Read: 1 John 1:1-4
This life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. (v. 2 NRSV)
Imagine how confused the original followers of Jesus must have been as they tried to figure out who Jesus truly was. Their first encounters with Jesus made it clear that he was a real human being. This was a man, John writes, whom the disciples heard, saw, and touched. They ate with him, laughed with him, and listened to him. He was real flesh and blood.
But that was not all. They discovered after the resurrection that Jesus was more—though not less, or other—than a human being. He was God become man; he was “from the beginning,” the “word of life,” the giver of eternal life.
The disciples were all faithful Jewish men, raised knowing the Scriptures, and no faithful Jew could have invented such a preposterous idea. It was unthinkable that a Jew would ever call a human being by such titles, which were reserved for God alone. Only God is the eternal Word and Lord of the universe. Yet John used those same words to describe Jesus. He had no choice, for he had experienced for himself that Jesus was God’s Son and the world’s Savior.
John invites us to join him in fellowship with this God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Will you accept the invitation?
As you pray, thank God for sending Jesus to show us who God is and how we can know him.
Jerry Sittser is a professor emeritus of theology and senior fellow at Whitworth University. He specializes in the history of Christianity, Christian spirituality, and religion in American public life. As an author, he has written nine books.
