I JOHN 1:3

 

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.

 

 

That which we have seen and heard                                   Declaration

declare we unto you,

 

that ye also may have fellowship with us:                           Desire

 

and truly our fellowship is with                                         Deposition

the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

 

Other versions:

 

NKJV:  that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:  and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.   

 

ESV:  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

 

 

Definitions:

 

A.   Seen

1.    Strong (3708):  to stare at, to discern clearly

2.    Thayer:  to see with the eyes

3.    Vine:  to see of bodily vision

 

B.   Heard

1.    Strong (191):  to hear

2.    Thayer:  to hear, to attend to, to consider what is said, to understand, to perceive the sense of what is said

3.    Vine:  to hear

 

C.   Declare (the same word as “shew” in v. 2)

1.    Strong (518):  to announce

2.    Thayer:  to bring tidings (from a person or a thing), bring word, report, to proclaim, to make known openly, declare

3.    Vine (declare):  to announce, report, publish

 

D.   Fellowship

1.    Strong (2842):  partnership, that is, (literally) participation, (social) intercourse,

2.    Thayer:  fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse, the share which one has in anything, intimacy

3.    Vine:  communion, fellowship, sharing in common

 

E.   Truly

1.    Strong (225, *had the wrong reference number):  truth

2.    Thayer:  what is true in any matter under consideration, truly, in truth, according to truth, of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly

3.    Vine:  "truth," is used (a) objectively, signifying "the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter" (Cremer)

 

F.    Father

1.    Strong (3962):  a father

2.    Thayer:  generator or male ancestor…God is called the Father of Christians, as those who through Christ have been exalted to a specially close and intimate relationship with God, and who no longer dread him as a stern judge of sinners, but revere him as their reconciled and loving Father

 

G.   Son

1.    Strong (5207):  a son, used very widely of immediate, remote or figurative kinship

2.    Thayer:  a son…generally used of the offspring of men, in a restricted sense, the male offspring (one born by a father and of a mother), in a restricted sense, a descendant, one of the posterity of any one.

3.    Vine: 

a.    primarily signifies the relation of offspring to parent

b.    The Apostle John does not use huios, “son,” of the believer, he reserves that title for the Lord; but he does use teknon, “child,” as in his Gospel, John 1:12; 1 Jn 3:1, 1 Jn 3:20.

 

H.   Jesus

1.    Strong (2424):  the name of our Lord

2.    Thayer:  Jehovah is salvation, Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind, God incarnate

3.    Vine:

a.    Is a transliteration of the Heb. "Joshua," meaning "Jehovah is salvation," i.e., "is the Savior."

b.    It was given to the Son of God in Incarnation as His personal name.

 

I.     Christ

1.    Strong (5547):  anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus

2.    Thayer:  anointed

3.    Vine: 

a.    Anointed

b.    It is added as an appellative to the proper name "Jesus," e.g., Joh_17:3, the only time when the Lord so spoke of Himself

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Observations:

 

1.    John states once again that the apostles have both heard and seen the Word.

2.    They had also declared (announced, reported, proclaimed) Him to these readers.

3.    They did so, so the reader could have fellowship with them.

4.    The apostles had fellowship with the Father and Son.

5.    To have fellowship with the apostles is to have fellowship with the Godhead.

6.    It is difficult for us to comprehend the blessing of having fellowship with God.

7.    Presently, we should be doing as the apostles did and showing individuals that Eternal Life which was with the Father and manifested to the world.

 

 

Barnes

 

“That which we have seen and heard…”

 

“…declare we unto you…”

A.   “More probably embracing all that he had written respecting him, and supposing that his Gospel was in their hands. He means to call their attention to all the testimony which he had borne on the subject, in order to counteract the errors which began to prevail” (e-sword).

“…that ye also may have fellowship with us…”

 

A.   With us the apostles; with us who actually saw him, and conversed with him” (e-sword).

 

B.   “To “have fellowship,” means to have anything in common with others; to partake of it; to share it with them…and the idea here is, that the apostle wished that they might share with him all the peace and happiness which resulted from the fact that the Son of God had appeared in human form in behalf of men” (e-sword).

