Copr. 1997, Burce N. Cameron, J.D.
Copr. 1997, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All Scripture references
are to the NIV unless otherwise noted. Suggested answers are
found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses
a blackboard.
INTRODUCTION: This week we start a new quarter and a new study on
the letters of John. Our study this week is the first 4 verses of
1 John 1. You may be interested to know that in the Greek these
four verses form a single sentence. Lets jump right in!
I. WE PROCLAIM!
A. Read 1 John 1:1. The subject of these four verses that
form a single sentence in the Greek is "We proclaim." So John
is proclaiming about something. What is it? [If you have the
KJV, this phrase is found in v. 3 "declare we."] (The Word of
life.)
B. What do you think is the "Word of life?"
C. Does v. 1 sound familiar? "That which was from the
beginning ... we proclaim concerning the Word of life?" (Yes!
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word ...." Or Genesis 1:1:
"In the beginning God ...." This clearly indicates that the
"Word of life" is Jesus.)
1. Why is Jesus called the "Word?" (A word is something
that we use to communicate with others. A tool to
describe something. God was communicating with us through
Jesus. He was a "tool" to describe God to man.)
2. Does this similarity of language to the gospel of John
give us a clue as to who is the "we" who wrote the book
of 1 John? (The apostle John because he uses the same
kind of language as in the gospel of John.)
D. So John says, We want to tell you about Jesus who was from
the beginning ...."
II. RELIABLE WITNESS
A. Lets assume that you had a UFO encounter last night. Also
assume that you and I do not know each other. You want me to
believe your story and I'm pretty skeptical.
1. What would you say to make me believe? (Since we
do not know each other, you cannot appeal to my trust in
you. So you have to appeal to what makes a trust-worthy
witness.)
2. Lets look at the law a minute. There are a few rules
that help the fact-finder focus on reliable, competent
evidence. These rules exclude the fact-finder from even
hearing very unreliable, incompetent evidence. One well-
known evidentiary rule is the "Hearsay rule."
a. What does the hearsay rule exclude? (Most out-of-
court declarants. If you are the one who saw or
heard the evidence, you have to be in court to be
able to talk about it. I can't testify, "My Uncle
Bob saw that the light was red." If Bob saw it, he
has to be the one in court declaring it. It
requires first-hand knowledge.)
b. Does John sound like he knows about the hearsay
rule in v. 1? (Yes! He says that he is an eye-
witness, no hearsay here.)
3. Aside from personal knowledge, what are some other
things you would guess a lawyer relies upon in cross-
examination to show that someone is or is not a reliable
witness? (The ability to observe. Ranges from distance
issues, to lighting issues, to the condition of your
eyesight, to weather conditions, to bias, etc.)
a. What does John say to bolster his testimony (our
willingness to believe him) beyond having first-
hand knowledge?
((1) He heard;
(2) He touched.)
b. Notice that he says he saw it twice. "We have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked at ..."
What does this mean? (The Greek means more than
just looking, it means he contemplated it. Sort of
a long, serious look. Not just looking, really
seeing.)
(1) Why does he say that? (Eye witnesses can be
wrong. So he says this was a long, hard look.
We spent time with Jesus. Not a casual
matter.)
c. So John involves all of his senses in telling
this story except the sense of smell!
B. Do you think John is talking about his time with Jesus
before his crucifixion, or his time thereafter? (Probably
both, since I doubt the debate centered on whether Jesus was
a historical person, I think John is speaking primarily of the
resurrected Jesus. So John says, "His resurrection is real,
I took it in with my own senses.)
III. THE TESTIMONY
A. Lets read v.2. We discussed Jesus being "the Word" of life.
Here, it emphasizes the second part: "the life." What is
important about calling Jesus "the life?"
1. Why say, "the life appeared?" (The point is that God
became man. "[T]he eternal life which was with the Father
... appeared to us." John is not ambiguous about this. He
claims that Jesus is the eternal God who made His
appearance as a human. You either believe this or you do
not. You cannot logically, like some religions, believe
in Jesus but not believe He was God. To do that makes
Jesus' closest associates outrageous liars. You either
make the faith leap or you do not. No middle ground
here.)
B. Read v.3. Why does John say he is giving his testimony (his
proclamation)? What is his motive? (So his reader can have
fellowship with John.)
1. What kind of fellowship does John have? (He says this
is a pretty special fellowship, because he fellowships
with "the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.")
C. Notice the substance of John's testimony in v.3: he says
that he is writing about what he has seen and heard.
1. How does that help us to fellowship with the Father
and Jesus?
a. What is fellowship, anyway? (Fellowship is
getting to know someone, spending time with
someone. John says, "Look, I've spent time with
Jesus. I know Him. If you spend some time with
this message you will be "spending time" with Jesus
and get to know Him.")
b. In John 14:7-9 Jesus says that if we know Him we
know the Father. Do you see John's line of logic
here?
1. I am a first hand witness who has spent time
with Jesus. I will tell you about Jesus so you
will know about Him.
2. Jesus is a first hand witness who has spent
time with the Father. Knowing Jesus is knowing
the Father.
3. Therefore, if you listen to my message, you
will know the Father.
D. Read v. 4. Shouldn't this say John is writing to make OUR
joy complete instead of HIS joy complete? After all, he
already knows Jesus. He is already in this special fellowship
club. He is offering to let us in on this very special
fellowship club!
1. Imagine someone saying to you that they would take you
to the White House and (for free!) introduce you to the
President. Wouldn't it be obvious that the purpose was
to make your day special instead of making the
President's day special?
2. Now ratchet this up a million degrees and say you are
being taken into the "club" of the Creator and Lord of
the Universe. Is this for your benefit or for His?
3. Now you see that something very unusual and special is
being said here: God wants to fellowship with you. It
gives God joy to fellowship with you. The lesson points
out (Wednesday) that in John's gospel (15:15) he reports
that Jesus calls us "friends, for everything [Jesus]
learned from the Father [Jesus] made known to you." The
text continues to say that Jesus chose us, we did not
choose Him? He wanted us to come to the oval office! We
did not ask to come. James 2:23 reports that Abraham had
a friendship with God.
E. John includes himself in the "our joy." This means he is
getting joy out of this too!
1. What does this mean for you when you enter into the
fellowship by reading the words of John's letters? (You
can have joy in sharing this with others!)
IV. NEXT WEEK: "Light Against the Darkness"-- Our joy continues
with a discussion of 1 John 1. Study!