Introduction to John
Chapter 1
1:1-4 John’s witness
There is no introduction to the epistle of 1 John as in the other epistles (ex. Paul’s epistles or even 2 & 3 John). Instead as in John 1:1 John goes to the beginning and speaks of the One who was the object of his message.
What was from the beginning – John is speaking of the Word of Life and He establishes that He is from the beginning.[1]
The Beginning
- The Beginning is used various ways in 1 John from the beginning:
- for the believers and of their being taught 2:7, 24, 3:11,
- of the Fathers who knew the One from the beginning 2:13, 14
- of Satan who sinned from the beginning 3:8.
- The beginning here can have several possible options. It is unlikely that it refers to the beginning of the Church, or of Christ’s ministry. Here the reference appears to refer to the beginning of work of God.
- John here highlights that they had a relationship with the Word of Life who is from the beginning. As far back as man goes was the Word of Life. He was God’s Word of Life for man from the beginning.
[1] Note the absence of the article both here and in John 1:1. Not the beginning as a definite, concrete fact, but as apprehended by man; that to which we look as “beginning.” Vincent Word Studies