First we see that John begins with an interesting phrase in his greeting:
I Jn 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (KJV)
Again, without reading the entire epistle it would be unwise to read very much into this, but if you had read the entire epistle you would realize there is some controversy regarding Jesus Christ coming in a physical body. So now the fact that John emphasizes that he has heard (with his own ears), seen (with his own eyes) and "handled" (leaned on his breast) Him takes on even more meaning.
We also see that this verse looks very similar to the introductory verse in the Gospel of John. We will later discover many similar themes between I John and the Gospel of John. In this same thought, we also see some repetetive words in this chapter, one in particular being "Light." A cursory reading or search of the Gospel of John reveals that the imagery of light is a popular theme in the Johannine writings. Walking in the Light is tantamount to living as Jesus did.
In this short chapter, we see this phrase three times "If we say....." so there are certain things we can gather from this. First of all, there are possibly some catch phrases or slogans that have floated around the Johannine community (much like the Corinthians were famous for "everything is permissable "). Perhaps false teachers or deceived persons are making false boasts or claims. One thing is certain, John is trying to alert the reader that verbal profession is not the basis for determining one's standing before God and his "walking in the Light." His deeds are what truly reveals one's spiritual condition and standing before God. In other words, John is concerned that people are actually "walking the walk" and not just "talking the talk."
We also see the word "fellowship" (Greek word Koinonia) repeated numerous times in this chapter. John (through the Holy Spirit) is concerned that his readers have true fellowship or communion with God and with one another. This is only possible when we have a proper understanding of Jesus Christ and the nature of saving faith. John will later offer one of the most transparent and blunt methods of discerning the children of God and the children of the devil in chapter 3, but he definitely whets our appetite for more in this introductory chapter.
Yet another powerful theme in this chapter is that of the nature of sin. We can immediately discern that some have a faulty understanding of the destructive nature of sin in one's relationship with God. It is impossible to determine precisely the meaning of these "if we say..." clauses but there are some pretty strong indicators. Either these professing this thought that they had reached a level of sinless perfection, or this is a foreshadowing of what would later become called "Gnostic" teaching (i.e. that "matter is evil."). Such a person would believe that the regenerated spirit was so pure that no deeds done in the body were considered sinful....obviously a doctrine of demons.
These are all weighty themes, and John will develop them further in his epistle. These are just some basic guidelines of how to approach a biblical text for study. I recommend that you read other books on the topic because there are so many different approaches out there and none of them are exhaustive. I think it's important as with anything else, to make your study fun. Mixing things up, using pneumonic devices, scripture memorization, and word studies can really breath life into the task.
Enjoy yourself...until next time!
~Henry
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