1 John 1:11That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and our hands have touched with, concerning the word of life—
The document is missing the typical opening elements of a letter, such as the salutation and addressees. The letter functions more as a written sermon addressing critical theological issues facing the early church. John begins his epistle with a form of poetic prologue that echoes his Gospel (John 1:1) and the opening verse of Genesis 1:1. Both begin with a reference to the beginning. Just as the Word was in the beginning as God, so also the word of life was in the beginning. The epistle opens with five relative clauses that build intensity and emphasis. The first relative clause is different from the others because it is outside human experience. The other clauses connect the timeless to the time-bound experiences of the unidentified we, who would include the Apostle John and other eyewitnesses to what is witnessed.
Life is one of John’s keywords in this letter. Jesus as the Life (John 11:25; 14:6) provides life to those who trust in him. As God’s communication (logos), Jesus revealed how we can have eternal life by trusting in him and his words. John likely refers more to Jesus as the one who brought life than to the message about Jesus in the form of the gospel. However, the two cannot be separated as long as the proclaimed message is about Jesus. That might be why the letter opens with the repeated neuter (ho) relative pronoun which.
The eternality of the central topic of this letter, namely Jesus, is stressed in the first words. Humans think in terms of beginnings and endings. Not so with the One John about whom writes. As the One who was, is, and is to come (Revelation 1:4, 8), the Word of God has no beginning and no end. The timeless Word entered time in such a way that people could see and touch him.
People today look for existential, real-life experiences. They have difficulty believing in something they cannot experience. We have to trust in the ancient testimonies of the first eyewitnesses to the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We can join in this experience through the Holy Spirit, who enables us to experience in part what John did so long ago. The physical presence of Jesus is replaced by the physical presence of his body, the church. We experience Jesus through one another as we walk the journey of life together. The Holy Spirit binds the followers of Jesus together in unity in experience. The church does not replace Jesus, but it is where and how we can experience the presence of Jesus.