Gary Burge points out in his NIV commentary on 1 John that the relative pronoun that begins the letter is neuter, even though the subject (LOGOS) is masculine. Drawing on Raymond Brown, he suggests that the neuter is used because it covers not just the person of Jesus the Word, but the whole “sweep of Jesus’ life.” That is to say, the gospel proclaimed by John is the whole life, death, resurrection of Jesus.
And since Jesus recapitulates the history of Israel, what is proclaimed is the whole history of Israel.
And since the history of Israel is the history of man in microcosm, what is proclaimed is the whole history of man, from first to last Adam.
These are different ways of describing the gospel we preach.
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