The Bible Says
1 John 1:1 Meaning

In 1 John 1:1, the apostle testifies that the eternal Word of life was from the beginning and was physically heard, seen, observed, and touched by eyewitnesses, affirming the real incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Most epistles begin with an attribution of authorship, saying who the letter is from and who it is written to. For example, Philippians begins with the following:

“Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”
(Philippians 1:1)

But the letter of 1 John is anonymous in this regard. 2 John and 3 John are attributed by the text to “the elder” (2 John 1:1, 3 John 1:1). According to church tradition, this elder is the Apostle John who was one of Jesus’s closest disciples. John wrote the Gospel According to John. Church tradition holds that John is the anonymous author of 1 John. He is also the author of the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:9).

The language and simple yet elegant writing styles of John’s Gospel and 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John are similar and seem to support the idea that all four of these works were written by the same author.

Another reason many think this letter is authored by the Apostle John is that the author claims to have been an eyewitness of Jesus (see 1 John 1:1).

John is also known as a “son of Zebedee” and the younger brother of Jesus’s disciple James (Mark 3:17). John is referred to in the Gospel According to John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20-24). John, along with his older brother James, and Peter, were the closest of Jesus’s disciples.

According to church tradition, John helped lead the mostly Jewish church in Jerusalem after the execution of his brother and then went to help lead the growing Gentile church in Ephesus.

Now in this epistle, John is an old man, or an “elder,” and is writing to house churches that he oversees.

While 2 John and 3 John follow the structure of a letter beginning with an address and salutation, 1 John does not. This leads some to believe that this is not a typical letter after all, but a sermon that has been circulated to a community of churches to warn them about a group of preachers who deny that Jesus is the Christ. John wanted to give these churches metrics by which they could judge the claims of these teachers to evaluate whether they were speaking the truth.

1 John begins as follows:

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— (v 1).

John opens his epistle with a flurry of floating expressions which linger and drift instead of closing with a decisive endpoint. Even after all these What-phrases are tied together concerning the Word of Life, the preface seems to echo and fade rather than resolve. The translators attempt to capture this lingering fade with a long dash “—.”

This echo-effect appears to be intentional by the author. As we will see, the writing style of this floating preface mimics or creates what the writing content is describing.

John begins with four What-phrases concerning the Word of Life. These four What-phrases are:

• What was from the beginning
• What we have heard
• What we have seen with our eyes,
• What we have looked at and touched with our hands,

In a moment, we will discuss each of these expressions separately and then collectively, but before we do, we will first look at the term each of these four expressions are concerning—which is the Word of Life.

THE WORD OF LIFE

Each of these expressions concerns and/or is about: the Word of Life.

In this context, the Word of Life refers to Jesus—the Son of God become human.

In John’s gospel account, Jesus is introduced as the Word (John 1:1). Jesus is “the Word [become] flesh” (John 1:14).

The Greek term that is translated as Word here in verse 1 and in John 1:1 and John 1:14 is the word: λόγος (G3056—pronounced: “log-os” or “logos”).

Logos means word, statement, or message. Strictly speaking a word is an expression. A word communicates a message.

Jesus is called the Word because in becoming human (flesh), He communicated what God was like to humanity. As a human, Jesus perfectly demonstrated God’s will and set a flawless example for us to emulate in order to please God and to live according to our design. Jesus’s example and teachings is God’s ultimate statement and expression of His love to the world.

Logos was a loaded term in both the Hebrew rabbinic and Greek philosophical traditions.

According to Greek philosophy, Logos referred to the divine Architect of the cosmic order, the rationality underlying the universe, and the idea of speech and language. Logos is the “arché,” or the first principle or origin of all things. Therefore, by calling Christ the “Logos,” John says that He is the first of all things. Logos is the divine language that instructs, orders, and guides the cosmos into being, and it establishes what is good and morally right. Paul describes this concept in different terms in Colossians 1:16-17.

Jewish rabbis associated the Logos with God’s creative power and His moral authority, and the prophetic expression and revealing power of God’s will through the scriptures.

Logos also refers to the personified “memra” of the Jewish Targums. The Targums were the Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Hebrew Bible that were in wide circulation during first-century Judea. “Memra” is the Aramaic term for “Word” and is personified and sometimes deified in these ancient Jewish texts.

To learn more about the Memra and how John may have understood it, see The Bible Says article: “How Do Ancient Jewish Teachings and Greek Philosophy Converge in John’s Gospel?”

