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About this book

1 John

About this book
Chapter 1

1 This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning,⁠ what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life— 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us). 3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ). 4 Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.⁠ 8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.⁠ 9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 John 1:1 and Epistle to Diognetus 11:4

New Testament · Early Christian

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Summary

In Diognetus, the Word is described as the one who was from the beginning, echoing the opening of 1 John, where Jesus is the one from the beginning the author has heard, seen, and touched.

Passages

1 John 1:1

New Testament
1 This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life— 2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us). 3 What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ). 4 Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 John

Epistle to Diognetus 11:4

Early Christian
3 For this cause He sent forth the Word, that He might appear to the world, Who being dishonored by the people, and preached by the Apostles, was believed in by the Gentiles. 4 This Word, Who was from the beginning, Who appeared as new and yet was proved to be old, and is born always young in the hearts of saints, 5 He, I say, Who is eternal, Who today was accounted a Son, through Whom the Church is enriched and grace is unfolded and multiplied among the saints, grace which confers understanding, which reveals mysteries, which announces seasons, which rejoices over the faithful, which is bestowed upon those who seek her, even those by whom the pledges of faith are not broken, nor the boundaries of the fathers overstepped.
150–250 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Epistle to Diognetus

References

“... As I observed earlier, the author’s mention of the people’s dishonouring of the Word recalls John 1: 9, and his depiction of this Word as ὁ ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, seems a transparent allusion to 1 John 1: 1, ὁ ἦν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς (somewhat less likely, John 1: 1, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος), whose author attests to eye-, ear-, and hand-witness knowledge of Jesus. This chain of references to the Word’s revealing activity among his disciples seems then to be modelled on the example of the author of John and 1 John. This implies that the author of the Ad Diognetum accepts the Johannine author’s self-testimony as presented in these books and that he regards him as one of those to whom the Word revealed himself and his Father, that is, as one of Jesus’ personal disciples. ...”
Charles E. Hill, The Johannine Corpus in the Early Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 366.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 John 1:1 and Epistle to Diognetus 11:4

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