That {1} which was from the beginning, which we have {a} heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the {b} Word of life;

(1) He begins with the description of the person of Christ who he makes one and not two: and him both God from everlasting

(for he was with the Father from the beginning, and is that eternal life) and also made true man, whom John himself and his companions both heard, beheld, and handled.

(a) I heard him speak, I saw him myself with my eyes, I handled with my hands him that is true God, being made true man, and not I alone, but others also that were with me.

(b) That same everlasting Word by whom all things are made, and in whom only is there life.

Scofield Reference Notes

SCOFIELD REFERENCE NOTES (Old Scofield 1917 Edition)

Book Introduction

The First Epistle General of John

WRITER: The Apostle John, as unbroken tradition affirms, and as internal evidence and comparison with the Gospel of John prove.

DATE: Probably A.D. 90

THEME: First John is a family letter from the Father to His "little children" who are in the world. With the possible exception of the Song of Solomon, it is the most intimate of the inspired writings. The world is viewed as without. The sin of a believer is treated as a child's offence against his Father, and is dealt with as a family matter (1Jn 1:9 2:1). The moral government of the universe is not in question. The child's sin as an offence against the law had been met in the Cross, and "Jesus Christ the righteous" is now his "Advocate with the Father." John's Gospel leads across the threshold of the Father's house; his first Epistle makes us at home there. A tender word is used for "children," teknia, "born ones," or "bairns." Paul is occupied with our public position as sons; John with our nearness as born-ones of the Father.

First John is in two principal divisions.

I. The family with the Father, 1. 1-3. 24.

II. The family and the world, 4. 1-5. 21.

There is a secondary analysis in each division of which occurs the phrase, "My little children," as follows:

(I.) Introductory, the incarnation, 1.1, 2.

(II.) The little children and fellowship 1.3-2.14

(III.) The little children and secular and "religious" world 2.15-28.

(IV.) How the little children may know each other, 2.29-3.10

(V.) How the little children must live together, 3.11-24.

(VI.) Parenthetic: How the little children may know false teachers, 4.1-6.

(VII.) The little children assured and warned, 4.7-5.21.

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