases the verb is imperfect (ēn) and expresses the Son’s eternal pre-existence. The first says that he was from the beginning; the second that he was with the Father, just as in the Gospel Prologue it is written first ‘In the beginning was the Word’, and secondly ‘and the Word was with God’. Since eternal life is to know God (John 17:3), he who is eternal life does not enjoy immortal solitude but conscious, continuous, intimate communion as Son with the Father.

b. The historical manifestation

The contrast between the first and the next three relative clauses with which the letter begins is dramatic. The eternal entered time and appeared to human beings. The Word became flesh and thus presented himself to people’s three higher senses (hearing, sight and touch). The four relative clauses proceed ‘from the most abstract to the most material aspect of divine revelation’ (Westcott). To have heard was not enough; people ‘heard’ God’s voice in the Old Testament. To have seen was more compelling. But to have touched was the conclusive proof of material reality, that the Word ‘became flesh, and lived for a while among us’. This word touched (epsēlaphēsan), the climax of the four relative clauses, describes more than a momentary contact. ‘ “Psēlaphan” is to grope or feel after in order to find, like a blind man or one in the dark; hence to handle, touch … It may also be used in the sense of “examine closely” ’ (Brooke). Although this ‘touching’ is the climax of the sentence, the emphasis is on the ‘seeing’ (which is repeated four times in the first three verses), presumably because it is sight in particular which qualifies people to witness (2). Two verbs are used for sight, horan three times and theasthai once. ‘If blepein is to “look”, and horan to “see”, theasthai is to “behold” intelligently, so as to grasp the meaning and significance of that which comes within our vision’ (Brooke). This is the verb used in the fourth clause, where it is associated with our hands have touched by one relative (ho). Whereas the two earlier verbs have heard and have seen are in the perfect tense, suggesting the abiding possession which results from the hearing and seeing, these two are both aorists, and seem therefore to refer to a particular time, perhaps after the resurrection, when the apostles had an opportunity both to gaze thoughtfully upon the Lord Jesus and to handle him (cf. Luke 24:39; John 20:26–29). These two verbs express a ‘definite investigation by the observer’ (Westcott). The latter is also used in John 1:14, where John writes that the glory of the Son, the Word become flesh, was ‘seen’.

The proclamation of what had been heard, seen and felt was part of the Word of life, the gospel of Christ. It would seem most natural to take the genitive of life as indicating the content of the Word, as in Philippians 2:16 (cf. John 6:68). The gospel announces and offers life in Christ. Compare ‘the word of the kingdom’ (Matt. 13:19, RSV), ‘the word of this salvation’ (Acts 13:26, AV), ‘the word of reconciliation’ (2 Cor. 5:19, AV), and similar expressions used in the New Testament to describe the gospel. Nevertheless, the genitive of life in the Fourth Gospel means ‘life-giving’ (e.g. ‘light of life’, ‘bread of life’ in 8:12; 6:35, 48; cf. ‘living water’ in John 4:10–11 and ‘water of life’ in Rev. 21:6; 22:1, 17). Perhaps it is not necessary to choose between these alternatives, however, since ‘the revelation proclaims that which it includes; it has, announces, gives life’ (Westcott).

This audible, visible and tangible apprehension of that which was from the beginning was possible to human beings only because (for) the life appeared. The aorist verb ephanerōthē, indicating the historic fact of the incarnation, is repeated twice, at the beginning and end of the parenthesis. First it occurs absolutely; then to us is added. We could not have seen the one who was eternally with the Father unless he had taken the initiative deliberately to manifest himself. Human beings can apprehend only what God is pleased to make known.

This stress on the material manifestation of Christ to human ears, eyes and hands is of course directed primarily against the heretics who were troubling the church. The followers of Cerinthus are shown that the Word of life, the gospel of Christ, is concerned with the historical incarnation of the eternal Son. He who is from the beginning is he whom the apostles heard, saw and touched. It is impossible to distinguish between Jesus and the Christ, the historical and the eternal. They are the same person, who is both God and man. Such an emphasis on the historical revelation of the invisible and intangible is still needed today, not least by the scientist trained in the empirical method, the radical who regards much in the Gospels as ‘myths’ (but you cannot ‘demythologize’ the incarnation without thereby contradicting it) and the mystic who becomes preoccupied with his subjective religious experience to the neglect of God’s objective self-revelation in Christ.

c. The authoritative proclamation

The historical appearance of the eternal life was proclaimed, not monopolized. The revelation was given to the few for the sake of the many. They were to declare it to the world. The manifestation to us (2) becomes a proclamation to you (3). John desires his readers to enjoy ‘the same advantageous position which he himself and his fellow-apostles enjoyed, as regards the knowledge of God in Christ’ (Candlish).

John uses two verbs to describe the apostolic announcement, we … testify (martyroumen, 2) and we proclaim (apangellomen, 2 and 3). The apostolic ministry involved both a testimony and a proclamation. Both words imply an authority, but of a different kind. Martyreisthai indicates the authority of experience. To testify is an activity which belongs properly to an eyewitness. He must be a witness before he is competent to bear witness. (Compare Luke 24:48, ‘You are witnesses of these things’, with Acts 1:8, ‘you will be my witnesses’.) True witnesses speak not of what they have gathered second-hand from others, but of what they have themselves personally seen and heard. It is for this reason that the verbs to ‘see’ and to ‘testify’ are so commonly associated with each other in the New Testament, as they are in verse 2. (For the bearing of this on the authorship of the letter see Introduction, pp. 30ff.) Since John introduces the letter with relative clauses describing what had been heard, seen and felt, concerning the Word of life, it is natural that the first verb he uses for the apostolic preaching is the word we … testify.

If martyreisthai is the word of experience, apangellein indicates the authority of commission. The experience is personal; the commission is derived. In order to testify, the apostles must have seen and heard Christ for themselves; in order to proclaim, they must have received a commission from him. It is true that, although apangellomen occurs in verses 2 and 3, the verb in verse 5 i...