And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
This is very succinct and self explanatory. The apostles who were with Jesus, touched and heard and saw the Son of God, will make plain to us what they heard and bear witness of Him, so that our joy may be full as we hear and share in the fellowship with God too.
I like these two root meanings of the Hebrew word "full": filled up - of the soul, thoroughly permeated with; full, i.e. complete; lacking nothing, perfect
Therefore it says: "And these things we write to you that your soul may be thoroughly permeated with joy,complete, lacking nothing, perfect, filled up!"
I love that!
David Guzik reiterates in his commentary that it is through relationship we have fullness of joy and quotes Jesus comment in John 15:11 that joy is ours as we abide in Him and His Word. I also like the rest of David Guzik's notes:
Observations on this first portion of the book, which is one long sentence in the original Greek.
a. John begins with the beginning - the eternal God, who was before all things.
b. He tells us that this God has been physically manifested, and that he and others can testify to this as eyewitnesses.
c. He tells us that this God is the Word of life, the Logos.
d. He tells us that this God is distinct from the person of God the Father.
e. He tells us that we may have fellowship with this God, and that we are often introduced into this fellowship with God by the fellowship of God's people.
f. He tells us that this eternally existent God, the Word of Life, who was physically present with them, and present for fellowship, is God the Son, named Jesus Christ.
g. He tells us that fellowship with Jesus leads to a life lived in fullness of joy.
h. We could say that in these four verses, John gives us enough to live our whole Christian life on! No wonder one commentator says, "Observe the note of wonder in the Apostle's language. Speech fails him. He labours for expression, adding definition to definition." (Expositor's)
And I finish this study with my favourite commentary that I've read on this verse, mainly because it is on my heart at the moment the importance of being planted in church, knitted into His Body, being a part of His Body, and these verses actually support this as Barnes Notes on the New Testament say: And these things write we unto you. These things respecting him who was manifested in the flesh, and respecting the results which' flow from that.
That your joy may be full. This is almost the same language which the Saviour used when addressing his disciples as he was about to leave them, (John 15:11;) and there can be little doubt that John had that declaration in remembrance when he uttered this remark. See Barnes "John 15:11". The sense here is, that full and clear views of the Lord Jesus, and the fellowship with him and with each other, which would follow from that, would be a source of happiness. Their joy would be complete if they had that; for their real happiness was to be found in their Saviour. The best editions of the Greek Testament now read "your joy," instead of the common reading "our joy."
Fullness of joy is found in fellowship with God and with each other.
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