Part 1: Proposal to Read 1 John Considering Genesis 1-6

Introduction

Many authors have recognized that the prologue of 1 John is related to the same author’s Gospel and to the first line of Genesis. However, commentators have not noticed that John alludes to the themes in Genesis 1-6. The following 2-part-essay propose to read 1 John in light of Genesis 1-6. These 3 essays will respectively describe: (1) the thematic parallels of 1 John 1-4 to Genesis 1-5, (2) the parallels of 1 John and Genesis 3, as well as another Johannine work, Revelation 2, and (3) the Trinitarian theme of Father, Son, Spirit found in both Genesis 1-6 and 1 John. This paper is a humble exploration of motifs observed in my devotional readings, that later grew into a proposal. While there were many other parallels not mentioned here, for clarity and space, I’ve chosen a few of the clearest to drive the discussion.

This first piece is primarily on the parallels from 1 John 1-4 and Genesis 1-5. This piece will consider (I) the parallels between the Fruit & Word of Life which are both Heard, Seen, and Touched. (II) Following the prologue of 1 John, the continuity of Walking & Confrontation will be discussed. (III) Finally, the parallels between the Antichrists in 1 John 2 & Cain and Abel will be delineated.

The Fruit & Word of Life Heard, Seen, and Touched

The Word of Life, prefaced as “That which was from the beginning” is described as that which has been heard, seen, and touched in the first sentence of the letter (1 Jn 1.1). Christ is the most immediate reference, though these verbs also appear thematically at the beginning of Genesis. The first object that is heard, seen, and touched is the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

Regarding the fruit, we learn of it when Adam received the first commandment from God. Genesis 2.16-17 describes the first commandment: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This commandment is directly heard by Adam and indirectly heard by The Woman from Adam. The Woman never received the same command directly from Yahveh; it was only given to Adam. In fact, The Woman heard the first commandment from her husband as implied by Genesis 3.1 “Did God actually say…” and the following passage.

Furthermore, The Woman adds “neither shall you touch it” to the original commandment as given to Adam in Genesis 2: “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die,’” (Gen 3.3). As James Jordan has shown, “Eve has good levitical instinct” (Trees and Thorns, 159) The Woman recognizes that “what should not be eaten” also “should not be touched.” We see this principle throughout Leviticus with its earliest and most explicit instance in Leviticus 7.19: “Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten.” Moreover, we know that these two verbs go together because we see them in The Woman’s act in verse 6, “She took of its fruit and ate.”

Finally, The Woman also performs the action of “seeing-judging” when she sees and appraises the fruit: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” (Gen 3.6). This discovery that the fruit was “a delight to the eyes” and “desired to make one wise” corresponds to 1 John 2.16-17: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” Just as The Woman desires the fruit, so also are there echoes of that language in the “lust of the eyes.”

Overall, it is possible and consistent to understand from these passages the object that is heard, seen, and touched is the fruit of the tree. I will expand on this with my discussion of the parallels between Genesis 3 and Revelation 2 in the second piece of this essay.

Walking & Confrontation

Following the prologue of 1 John 1.1-4, the next pericope from verse five to the end of the chapter describes walking with God and the confession of our sin. This pericope begins by describing the juxtaposition between walking in the light and darkness. This “walking in the light” is described in relation to God who does so in the same way: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1.6-7.

This action of walking first appears in Genesis 3.8: “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” This action of walking is not arbitrary: just as God walks, man is supposed to walk with God; and this is “the way.” This theme of walking with God and “the way” are related to each other. We know that at the end of Genesis 3 the way is closed: “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” Thus we know that God walks and subsequently the way is closed, or at least until the description of Enoch in the genealogies (Gen 5.24).

Enoch is the only one who “walked with God” and was taken by him (Gen 5.24). Enoch symbolically reverses this inability of man to enter the garden. Thus Enoch was the first to “walk with God and go through the way.”

This biblical theology of “walking where God has walked” is also found with Abraham and in Exodus. In Genesis 17.1 Abraham is told to “walk before God and be perfect.” In the Exodus, we are told how “the LORD went before them [Israel] by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way,” (Ex 13.21). Afterwards, in the Red Sea Crossing, we are given the similar language of how the pillar of cloud moved from the front to the rear of the camp (Ex 14.19) and that Israel walks a path of dry ground that the pillar first travailed that was “a wall to them on their right hand and on their left,” (Ex 14.29).

