by Lloyd T. Anderson, Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church, West Covina, California
FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST
Vine declares: “The apostle John, in seeking to offset a heresy which was prevalent in his day and became more so as the years went by — that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh — emphasizes four things with reference to Christ’s incarnation. He says we have heard. John and the other apostles heard the voice of the Son of God for He walked among them for some three and one-half years. They listened to His instruc tions and admonitions. “They not only heard Him but they also saw Him for he says, ‘We have seen with our eyes.’ But they did more than see Him; they looked on Him or, better yet, they con templated Him. This suggests study and personal investigation, not just a look. “The fourth thing John says i s : ‘Our hands have handled, of the Word of Life.’ John is using a third of our senses, the sense of touch, as proof for the reality of the incarna tion of Christ. “You remember that when Thomas questioned the resurrection of the Lord, our Saviour appeared before him and said: ‘Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.’ No wonder Thomas said, ‘My Lord and my God,’ as he fell at the feet of the risen Christ!” Pink says: “John tells us there then, that the One who existed from all eternity, the Creator of life Him self, is the One who came in the flesh. He came to give us eternal life. We already had created life from Him. But eternal life is not ordinary life. It is not only eternal from the standpoint of its length of existence, but it is of a different quality than any other life. It is a particular 32
T he first four verses read thus: “That which was from the begin ning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 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. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” Epp states: “It is not possible for us in our natural life to have fellowship with God. We cannot fel lowship with God unless we have God’s life. This was made possible through Christ who is the eternal Son, and who, at a certain time in this world’s history, entered into a human body, was born of the Vir gin Mary, dwelt among men, and suffered and died on Calvary to pro vide eternal salvation for us. This is what John is talking about when he speaks of the One who was from the beginning and whom we have heard and seen and handled.” It was through doing this that Christ made eternal life accessible to us. How much in common this has with John’s Gospel we realize when we read the words: “In the begin ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1, 2). In verse 14 of the same chapter we read: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be gotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
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