1 John 1

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4We write this to make our^a joy complete. (1 John 1)

Thoughts: This is similar to the passage in the Gospel of John 1:14- "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  John* wants to make sure we know that he is not making this up- but he is an eyewitness. He has experienced "that which was from the beginning"- that is the eternal God with his eyes and touch.  There are people today who doubt that Jesus even lived- even with the testimonies of the eyewitnesses, and extra biblical sources like Josephus, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger**. In John's day there were some called "Docetists" who believed Jesus did not really come in the flesh, but was a mere spirit or phantom.  John does not call Jesus just a "life" but "the eternal life" (vs. 2).
     The point of John's writing was to welcome people into the fellowship.  The fellowship is with Jesus- and also with those who follow/believe in Jesus.  The fellowship and the joy of the fellowship is made more complete when people come into the fellowship of believers. 

Prayer: Lord, may I treasure the fellowship offered to me- the fellowship with you and those who are united with you in spirit. 

(Thomas touching Jesus' wounds after the resurrection)

*John- This letter does not claim in its text who wrote it.  However, in the early church, no other person was pointed to or claimed authorship.  Papias, Tertulliam, Origen all pointed to John the apostle as the author. 

** Here is a link to an article on the external testimonies to the existence of Jesus.
http://christianthinktank.com/jesusref.html