The opening verses are reminiscent of the opening of John's gospel. Christ has always been, He was not part of creation for He is God and all things were created through Him. He was also physical. The gospel is no mere set of ideas, thoughts, or notions. Jesus is 100% real. John and the other apostles had seen Him, heard Him, touched Him. The gospel is about Jesus Christ, in fact the gospel is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that we proclaim.
Now why does John use terms such as "the life appeared"? He probably did this to counter false gnostic type teachings. They would speak in ephemeral ways about life. We are not talking about anything ephemeral, we are talking about the living God. This God came to earth, He was born, He walked on earth and lived among people. We need to remind ourselves about the reality of our God.
Eternal life is not just what happens after we die. Eternal life starts the moment we believe in Jesus. It is a whole new way of life which starts to take effect the moment we believe.
John wanted his hearers to have fellowship with him. This meant sharing in the same experience of the living God. Being a Christian is not a matter of adhering to set of beliefs, though beliefs are vital. It is not a matter of following a moral code, though how we live our lives is vital. It is about having fellowship with the living God.
Today let us make it our ambition to know Christ better.
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