1 John 1:1 → Genesis 1:1

John's opening phrase "that which was from the beginning" (ὃ ἦν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς) deliberately echoes both Genesis 1:1's בְּרֵאשִׁית and his own Gospel prologue's ἐν ἀρχῇ (John 1:1). But 1 John adds a decisive incarnational dimension: the one who "was from the beginning" has now been "heard," "seen with our own eyes," "gazed upon," and "touched with our own hands." What Kline identifies as the "upper register" reality of Genesis 1:1 — the invisible, heavenly realm of intratrinitarian purpose — has broken into the "lower register" of human sensory experience in the person of Christ. The eternal Word of life who was "with the Father" before creation (1 John 1:2; cf. John 1:1-2) has been made manifest. Genesis 1:1 establishes the beginning as God's domain; 1 John 1:1 testifies that the church has encountered that same Beginning in the flesh.