The epistles of John are pack with mighty messages that are crucial to the salvation of our souls.  Never was this more true than the very first chapter of his first epistle.  In our last blog we saw that one of John’s consistent themes is that Jesus is God, that is, He is a member of the Godhead and as such, He is deity.  To deny such is to lose any hope of eternal life.

Another message emphasized by John was the manifestation of Christ.

1 John 1:1-2 (ESV)
¹  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 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 is emphasizing here the reality of Christ in the flesh.  He taught this truth in light of the false teachers who would later be known as Gnostics.  The doctrine of Gnosticism was not fully developed until the second century, but it is clear that the beginning rudiments of it existed in John’s day.

There were two kinds of Gnostics—Cerinthians and Docetics.  The Cerinthians denied the deity of Christ, while the Docetics denied the humanity of Christ.  It is the false doctrine of docetism that John refutes here.   These Gnostics denied the incarnation of Christ.  They believed that all matter was evil and sinful.  Because the physical body is matter, they did not believe Christ could inhabit it.  Their conclusion, then, was that Christ was just an illusion. Here is what the Collegiate Dictionary says about Docetism.

Docetism – “A belief opposed as heresy in early Christianity that Christ only seemed to have a human body and to suffer and die on the cross (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary). 

In 1 John 1:2, John is clearly refuting a form of docetism by emphasizing the manifestation of Christ, and he was not the only inspired writer to strongly affirm this truth.  Paul often emphasized the same (Philippians 2:6-7; 1 Timothy 3:16).

Why is this so important?  It is important because, without a real body, Jesus could not have become the propitiation for our sins, and we could never be redeemed by His blood (Romans 3:24-25).  Thank God Jesus was willing to take on a human body and become an offering for our sins.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

This is why when we partake of the Lord’s Supper we do not just drink the fruit of the vine, which represents the blood of Christ.  We first partake of the bread representing His body.  Why?  Because without a real, flesh and blood body, there could be no real sacrifice for sin, and we would have no real salvation.  Thank God for the manifestation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.