Chapter 1

THE UNDENIABLE

REALITY OF JESUS

1 John 1:1-4

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 - 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 manifested to us- 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. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

The world we live in today is always trying to rewrite history. One of the key reasons why this is done is to make their own sinful lifestyles appear to be more acceptable to themselves. Many scholars refer to these processes as a “new historicity”. They often reinterpret some famous person’s letters or contemporary documentation to reveal a character flaw or even a denial of some action or event that has always previously been taught as a truth about that person.

In the case of Jesus Christ, the secular institutionalized scholars often attempt to reduce the storyline and content of Scripture. It is not uncommon for such scholars to discredit the authenticity and thus try to “fabalize” the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus we have in the New Testament. Some of these so called scholars have even gone so far as to try and deny that Jesus Christ was a real historical figure. Because of the volume of solid archaeological evidence that not only identifies Jesus Christ, but also supports the geographical and historical statements  proclaimed in the New Testament, the position of denying that Christ was a historical figure usually concludes one’s own credibility.   

In our New Testament text, the Apostle John opens his first letter by putting to rest any ideas that Jesus Christ was just a myth or a fable. Jesus was a real person - a valid figure and reality of historical relevance and fact.

What we don’t often realize is that almost from the moment of the resurrection of Christ the evil forces of the world started attempting to nullify and/or eliminate the truth of the Gospel accounts. John was aware of it and no doubt had been confronted by such minions.

He was writing this letter about five decades after the fact of the life of Christ. He is obviously writing it from his own firsthand experience. There is no reason for John to lie about any of the claims that he made, because he had already suffered persecution for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ within the boundaries of the polytheistic Roman Empire. Suffering persecution for what one knows and truly believes in only serves to strengthen their personal resolve. There is little doubt that was what motivated John to write this letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.      

He opens his letter with a presentation of the reality of Jesus Christ. He says that they (the Apostles and followers of Jesus) heard Him speak. He (Jesus) stood among men, and spoke to them in the terms of their common thought and surroundings[1].  He also says that the disciples saw Jesus with their own eyes. They were not claiming to have had a vision or trying to validate a hallucination.

He also says that they touched Him. This was a very dynamic statement to make about the risen Christ. This was because it was well believed in the first century that a spirit or a ghost could not eat, drink or be handled (literally touched). This is why it was so important for Jesus to sit down with them and eat after he had been resurrected into a glorified literal body. (Luke 24:41-43 & John 21:10-12) It was the undeniable proof that they were indeed witnessing an actual real and living Jesus Christ.

There was a reason for these very definable statements of fact that are made by John in this letter. That is why he recites the purpose for Jesus Christ in entering humanity. John’s words “and the life was manifested” express not only that process but also the nature and quality of the manifest life of Jesus Christ. Jesus came and became a man so we could have fellowship with God and so we could have fellowship with each other as fellow believers in Jesus.

John then says that he wrote these things “so that our joy may be made complete”. This simply means that because of this knowledge of the reality of the life of Jesus Christ we can experience true joy in this life. Paul writes to the Church at Philippi giving a very precise theological reason for Jesus Christ taking on humanity. “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”  (Philippians 2:8,9)

The Apostle Paul is stating implicatively that Jesus Christ is not a myth or a fable. John testifies to this fact personally in this letter. Ironically, there are around twenty other reliable secular historical sources acknowledging the life of Jesus Christ that were written within 75 years of His life. Jewish historian Josephus, Roman historian Tacitus, and an early second century Roman Emperor Trajan are just a few of those non-Biblical sources that affirm that Jesus was not only just a historical figure but also had a major impact on the various religious people of their day. 

Finally, Jesus Christ is the pivotal point of our own relationships. We have fellowship with God and fellowship with each other because of His life, death, burial and resurrection.