In The Beginning...

I read 1 John 1 and 2 this morning. To my understanding, John's primary message is convincing his readers that Jesus is the messiah. I noticed that in these first 2 chapters of 1 John, John continually used the phrase "in the beginning" or "from the beginning"...even when speaking about his readers or those who witnessed Jesus in person. (Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.) So I got to thinking...what "beginning" is John talking about? We are so conditioned to thinking "in the beginning" means original Genesis creation, we forget that Jesus is the dividing point between beginnings.

John was referring to the beginning of the new covenant, and not the Genesis beginning. In fact, he says as much in 1 John 2:8 -- At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Jesus the messiah came as light. Light shows us the way to God that had been hidden in shadows. Without that light, we can't find our way to God. Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the light...that is what John is trying to say.

It is important to consider the totality of the narrative we read...not pick out a verse and run with it. What is the theme the writer is trying to get across? Is John telling us that Jesus is God? Or that Jesus is the expected messiah? I would urge my friends to try reading John with the idea that John is convincing his Jewish Torah believers that Jesus is indeed the messiah that was promised, and how this messiah Jesus is a man, the son of God, inaugurating a new covenant, a new beginning.