the Word

1 John 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;"

We are studying the acrostic GRACED:

Go to God in prayer daily.

Read God’s Word daily.

Attend worship regularly.

Connect in a study group.

Engage in service.

Dedicate yourself to the tithe and beyond.

Last week we focused on “Attend worship regularly.” Christian fellowship and mutual encouragement are very important. We want to attend worship regularly in order to provoke one another to love and good works. We are called to active engagement rather than passive attendance, using encouragement to spur one another forward in the faith.

This week we will study “Connect in a study group.” Today’s verse serves as the prologue to this letter, emphasizing that Jesus Christ is the eternal “Word of life,” who existed before creation and was physically present on earth.

The apostle John uses sensory language; heard, seen, looked upon, and handled, to affirm the physical reality of Jesus’ incarnation. This was a direct answer to early false teaching, such as Docetism (and later Gnostic claims), which denied that Jesus was truly human or treated physical reality as irrelevant. By asserting firsthand eyewitness experience, John establishes that Christian faith is grounded in historical reality rather than myth or abstract philosophy.

Key theological points include:

Eternality: “From the beginning” reaches back before the apostles’ witness and, in light of John 1:1, to the time before creation, linking Jesus to the eternal God of Genesis and establishing His pre-existence.

Incarnation: Jesus is the “Word of life” who became flesh, so the apostles could physically interact with Him.

Fellowship: The purpose of this testimony is to invite believers into koinonia, "deep fellowship," with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).