Principally, walking is something that is done in relation to God and the way he walks. Finally, the culmination of these two things occurs at the beginning of our second chapter of 1 John 2.5-6: “but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

Now that the theology of walking has been briefly established we can understand that Adam was supposed to “walk with God” in the Spirit of that first Lord’s day. After the verses describing walking in 1 John 1.6-7, we are given a discussion about confessing our sins rather than deceiving ourselves. Following the progression of Genesis that was discussed above, we have moved from “that which was heard from the beginning” to that which is seen, heard, and touched to God walking and our call to walk with him to an instance of having to confess our sins so that we would be forgiven.

1 John 1.8-10 blueprints what we are supposed to do, considering what Adam did. We have broken what we have heard, we have seen and touched that which we were not supposed to eat, we failed to walk in the light with the Lord, but now we can still confess our sins so that God from faithfulness and justness cleanse us from our unrighteousness rather than lying and deceiving ourselves. John makes the intentional parallel of God’s confrontation with Adam. Adam blames The Woman and God, rather than confessing his sin. John requires the opposite of Adam’s action: that we confess our sin, be forgiven, and walk with God.

Antichrists & Cain and Abel

Following chapter one of 1 John, John gives a new commandment regarding brother-brother relations. John first addresses the reader as children in 1 John 2.1 and then gives a new commandment to “love your brother.” This new commandment is first described as “not hating your brother” in 1 John 2.9-11: “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” The brother-brother relations are connected to walking in the darkness and light described in chapter one and the end of chapter two.

Furthermore, this brother-brother commandment is explicitly related to Cain and Abel in 1 John 4.11: “For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not like Cain who was of the Evil One and murdered his brother.”

Following that, we have a discussion about “overcoming” in verses 12 through 14 (which will be covered in the second piece), and then a discussion of the separation of the anti-Christ people and the people of the Holy One. 1 John 2.19 describes how “they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us.”

The people that stay however stay on the basis of their being “anointed by the Holy One” (v 20) and their confession rather than denial of the Son of the Father: “Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also,” (v 23). This maps onto the conclusion after the fratricide of Abel. Cain and his clan are exiled to wander the earth (Gen 4.14) and are sent away from the presence of the Lord and leave the first Adamic people while Adam and his new offspring stay. (Gen 4.16).

Furthermore, the pattern that Cain knew his wife, fathered Enoch, and built a city in Genesis 4.17 parallels Genesis 4.5-26 when Adam knew his wife again, fathered Seth, and “appoints another offspring instead of Abel” which causes people to “begin to call upon the name of the Lord.” Seth is the new priest that enacts worship for people to “call upon the name of the Lord” which is related to confessing the Son.

Conclusion

Cumulatively, these are the parallels between 1 John 145 to Genesis 1-5:

• A) Genesis 1-5: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil are heard, seen, and touched. Yahveh walks in the Spirit of the day and confronts Adam. Adam blames the woman and God for his sin. Cain kills Abel (Gen 4.8). Cain and his clan leave the first Adamic people and go east of the land and are the first people to create a city (Gen 4.16-17). Adam has a new priest-son that enacts the worship or confession of calling upon the name of the Lord (Gen 4.25-27).

• B) 1 John 1-4: The prologue describes the Word of Life heard, seen, and touched. John exhorts the reader to walk with God. John then describes that God forgives if we confess our sins rather than deceiving ourselves and God. We are commanded to love the brothers (2.9-11) unlike Cain who kills Abel (4.11). Then, the anti-Christ and his people go out from the anointed people (2.18-20); the anointed people remain on the basis that they confess the Son (2.23).

This concludes the first piece of this 2-part proposal to read 1 John considering Genesis 1-6. Through delineating the parallels between 1 John 1-4 and Genesis 1-5 considering the discussions of Fruit & Tree of Life, Walking & Confrontation, and Antichrists & Cain and Abel hopefully, I interested the reader in reading the second part of this series. If one is unconvinced, I anticipate that the above evidence will be supported by considering the parallels between Genesis 3, Revelation 2, and 1 John described in the second piece of this 2-part essay. In this second piece, we will consider (I) the Walking, Conquering, and Eating pattern found in Genesis 3, Revelation 2, and 1 John, (II) elaborate on the Sacramental book ends of 1 John and its parallel to Revelation 2, and (III) outline the Trinitarian pattern shared between 1 John and Genesis 1-6.

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Matthew Tibudan is currently nursing student aspiring towards pastoral ministry after undergrad. He attends Christ Covenant Church of Chicago (CREC) in Illinois. He enjoys studying typology, sacramentology, and Scholastic and Orthodox theology. And runs a channel called “Reformed & Catholic” on YouTube where he regularly posts scriptural reflections, theological conversations and book reviews.