Certain Eternity – Word of Life
1 John 1:1c September 8, 2024
Recap
Why this series? – 1 John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”
o Written by John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved;” he was the only surviving
apostle in the late first century – likely in the 90s AD, writing most likely
from Ephesus to Christians in the surrounding ‘metropolitan’ cities
encouraging them to:
Have a confident and knowing salvation by giving over 30 evidences
of a transformed/transforming heart
Abide in Yahweh’s Kingdom versus the kingdom of the world
Have good theology (against Gnosticism in particular)
Gnostics “knowing ones” sought secret knowledge and fell into
two main behavioral camps – “flesh feasting” and “flesh fasting”
John has opened by reinforcing several Christologic truths –
Jesus is preeminent, immutable, and real – From the beginning,
God became flesh, that John and others have heard, seen,
looked at, and touched with their hands
1 John 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our
hands, concerning the word of life”
o Today we are going to basically do a word study of the words “word” and
“life” because they are two key concepts John writes about over and over
again in the gospel of John, 1-3 John, and Revelation.
o As we comb through this letter, it’s good to recognize and understand that
John’s writing style is going to impact how we study.
J.D. Greear puts it this way, “John has about 5 points in 1 John he
makes… and makes them over and over in no particular order. If the
Apostle Paul had written this letter it would be very orderly and
logical—Point 1, point 2, point 3…But John is all over the map. He
makes all 5 points every few verses. He’s like, “Point 1; point 2; part
of point 4; back to point 2; now the first part of point 3; more about
point 1.” It’s just a jumble of points. Which makes 1 John a little
challenging to teach.”
o Because these two words are critical concepts within John’s writings, and
in 1 John – especially the word “life” – we’re just going to break these down
and then touch on a couple practical points of how knowing these truths
can guide us today.
“Concerning the Word”
John immediately opens his letter by identifying who he is writing about using a
title for Jesus Christ that he also uses in his gospel and in Revelation, Jesus is
the Word.
o How do we know this is Jesus? John identifies Jesus by Name in 1 Jn 1:3.
o John also uses the title of “Word” referring to Jesus
John 1:1- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:14 – “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth.”
Revelation 19:13 – “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the
name by which he is called is The Word of God.”
o I was curious about prevalent nicknames people used around the world
and I came across the results of a recent study that looked at the most
common affectionate nicknames in 14 different languages. According to the
study:
From: Global Survey Reveals the Most Popular Affectionate
Nicknames (preply.com))
Using an affectionate nickname with a romantic partner is done
in 87% of relationships.
According to 79% of people, using an affectionate nickname
strengthens a relationship.
Babe, Love, Baby, Honey and Dear are the top five affectionate
nicknames used globally.
o How many of you have an affectionate name for your
significant other? – How many of you have a less than
affectionate nickname for someone?
I personally often refer to my wife as “dear” or
“dearest”…she often calls me “babe”.
You can see the top 5 breakdown of each language behind me.
o Some of my favorites from the survey were the Ukrainians
who use ladybug, the Germans who use mouse, and the
Polish who use Bear…I guess bugs, mice, and bears are
sexy in Europe.
o While John is certainly not using this nickname for Jesus romantically, it is
definitely a term of admiration and recognition of his grandeur and
supremacy.
o John’s use of this name for Jesus would immediately remind people of
Jesus role as creator and that in the beginning, God spoke, and it
was….and that it was Jesus who was speaking.
Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by
the breath of his mouth all their host.”
Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created
by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things
that are visible.”
Genesis 1 – 3 “And God said…” (1 st day), 6 (2 nd day), 9, 11( 3 rd day),
14 (4 th day), 20 (5 th day), 24, 26 (6 th day), 28, 29 (command to be
fruitful and enjoy fruitfulness of creation).
Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created, in heaven
and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him.”
John 1:1-5 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and
without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him
was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
1 John is the only use of “Word of Life” as a title, but Paul uses the phrase “Word
of life” as a description for the Scriptures in Phil 2:16 – “holding fast to the word
of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor
in vain.”
o Through the scriptures, the word, “Word” is most often typically used to
refer to the word of God – the scripture – which we know Jesus Christ is
the living embodiment of.
o Hebrews 1:1-2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to
our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by
his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he
created the world.”
“Word” (Gk. logos) means something spoken or communicated in words
o John Phillips “The Word! Thoughts remain invisible and inaudible until
they are clothed in words. With words, what we think and feel and are can
be known. And just as our words reveal us, so, too, the Lord Jesus, as “the
Word of life,” clothes and reveals the great thoughts and feelings of God
regarding our sin and our salvation.”
To the Greek mind, lógos did not just mean the description of an object but was
an expression of the total and complete substance and truth behind that object’s
name or description.
o NT Greek scholar Vincent has several additional insights that are helpful.
The word lógos conveys the idea of “a total concept” of anything.
Note then that lógos does not refer merely to a part of speech but to a
concept or idea. In other words, in classical Greek, lógos never
meant just a word in the grammatical sense as the mere name of a
thing, but rather the thing referred to, the material substance and
inner meaning. In fact, the Greek language has 3 other words
(rhema, onoma, epos) which designate a word in its grammatical
sense.