 

C.   “That is, he wished that they might have the same belief, and the same hope, and the same joy which he himself had, arising from the fact that the Son of God had become incarnate, and had appeared among people” (e-sword).

 

“…and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

 

A.   “…there was something in common with him and God; something of which he and God partook together, or which they shared. This cannot, of course, mean that his nature was the same as that of God, or that in all things he shared with God, or that in anything he was equal with God; but it means that he partook, in some respects, of the feelings, the views, the aims, the joys which God has. There was a union in feeling, and affection, and desire, and plan, and this was to him a source of joy” (e-sword).

 

B.   Five aspects of this fellowship with the Father.

1.    “Attachment to the same truths, and the same objects; love for the same principles, and the same beings.

2.    The same kind of happiness, though not in the same degree.

3.    Employment, or cooperation with God…But there is also a large sphere in which he admits us graciously to a cooperation with him, and in which, unless we work, his agency will not be put forth…In our efforts to save our own souls and the souls of others, God graciously works with us; and unless we work, the object is not accomplished. (1 Cor. 3:9)…In all such cases, while the efficiency is of God - alike in exciting us to effort, and in crowning the effort with success - it is still true that if our efforts were not put forth, the work would not be done.

4.    We have fellowship with God by direct communion with him, in prayer, in meditation, and in the ordinances of religion. Of this all true Christians are sensible, and this constitutes no small part of their special joy. The nature of this, and the happiness resulting from it, is much of the same nature as the communion of friend with friend - of one mind with another kindred mind - that to which we owe no small part of our happiness in this world.

5.    The Christian will have fellowship with his God and Saviour in the triumphs of the latter day…” (e-sword)

 

C.   “That is, in like manner there is much which we have in common with the Saviour - in character, in feeling, in desire, in spirit, in plan. There is a union with him in these things - and the consciousness of this gives peace and joy” (e-sword).

 

Guy N. Woods

 

Introduction

 

A.   “The apostle resumes the thought begun in verse 1, and asserts the purpose for which the Word of life is declared:  ‘That ye also may have fellowship with us” (Woods 213)

 

“That which we have seen and heard…”

 

“…declare we unto you…”

 

“…that ye also may have fellowship with us…”

 

A.   “’Fellowship’ (koinonia) is partnership, joint sharing” (Woods 213)

 

B.   “Through theacceptance of the Word of life a unity of faith, practice, and worship is established, and it was for this purpose that the life was being declared” (Woods 213).

 

C.   Lesson:  We must hear, receive, believe and practice the things delivered unto us by the apostles in order for there to be fellowship in religion.

 

“…and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

 

A.   “Where there is communion among the saints, established through the acceptance of the truth, it lead on to fellowship with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9)” (Woods 213).

 

B.   Lessons:

1.    “Here, indeed, is the only way to church unity, a common faith based on unity of teaching and practice” (Woods 213)

2.    “We learn that the society of the saints is not limited to the earth:  it extends into have and consists of an intimate bond of sympathy with deity itself” (Woods 213).

3.    On the other hand, when individuals case to have a common teaching and practice, those who deviate from the truth alienate themselves from one another and from the Father and Son.

4.    See John 17:21

 

F.F. Bruce

 

“That which we have seen and heard…”

 

A.   “This language is most naturally understood if a surviving member of the first Christian generation, who is addressing members of a later Christian generation, who could not have that unmediated contact with the beginning of the gospel that he himself had” (Bruce 38).

 

“…declare we unto you…”

 

“…that ye also may have fellowship with us…”

 

A.   They were called to follow the steps of their predecessors who, after the first Christian Pentecost, ‘devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship’ (Acts 2.42)…” (Bruce 38).

 

“…and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

 

A.   “The word ‘fellowship’ (koinonia) and its cognates are absent from the Gospel of John, but the idea which they express is not absent” (Bruce 38).

