1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was amanifested to us—3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. (1 John 1:1–4)
What we read in 1 John should be understood as the account of an eye witness. John makes sure we understand that he experienced Jesus with at least three of his senses, sight, sound, and touch. Since he was described as being physically close to him at the Last Supper, his sense of smell would have also been activated, and the aromas of the same foods that the men ate that fateful night, would always be associated with the Savior. John breathed the same rarified air that Jesus did for a time, so when he speaks to us in this letter, we should be riveted to each and every word. The goal is that his readers, then and now, have “fellowship with” the Savior (in the Greek “koinonia”) and all who call upon his name.
John had witnessed the “Word of Life” in the flesh, “the eternal life,” and he effectively testifies to this in his opening statements. It’s not a didactic and logical opening statement like many of Paul’s writings, but it’s as adamant as you’d expect of an eye witness, who was with Jesus at all his key moments, even as he ascended into the clouds.
Telling others about Jesus should recall our various encounters with him along the way, even if those experiences involved a degree of hardship. Indeed, Peter and John said this after being persecuted for Christ’s sake, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)
John’s opening comments in his letter are also stirring because they recall that Jesus was with the Father in the beginning, but came down and fellowshipped with him personally and others. This “koinonia,” this commonality or communion with Christ, is also available to all of us in the here and now, albeit only a foretaste of what is to come. John had this communion with the Lord perhaps like no other, and he wants the same for us.
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