According to Greek philosophy, “logos” is the “arché,” or the first principle or origin of all things. Therefore, by calling Christ the “logos,” John says that He is the first of all things. The “logos” is the divine language that instructs, orders, and guides the cosmos into being, and it establishes what is good and morally right.

Though in different ways, both the Jewish rabbis and the Greek philosophers believed that the Logos was and is the expression of God’s perfect thought.

In this epistle, Jesus is not referred to as the bare Word alone. He is referred to as the Word of Life.

The Greek term that is translated as Life is ζωή (G2222—pronounced “zōé”). “Zōé” refers to the quality and experience of life.

Life is another prominent theme in John’s Gospel. Life is clearly associated with the Word throughout John’s account of Jesus’s time on earth. One of the first things said about the Word in John’s Gospel was that: “In Him was life (‘zōé’)…” (John 1:4a). Jesus said that He came to earth so that all “may have life (‘zōé’) and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). John states that he expressly wrote his account of Jesus’s ministry “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life (‘zōé’) in His name” (John 20:31).

Life is connection. We can see this in James 2:26, that physical life occurs when the spirit is connected with the body. Jesus came to restore our connection with God and with His design for us.

The Gift of Eternal Life is made possible through Jesus, the Word of Life. We receive the Gift of Eternal Life when we believe in Jesus (John 1:12, 3:16). We can have our design restored through living as a servant leader, following in Jesus’s commands, overcoming the world by living as a faithful witness (Hebrews 12:1-2, Revelation 3:21).

As the Word of Life, Jesus is the personification of the Gospel—the good news that human beings can be saved from the penalty, power, and one day the presence of sin, and be reconciled to God, and have our divine destiny to reign with God in the New Creation restored to us.

The four What-phrases of verse 1 are all concerning Jesus, who is the Word of Life, and His Gospel.

WHAT WAS FROM THE BEGINNING…

The first What-phrase concerning the Word of Life is: What was from the beginning.

It is the opening expression of the epistle. It alludes to the opening of the Gospel According to John which begins: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1).

The expression—the beginning—in this context, does not likely refer to “the beginning (of creation),” as John 1:1 or Genesis 1:1 do. But rather, the beginning refers to the time when “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory…” (John 1:14a). The beginning refers to the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His teachings.

The beginning is used as a contrast from then (when Jesus was ministering on earth) until the author’s present (forty or fifty years since Jesus ascended into heaven).

By using this expression, John the author is informing his audience that what he has to say concerning the Word of Life pertains to the beginning of the Gospel.

The beginning is used as a contrast from the author’s present to the time forty or fifty years earlier when Jesus was ministering on earth. It seems that false teachings have been introduced and circulated since the beginning of the Gospel until the author’s present.

John, the author of this epistle, who was there with Jesus during the beginning is trying to set the record straight by stating what the Gospel is, as originally taught, and by exposing and refuting false teachings that oppose the true Gospel.

John, in this epistle will be teaching what was true from the beginning concerning the Word of Life. And John has the ability and apostolic authority to do so, because he was there when Jesus first taught these things. It is implied that those who are teaching false doctrines were not there at the beginning and therefore lack the authority to challenge what John says concerning the Word of Life.

Because John was there and personally followed Jesus as one of the twelve disciples, his authority on these matters carries considerable weight. And because John likely wrote this when he was an old man, perhaps in his eighties or nineties, he may have been the last of twelve disciples alive on earth at that time.

John appears to be referring to his eye-witness authority over the next three What-phrases.

…WHAT WE HAVE HEARD…

The second What-phrase concerning the Word of Life is: What we have heard.

The pronoun we in all three of these What-phrases refers to John, the author.

Throughout this epistle, the author sometimes refers to himself using first-person singular pronouns—“I” (1 John 2:1, 2:7, 2:12, 2:21, 5:13). From these first-person singular references, we can infer that the letter was written by one person.

But sometimes the author refers to himself using first-person plural pronouns—“we” (1 John 1:1-3, 4:14, 5:20).

Why this difference?

It seems that when John refers to himself as the writer of the letter, he uses the first-person singular (such as in 1 John 2:1, 2:7, 2:12, 2:21, 5:13). And that when John writes about bearing witness, he uses the first-person plural (1 John 1:1-3, 4:14, 5:20).

The only exception to this is 1 John 1:4 where John refers to himself the writer as “we.”

