001 Kernels of Wheat – Words We Think We Know

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Show Notes for Kernels of Wheat Episode 001: 1 John 1:1-3

Words We Think We Know: "Eternal Life" & "Fellowship"

Teaching and Bible study notes by Jim Kerwin

Author: Anonymous, but confirmed to be the Apostle John based on historical testimony of the early church and internal evidence (uses of words like Logos, beginning, “eternal life,” style similarity, etc.). Never names himself in his Gospel (“the disciple Jesus loved”) or his three Epistles (the “elder” or “old man” in 2 & 3 John)

Date: a.d. 85-95 (same range as all the Johannine scriptures, including Revelation)

Some of the focuses of the letter:

• What is God’s ultimate intention for us?
• What is eternal life?
• What is a true believer’s relationship with God?  How do we walk in and deepen the relationship?
• What are the no-compromise characteristics of someone who is truly born of God?
• How do we abide/remain/continue in God’s life/pleasure/anointing?
• How do we recognize and guard against pseudo-Christian teaching?
• Jump to 1 John 5:20-21; a summary of John’s “target.”

John’s unique vantage point—over 60 years of fellowship with the living God

“Homework” Reminder:

• Read through 1 John each week.
• Added blessing—read through John’s Gospel once a month during the study in order to see the many parallels between the two books.

God’s goal—fellowship in and with the Godhead, the Trinity

Looking at key words in 1 John 1:1-3…

Verse 1

Beginning:  (ar-KAY) arche—not only beginning, but also origin, source

The Word of Life: (ho LOG-os tays zoh-ACE); compare the opening of John’s Gospel in John 1:1-5

Anticipating some of the elements of true fellowship:
a) Hearing
b) Seeing
c) Gazing (meditating)
d) Touching (and being touched)

Verse 2

(hay zoh-AY) zoe – the life
John 14:6 – “I am… the Life.”

(hay zoh-AY hay ai-OH-nee-os) he zoe he aionios – the eternal life; according to Vincent (Word Studies), the repeated article should be rendered, “the life, even the eternal life.”

John 17:3: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Eternal life = that quality of life possessed alone by the only Self-Existent, Immortal Being = God;
“Who only hath immortality” (1 Timothy 6:16) – immortality = (ah-thah-nah-SEE-ah) athanasia = a (a negation) + thanatos (death).

2 Peter 1:4: For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

partaker = (koi-no-NOS) koinonos– a “fellowshipper,” partaker, partner, companion

Verse 3

fellowship – (koi-no-NEE-ah) koinonia

from (koi-NOS) koinos; common, communal, as in Acts 2:44; 4:32

Fellowship = association, communion, partnership, participation, sharing (in the sense of love gifts to the poor), close relationship;

in the latter sense, it was sometimes used outside of the NT to mean sexual intercourse.  Indeed, the word (KOI-tay) koite = bed, is a euphemism for sexual intercourse; see, for example, Hebrews 13:4.

Verb: (koi-no-NEH-oh) koinoneo – share, have a share, participate

Fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10)
Called into fellowship in/with God’s Son (1 Corinthians 1:9)
Fellowship in/with the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
Fellowship with the Father and Son (1 John 1:3)

How would your life be different if you lived in unbroken, moment-by-moment fellowship with the living God?

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