1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we to you, that you also may have fellowship with us… I. THE KNOWLEDGE. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you;" that which we have seen and heard of the "Word of life"; "the Life"; which "was manifested"; "that Eternal Life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (vers. 1, 2). These names and descriptions of the Son undoubtedly refer, in the first instance, to His eternal relation to the Father; of whose nature He is the image, of whose will He is the expression, of whose life He is the partner and the communicator. But this eternal relation — what He is to the Father from everlasting — must be viewed now in connection with what He is as He dwells among us on the earth. It is "the man Christ Jesus" who is the "manifested life." In the midst of all the conditions of our death this life is thus manifested. For He who is the life takes our death. Not otherwise could "that eternal life which was with the Father be manifested unto us." For we are dead. If it were not so, what need would there be of a new manifestation of life to us? So He who is "the eternal life which was with the Father" is "manifested to us" as "destroying this death." He destroys it in the only way in which it can be destroyed righteously, and therefore thoroughly: by taking it upon Himself, bearing it for us in our stead, dying the very death which we have most justly deserved and incurred. So He gives clear and certain assurance that this death of ours need not stand in the way of our having the life of God manifested to us — and that too in even a higher sense and to higher ends than it was or could be manifested to man at first. II. THE COMMUNICATED FELLOWSHIP — "that ye may have fellowship with us." 1. The object of this fellowship is the Father and the Son. As Christ is the way, the true and living way, to the Father, so fellowship with Him as such must evidently be preparatory to fellowship with the Father. But it is not thus that Christ is here represented. He is not put before the Father as the way to the Father, fellowship with whom is the means, leading to fellowship with the Father as the end. He is associated with the Father. Together, in their mutual relation to one another and their mutual mind or heart to one another, they constitute the one object of this fellowship. 2. The nature of the fellowship can be truly known only by experience. (1) It implies intelligence and insight. No man naturally has it; no man naturally cares to have it. (2) There must be faith, personal, appropriating, and assured faith, in order that the intelligence, the insight, may be quickened by a vivid sense of real personal interest and concern. (3) This fellowship is of a transforming, conforming, assimilating character. In it you become actually partakers with the Father and the Son in nature and in counsel. (4) It is a fellowship of sympathy. Being of one mind, in this partnership, with the Father and the Son, you are of one heart too. (5) The fellowship is one of joy. Intelligence, faith, conformity of mind, sympathy of heart, all culminate in joy; joy in God; entering into the joy of the Lord. (R. S. Candlish, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. |
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