When John refers to himself as we, he appears to be aligning his experience as a witness with that of the other witnesses (the other apostles) to say that this is a credible testimony. The rhetorical use of the plural pronoun we places John’s experience in the context of other believers and strengthens his case. John appears to emphasize the sense of collective apostolic testimony in 1 John 1:2 when he writes: “we have seen and testify” (1 John 1:2).

In placing himself among all the other witnesses to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, John is both giving proper weight to the things he is about to say, even as he humbly diminishes the importance of his individual experience. What he is to say is not about him. It is what all the followers of Jesus taught from the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry.

By grouping himself among other witnesses, John also follows Paul’s counsel, as a testimony requires at least two witnesses (1 Timothy 5:19). This requirement comports with Jewish law (Deuteronomy 19:15).

When John writes about what we have heard, he is referring to the things he and the other disciples heard Jesus—the Word of Life—say and teach. What we have heard would include:

• Jesus’s sermons and discourses
• Jesus’s many parables
• Personal conversations with Jesus
• Jesus’s interactions with different individuals
• Jesus’s interactions with His enemies

Much of what John and the others had heard Jesus say were recorded in the four Gospel accounts of His life. But not everything He said was included. Interestingly, Paul quotes a statement that he attributes to Jesus in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders that is not found in the Gospels:

“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said,
‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
(Acts 20:35)

The Gospels themselves do not claim to be exhaustive of everything Jesus said, taught, or did (John 21:25). But the things the Gospels teach are accurate and true (Luke 1:1-4, John 21:24).

One of the most fascinating things about John’s phrase—what we have heard—is the aspect of the Greek verb. The entire phrase comes from the Greek ἀκηκόαμεν which is in the perfect tense form of the Greek verb ἀκούω (G191—pronounced: “a-koo-ō.” “Akooō” means to “hear,” “listen,” or “learn.”

But the perfect tense and aspect that John uses for this verb describes a completed action that continues to have ongoing effects. The perfect tense emphasizes the ongoing consequences of the completed action.

In this case, the completed action is the things which John and the other witnesses heard Jesus say when He dwelt among them in the flesh. The reason these things are completed is because they heard Jesus say those things to them in the past and the past is over. They cannot go back to Galilee or Jerusalem and physically hear Him say these things anymore, because Jesus is no longer on earth. He ascended into heaven.

Nevertheless, John can still vividly remember what Jesus said and can still recall what Jesus’s voice actually sounded like when he heard the things Jesus said. The perfect tense of what we have heard captures the unfaded ability of John to recall what Jesus said and sounded like—almost as if Jesus were still present and with him.

A more descriptive way we might translate and interpret the perfect aspect of John’s phrase—what we have heard—might be: “What we have heard Jesus say to us and can still hear ringing in our ears.”

The perfect tense of this phrase and the next one—what we have seen with our eyes—suggest that as John was writing this, he was closing his eyes and reliving his experiences as a young man when he followed Jesus in and around Judea.

The ongoing effect(s) of these perfect tense actions of what John heard (and still hears in his memory) and has seen with his eyes (and still can see in his mind’s eye), etc. all reinforce the overall floating effect of the writing style of verse 1. The verse appears to linger and float and drift, because John is mentally transporting himself through remembering his time with Jesus. John is going back to the beginning in his memory when and as he heard Jesus say and do these things—so that his testimony concerning the Word of Life is trustworthy and true.

…WHAT WE HAVE SEEN WITH OUR EYES…

The third What-phrase concerning the Word of Life is: What we have seen with our eyes.

Here, John continues to allude to his time with Jesus and what he learned from Him as His disciple. But instead of saying what he and his fellow witnesses had heard, now he describes what they have seen with their eyes.

John witnessed the power of Jesus’s miracles firsthand.

He saw Jesus:

• give sight to the blind
  (John 9:1-7)
• cause the lame to walk
  (John 5:1-9)
• restore life to the dead
  (Mark 5:35-43, John 11:38-44)
• feed multitudes with a few fish and loaves
  (John 6:1-14)
• walk on water
  (John 6:16-21)
• reveal His divine glory on the Mount of Transfiguration
  (Matthew 17:1-8)
• die on the cross
  (John 19:26-27, 19:30)
• come back to life from the dead
  John 20-21
• ascend into heaven
  (Acts 1:9-11)

John and others were eyewitnesses to these events, and it is these events and others like them that John is referring to when he says, what we have seen with our eyes.

And just as John used the perfect tense for what we have heard, so he does again in the expression: what we have seen.

