"I write unto, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning." (1 John 2:13)
Exordium
I suppose John is referring to the early church fathers who walked with Jesus while He walked around. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." he says earlier in his gospel (John 1:1). He sews up his exhortation in his first letter by addressing the young men, "because ye have overcome the wicked one" and then the "little children, because ye have known the Father." He brings it around to the source. To God the Father. And that's a good place to start. Jesus says "no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him (and her... John 6:44). This is the reason anyone comes to Jesus. Because God is calling you. He's drawing you closer to His Son so that you can experience what the Father has for you. All this speaks to the definition of exordium. The beginning of a thing. In this case, new life in Christ. If you've felt it and experienced it, you know it's real. All the conjecture in the world doesn't hold a candle to humbling oneself and taking the plunge. If you believe God created you, then it follows that He knows you unlike anyone else. He's calling you out so He can call you in.
Ekphrasis
You're worth a thousand words. Actually, you're worth all the words in the world and more. The Living Word. Jesus is the living word. I love how language and its words identify invisible bits of information. When God spoke Jesus into this world by the Holy Spirit, He was bridging the two planes. Now you have the all-powerful presence of Jesus--in a body. Doing stuff. "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." (John 21:24) This is just talking about the stuff Jesus did. All the words in the world can only do so much to convey the presence of God. This is, in a word, ekphrasis. The word-structure you might use to relate something to a blind person. They can't see what you're looking at so you tell them. But what is red to the person who's never seen the light? It takes the touch of God to open our eyes to that which we're blind to.
Ecphonesis
Also known by the more commonly used exclamation. Seeing these things come full circle through the simple transaction of belief, one might understand how John would write what he did and choose to refer to himself as the disciple "whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). Because that's what it all boils down to. It's the least common denominator for this thing called life.
Jesus loves me, this I know.