An example is found in the Septuagint (GK OT) in which lógos is
used in the phrase the Ten Commandments. The Septuagint
translates the ten commandments as “the ten (deka) words (logoi)”
(Ex 34:28), which is where we get the phrase Decalogue – another
term for the 10 commandments or 10 words. Obviously, the
commandments are not just one word each. We see that the use of
the word logos expresses not just a single word but the whole thought
or concept behind those words.
This is why lógos can also translated with words such as
“saying, instruction, message, news, preaching, question,
statement, teaching, etc”. This understanding of lógos also
helps understand John’s repeated usage of this Greek word as
a synonym for Jesus Christ….He is the perfect embodiment,
the sum total of everything that has been revealed to us about
God…He is God…He is the Word of God, the Word of Life.
“Lógos was in use among Greeks before John used it, the Greeks
used it to denote the principle which maintains order in the
world….Lógos was used to express the generative principle or
creative force in nature. The Stoics believed that this world was
permeated with that Lógos. It was the Lógos which put sense into the
world. It was the Lógos which kept the stars in their courses and the
planets in their appointed tracks. It was the Lógos which controlled
the ordered succession of night and day, and summer and winter and
spring and autumn. The Lógos was the reason and the mind of God
in the universe, making it an order and not a chaos. In summary,
Greek philosophers, in attempting to understand the relationship
between God and the universe, spoke of an unknown mediator
between God and the universe, naming this mediator, “Logos”. John
tells them that this mediator unknown to them is our Lord Jesus, and
thus he uses the same name ‘Lógos.’”
Jesus isn’t just the Word…He is the Word of Life
“Of Life”
‘Life’ (Gk -zoe) is the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate.
o 10x – 1Jn1:1, 1:2, 2:25, 3:14, 3:15, 5:11, 5:12, 5:13, 5:16, 5:20
o Zoe is also a key word in the Gospel of John – 36x in 32v (135 uses in
entire NT). – John 1:4; 3:15, 16, 36; 4:14, 36; 5:24, 26, 29, 39, 40; 6:27,
33, 35, 40, 47, 48, 51, 53, 54, 63, 68; 8:12; 10:10, 28; 11:25; 12:25, 50;
14:6; 17:2, 3; 20:31
o In biblical usage, Zoe is active and vigorous, real and genuine living
existence. Zoe is the absolute fullness of life, both substantively and
morally, which belongs fully to God. In the New Testament zoe often
speaks of life as a principle, life in the absolute sense, life as possessed
and given only by God, that which the Father has in Himself, and as John
says “is in His Son.” (1Jn 1:2) True life (zoe) is only in Christ. Eternal life
(zoe) can be the present possession of the believer because of their
relationship by faith in Jesus (Jn5:24, 1Jn 3:14), and such true zoe is
assured by the Resurrection of Christ (2Ti 1:10, 1Cor 15:19-22, 2Cor 5:4)
o Colossians 3:1-4 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things
that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your
minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you
have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is
your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
3 Application Questions
Do we appreciate God’s relatability through Jesus?
o Yahweh wants to be known by you. Even though He is infinite and
incomprehensible, He made Himself knowable to us through His Word,
through Jesus.
Acts 17:26-27 “26 And he made from one man every nation of
mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted
periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they
should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find
him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us”
Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him
while he is near”
o In Jesus Christ, we have a beautiful revelation of who our God is.
He is the Word – He is the full expression of all that Yahweh says and
is, in incarnate human form, that we can read about, listen to, and
understand in a relatable way….we can seek Him and find Him
because He is near.
o Unlike the Greeks, we do not have to philosophize about some ethereal,
hypothetical ‘force” known as the logos. We know who the true Logos is,
Jesus, and we have a real meaningful relationship with Him as we study
His teaching, talk to Him through prayer, as we are filled with His Holy Spirit
to lead us, comfort us, strengthen us, convict us, and restore us as we
serve His Kingdom.
Have we received the true, eternal life that only Jesus Christ offers?
o As we understand and relate to our loving, life offering God, have we
received His mercy and grace, and turned to Him in repentance and faith.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Christ gave His human life up for us, so that we can have eternal life
with our God.
If you have not turned to Jesus for the offer of eternal life through the
forgiveness of your sins, you are not really living. You are merely
existing in the vain and empty world that will never satisfy and
ultimately lead to death and eternal darkness.
Do we live as if Christ is our life?
o How do we prioritize our pursuit of the only one who gives life, meaning,
purpose, and value as we live out our faith in Him?
o As Joh the Baptist said, John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must
decrease.”
Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
What one thing can we do to more intentional draw nearer to the life
giver?
Grow in godly community, be more intentional in our study, be
more consistent in our prayers, be more selfless in our service,
reprioritize our time, be sensitive to the moving of Holy Spirit
that we may listen and respond to His promptings, grow in our
sensitivity and awareness to our own sin that we may not walk
in the path of death but that we would repent and grow in the
ways of righteousness, the way of life, the way of Jesus.
Praise God for the certainty of eternal life that he provides!
Praise God that He also gives this life meaning as we serve
Him…seek Him for that purpose, meaning, and value on a daily
basis.
Conclusion
Slang “word” means agreement, understanding, or acknowledgment
Jesus is the word, Jesus is life….and all of God’s people said. Word. Amen.
Amen.