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"This is the message which we have heard from Him..."

Text: 1 John 1:5

A LASTING IMPACT

The Apostle John seems to repeat himself as we read 1 John. Was there an intended literary design writing the way he did?

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you,
that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
1 John 1:5

1. The use of the Perfect Tense in writing

a) John used the classic Perfect Tense in the opening lines of his first epistle (1 John 1:1).

b) He used this again in the above text.

2. The significance of the Perfect Tense in literary writing

a) The Perfect tense had two main features.

i) It is a reference to a past completed event.

ii) The Perfect Tense leads to a Present impact.

b) “Which we have heard”

i) This was a reference to what John had heard from the Lord Jesus Christ.

ii) What he had heard continues to impact John in the present.

3. “This is the message which we have heard from Him”

a) John heard Jesus teach personally.

i) However Jesus had risen from the dead and had returned to heaven.

ii) Nevertheless the message heard had a lasting impact right up to the present moment.

b) There was a message from the Lord.

i) It certainly applied to the people who heard the Lord Jesus personally.

ii) Though Jesus does not minister in the same way today, the message was for the present!

4. “And declare to you”

a) The message stems from God.

b) John saw himself as the spokesman from God.

c) He did not invent what he was declaring to people far and wide.

d) This was a message that was present and relevant.

e) The use of the Present Tense here emphasises its relevance to the reader.