The emphasis of the perfect tense is on what John can still see in his mind’s eye as he remembers the things he and others saw Jesus do. This phrase could be more descriptively translated as: “what we have seen with our eyes (and can still see Jesus doing when we close our eyes).”

John also includes the phrase with our eyes as if to say: “what we have seen with our OWN eyes.” This again points to the credibility and accuracy of John’s testimony because he was there when and as Jesus’s ministry unfolded.

…WHAT WE HAVE LOOKED AT AND TOUCHED WITH OUR HANDS…

The fourth What-phrase concerning the Word of Life is: What we have looked at and touched with our hands.

This phrase refers to what John and other witnesses looked at and touched during Jesus’s ministry.

The Greek verbs that are translated we have looked at and touched are not in the perfect tense. These verbal expressions are in the aorist tense. The aorist tense describes a simple action. And in this context, John is using this Greek verb tense to refer to the simple fact that he looked at Jesus and that he touched Him (in the flesh) with his own hands.

The Greek verb that is translated as looked at is a form of θεάομαι (G2300—pronounced: “theh-ah'-om-ahee”). This verb means to “behold” or “view attentively,” or even “watch.” It also means to “contemplate,” “wonder,” “diligently think about,” and/or “understand.” In this context it stresses how John really saw Jesus.

It is the same Greek term John uses in John 1:14 when he writes of the Word become flesh that “we saw His glory.” It is also reminiscent of what John looked at as he was standing with Peter at Jesus’s empty tomb (John 20:4-8)

The expression touched with our hands describes how John touched Jesus with his own hands. John broke bread with Jesus and lived with Him for the better part of three years. John likely helped take Jesus’s body off the cross when He died. John saw and likely touched the scars of the nails in Jesus’s hand and the scar in His side from being pierced on the cross (John 20:20).

John’s mention of how he touched Jesus with his hands speaks volumes to one of the false teachings that John will refute in this epistle—namely the false teaching that Jesus did not come in the flesh and was therefore not fully human.

In the decades following Christ’s ascension, it seems that false teachers have begun to deny that “Jesus is the Christ” and that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 2:22, 4:2). Therefore, the doctrine of the incarnation, that Jesus is God become flesh, is essential for this audience to understand. Starting both with this description of physical encounter and calling Jesus the Word reminds John’s readers of Jesus’s two natures. Jesus is fully God and He is fully human.

Their false teachings seemed to claim that Jesus came as a divine spirit, without a body. It was, according to this false teaching, unseemly for God to condescend into physical form and to crudely exist as a human. And if Jesus did not have a physical body, then He did not experience physical death on a cross, nor did He physically rise from the dead—and if He did none of these things then the Gospel would be null and void according to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:14-19).

False teachers have denied that “Jesus is the Christ” and that “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 2:22, 4:2). Therefore, the doctrine of the incarnation, that Jesus is God become flesh, is essential for this audience to understand. Starting both with this description of physical encounter and calling Jesus the Word underscores His nature as both divine and human.

John is able to refute this and other false teachings because he was there with Jesus, from the beginning. And he and other witnesses touched Jesus’s physical body with their own hands. John is declaring and proving that Jesus came in the flesh and had a body and was not merely a spirit when he writes: what we have looked at and touched with our hands.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON 1 JOHN 1:1

The order of this list of sensory perceptions is noteworthy. It starts with what we have heard (hearing), then what we have seen with our eyes (sight), what we have looked at (which means to contemplate and understand), and finally touched with our hands (touch). The picture painted here is one that moves from distance to closeness. The overall direction of John 1:1 moves us closer to God.

First, John heard Jesus. He was out fishing with his brother James when Jesus called to them from the shore. They immediately left their father in the boat and went to follow Him (Mark 1:19-20; Matthew 4:21-22). John heard Jesus’ voice first, and then he turned and saw Him. Then, as he followed Jesus, he would be able to look upon and consider Him. As for touching Jesus with our hands, John, identified here as the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” is described as “reclining on Jesus’ bosom” in the upper room (John 13:23). This list of sensory verbs bears witness to the fact that John experienced Christ in the flesh.

We can particularize this sensory perception of Jesus to John’s experience, but this progression is also the experience of all of the disciples, and indeed of all believers. First, we hear about Jesus. Then we see Him by faith. And we continue to understand Him better as we grow in faith. And one day we will touch Him when we are reunited with Jesus in the new creation.