A real man!

The root issue at the heart of the schism addressed in the letter of 1 John was doctrinal: was Jesus a real man, or did he just appear to be a man?

John addresses and answers this with his very first opening words; "That which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim to you concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it". And then John repeats his points in verse 2, and then again in verse 3.

We could think of the moment when John leaned back against Jesus at the last supper and asked Jesus who was going to betray him; John 13:25.

And by opening this letter with this robust witness claim to have seen, heard and touched Jesus, the author is not only giving a first-hand witness statement about Jesus, but in doing so is claiming apostolic authority to write this letter and adjudicate on this doctrinal issue. (To assert that the author is not the apostle John leads to the immediate conclusion that this strong opening witness statement is itself a blatant white lie!)

John makes the point again later in the letter; "Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God", 1 John 4:2.

It was not until the Council of Chalcedon in 461AD that the issue of Christ’s identity was finally articulated by the Church …

"We all teach harmoniously [that he is] the same perfect in godhead, the same perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, the same of a reasonable soul and body; homoousios with the Father in godhead, and the same homoousios with us in manhood ... acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation."

Why does it matter that Jesus became fully human?

Because, in the words of Hebrews 2:17, "He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that … he might make atonement for the sins of the people."

Few have summarised this better than Cranfield: "God, because in his mercy he willed to forgive sinful men, and being truly merciful, willed to forgive them righteously, that is, without in any way condoning their sin, purposed to direct against his own very self in the person of his Son the full weight of that righteous wrath which they deserved."

This is our God, the servant King

So as we start diving deep into 1 John, the importance of study is already becoming clear. We disciples need to study scripture and know and understand good theology. Otherwise we risk, in Paul’s words, "be[ing] infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming" Ephesians 4:14.