More from 1 John

John's letter is loaded with great words and images, some of them may be unexpected. One of the things that I had not noticed before is that John speaks of Jesus not only giving eternal life, but also as being the eternal life.

So here's some more from 1. John 1
2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—

John gives an official report (the word "proclaim" in Greek refers to an official report. This is more than a letter between friends, it is an official document of the Kingdom of God) to his readers about the eternal life (Jesus Christ).

This is a very cool thing. Normally we think of Jesus as giving us eternal life, but here Jesus is called the eternal life. When you check out what eternal life means it basically comes down to living the best life possible. So when Jesus is called THE eternal life we know that he lives the best life possible. John in his gospel spells out that this best life possible (which will make this kind of life possible for all) is doing the will of him who sent me. So if we are looking for the best life possible and also want to be like Jesus, what we need to do is to do the will of God, the monarch of the Kingdom. What makes this particularly great is that we can live this life no matter what is going on in our lives. Jesus lives the best life possible when he teaches, when he goes to weddings, when he does signs (John is all about signs in his gospel, not about miracles), and even on the cross. It is worth mentioning that when Jesus does the will of God the end game for him is the Father and Son receiving glory. We read in John 17

17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

One thing we need to be careful of in seeing Jesus living this best life possible: We need to be careful not to think of this eternal life in terms only of his time on earth, we see the fullness of his life in Jesus being prophet, priest and king. A life that is revealed most fully when we see both the gospels and the book of Revelation. This life of prophet, priest, and king also reflects the fullness of our life with God. The 16th century confession of faith, the Heidelberg Catechism says,

Q & A 32

Q. But why are you called a Christian?

A. Because by faith I am a member of Christ^1
and so I share in his anointing.^2
I am anointed
to confess his name,^3
to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks,^4
to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil
in this life,^5
and afterward to reign with Christ
over all creation
for all eternity.^6

^1 1 Cor. 12:12-27
^2 Acts 2:17 (Joel 2:28); 1 John 2:27
^3 Matt. 10:32; Rom. 10:9-10; Heb. 13:15
^4 Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9
^5 Gal. 5:16-17; Eph. 6:11; 1 Tim. 1:18-19
^6 Matt. 25:34; 2 Tim. 2:12

Since John tells us that he proclaims to us the eternal life (gives that official report) it is worth seeing the fullness of that report in the gospel of John and Revelation, plus what he will tell us in this epistle

One last thing on "the eternal life", the eternal life was with the Father and was made manifest: “manifest” is used twice, again stressing that which was once a secret/mystery is now being shown. Jesus who was once a secret/mystery (the kind of Messiah he would be?) has now been shown and made known. And as we see him, we find out how to live the eternal life meant for us.