 

B.   “Since the apostles were the first to enter into this fellowship any one who who adhered to the apostles’ fellowship had, by that token, fellowship with Christ” (Bruce, 39).

 

C.   “And since Christ is the Son of God in whom the Father dwells (John 14.10) and who in turn dwells in the Father’s love (John 15.10), so those who dwell in Him dwell in the Father (1 John 2.24) – in other words, those who have fellowship with Him have fellowship with the Father through Him” (Bruce 39).

 

D.   “There is nothing vague or merely sentimental about his fellowship; it involves obedience to the commandments of Christ and faithfulness to His teaching communicated through His apostles.  Those who abandoned the apostolic teaching fellowship severed themselves from fellowship with the Father and Son” (Bruce 39).

 

E.   Bruce notes that although nothing is mentioned about fellowship with the Spirit in this verse, elsewhere in the epistle He is noted (1 John 3.24; 4:13).  “For Christian fellowship, in Paul’s language, is the ‘fellowship of the Spirit’ (12 Cor. 13.14; Phil. 2.1); it is the fellowship into which believers are introduced and in which they are maintained by the indwelling Spirit” (Bruce 39).

 

Lenski

 

“That which we have seen and heard…”

 

“…declare we unto you…”

 

A.   All that was said about the Word of life in verse 1 and all that was said about the Eternal life that was manifested was declared by John and the apostles to others.

 

B.   The word “we” is a comprehensive “we.”  What one declared, they all declared.  Their messages were not different.  They all proclaimed the same message regarding their eyewitness encounter with the Word of life.

 

“…that ye also may have fellowship with us…”

 

A.   John does not say ‘in order that you, too, may know what we apostles know’; he advances at once to the blessed effect of the testimony: ‘in order that you have fellowship with us’” (Lenski 378)

 

B.   LESSON:  “Whenever and wherever the apostolic testimony is properly declared, its purpose is always fellowship with the apostles” (Lenski 378).

 

C.   Why does John not say at once ‘that you, too, may be having fellowship with the Father and his Son?  Why does he insert the apostles, and say with whom their fellowship is to be enjoyed?  Because of the antichrists, Cerinthus and his separatist following.  In the first advanced circle of thought (v. 5-10), in v. 6, 7 the true fellowship is setover against the false claim of fellowship with God.  Cerinthus repudiated the testimony of the apostles regarding the Logos and the efficacy of his blood and thus scorned fellowship with John and any of the apostles” (Lenski 378-379).

 

D.   NOTE:  “Cerinthus claimed fellowship with God without the cleansing blood of Jesus, in his estimation only a man died on the cross.  That is why John introduces the fellowship already here” (Lenski 379).

 

“…and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

 

A.   “John does not say that the fellowship of the apostles ‘may be’ with the Father, etc., but that it is…” (Lenski 378).

 

B.   “Apart from Jesus Christ no man is in fellowship with God…and that Son is ‘Jesus Christ’ in his whole manifestation, also on the cross, in his cleansing blood (v. 7), in his expiation for sins (2:2), in his coming in connection with blood (5:5)” (Lenski 379).

 

C.   LESSON:  “Throughout the past centuries even as today those who reject the testimony of he apostles have no fellowship with them, have no fellowship with the Father and with his Son, who is none other than Jesus Christ…they are antichrists (4:3) and deny the Father as well as the Son” (Lenski 379).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 John 1:3  (Albert Barnes, e-sword)

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you - We announce it, or make it known unto you - referring either to what he purposes to say in this Epistle, or more probably embracing all that he had written respecting him, and supposing that his Gospel was in their hands. He means to call their attention to all the testimony which he had borne on the subject, in order to counteract the errors which began to prevail.

