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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 1 John 1:3 - 1:3
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The regular course of the sentence, broken by 1Jo 1:2, is now resumed, by the repetition of that which we have seen and heard. Only the order is reversed: seen and heard instead of heard and seen (1Jo 1:1), and the two elements of experience, sight and hearing, are thrown together without the repeated relative that which. In 1Jo 1:1, the climax advanced from the lower evidence of hearing to that of sight. Here, in recapitulating, the process is reversed, and the higher class of evidence is put first.
Unto you also (καὶ ὑμῖν)
The also is variously explained. According to some, referring to a special circle of Christian readers beyond those addressed at the conclusion of the Gospel. Others, again, as referring to those who had not seen and heard as contrasted with eye-witnesses. Thus Augustine on Joh 20:26 sqq. “He (Thomas) touched the man, and confessed the God. And the Lord, consoling us who, now that He is seated in heaven, cannot handle Him with the hand, but touch Him by faith, says, 'Because thou hast seen thou hast believed; blessed are they who have not seen and believe.' It is we that are described; we that are pointed out. May there therefore come to pass in us that blessedness which the Lord predicted should be: the Life itself has been manifested in the flesh, so that the thing which can be seen with the heart alone might be seen with the eyes also, that it might heal our hearts.”
Fellowship (κοινωνίαν)
This word introduces us to one of the main thoughts of the Epistle. The true life in man, which comes through the acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God, consists in fellowship with God and with man. On the word, see on Act 2:42; see on Luk 5:10. The verb κοινωνέω to come into fellowship, to be made a partner, to be partaker of, occurs 1Pe 4:13; 2Jo 1:11; Heb 2:14, etc. The expression here, (ἔχειν κοινωνίαν) is stronger, since it expresses the enjoyment or realization of fellowship, as compared with the mere fact of fellowship. See on Joh 16:22.
Our fellowship (ἡ κοινωνία ἡ ἡμετέρα)
More strictly, the fellowship, that which is ours, according to John's characteristic practice of defining and emphasizing a noun by an article and possessive pronoun. See on Joh 10:27. Ours (possessive instead of personal pronoun) indicating fellowship as a distinguishing mark of Christians rather than as merely something enjoyed by them.
With the Father and with His Son (μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ)
Note the repeated preposition μετά with; distinguishing the two persons, and coordinating the fellowship with the Father, and the fellowship with the Son, thus implying the sameness of essence. The fellowship with both contemplates both as united in the Godhead. Plato says of one who lives in unrestrained desire and robbery, “Such an one is the friend neither of God nor man, for he is incapable of communion (κοινωνεῖν ἀδύνατος), and he who is incapable of communion (κοινωνία) us also incapable of friendship” (“Gorgias,” 507). So in the “Symposium” (188), and he defines divination as “the art of communion (κοινωνία) between gods and men.”