That ye may have fellowship with us - With us the apostles; with us who actually saw him, and conversed with him. That is, he wished that they might have the same belief, and the same hope, and the same joy which he himself had, arising from the fact that the Son of God had become incarnate, and had appeared among people. To “have fellowship,” means to have anything in common with others; to partake of it; to share it with them, (see the notes at Act_2:42); and the idea here is, that the apostle wished that they might share with him all the peace and happiness which resulted from the fact that the Son of God had appeared in human form in behalf of men. The object of the apostle in what he wrote was, that they might have the same views of the Saviour which he had, and partake of the same hope and joy. This is the true notion of fellowship in religion.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father - With God the Father. That is, there was something in common with him and God; something of which he and God partook together, or which they shared. This cannot, of course, mean that his nature was the same as that of God, or that in all things he shared with God, or that in anything he was equal with God; but it means that he partook, in some respects, of the feelings, the views, the aims, the joys which God has. There was a union in feeling, and affection, and desire, and plan, and this was to him a source of joy. He had an attachment to the same things, loved the same truth, desired the same objects, and was engaged in the same work; and the consciousness of this, and the joy which attended it, was what was meant by fellowship. Compare the 1Co_10:16 note; 2Co_12:14 note. The fellowship which Christians have with God relates to the following points:

(1) Attachment to the same truths, and the same objects; love for the same principles, and the same beings.

(2) The same kind of happiness, though not in the same degree. The happiness of God is found in holiness, truth, purity, justice, mercy, benevolence. The happiness of the Christian is of the same kind that God has; the same kind that angels have; the same kind that he will himself have in heaven - for the joy of heaven is only that which the Christian has now, expanded to the utmost capacity of the soul, and freed from all that now interferes with it, and prolonged to eternity.

(3) Employment, or cooperation with God. There is a sphere in which God works alone, and in which we can have no cooperation, no fellowship with him. In the work of creation; in upholding all things; in the government of the universe; in the transmission of light from world to world; in the return of the seasons, the rising and setting of the sun, the storms, the tides, the flight of the comet, we can have no joint agency, no cooperation with him. There God works alone. But there is also a large sphere in which he admits us graciously to a cooperation with him, and in which, unless we work, his agency will not be put forth. This is seen when the farmer sows his grain; when the surgeon binds up a wound; when we take the medicine which God has appointed as a means of restoration to health. So in the moral world. In our efforts to save our own souls and the souls of others, God graciously works with us; and unless we work, the object is not accomplished. This cooperation is referred to in such passages as these: “We are laborers together (συνεργοί sunergoi) with God,” 1Co_3:9. “The Lord working with them,” Mar_16:20. “We then as workers together with him,” 2Co_6:1. “That we might be fellow-helpers to the truth,” 3Jn_1:8. In all such cases, while the efficiency is of God - alike in exciting us to effort, and in crowning the effort with success - it is still true that if our efforts were not put forth, the work would not be done. In this department God would not work by himself alone; he would not secure the result by miracle.

(4) We have fellowship with God by direct communion with him, in prayer, in meditation, and in the ordinances of religion. Of this all true Christians are sensible, and this constitutes no small part of their special joy. The nature of this, and the happiness resulting from it, is much of the same nature as the communion of friend with friend - of one mind with another kindred mind - that to which we owe no small part of our happiness in this world.

(5) The Christian will have fellowship with his God and Saviour in the triumphs of the latter day, when the scenes of the judgment shall occur, and when the Redeemer shall appear, that he may be admired and adored by assembled worlds. Compare the notes at 2Th_1:10. See also Mat_19:28; Rev_3:21.

And with his Son Jesus Christ - That is, in like manner there is much which we have in common with the Saviour - in character, in feeling, in desire, in spirit, in plan. There is a union with him in these things - and the consciousness of this gives peace and joy.

(There is a real union between Christ and his people, which lies at the foundation of this fellowship. Without this union there can be no communion. But a “union with Christ in these things, i. e., in character and feeling, etc.” is nothing more than the union which subsists between any chief and his followers; and why the apostle Paul, or others after him, should reckon this a great mystery, is not easily comprehended. Eph_5:32; Col_1:27. For a full view of the subject, see the author’s notes, with the supplementary note at Rom_8:10.)