1 John 1:2

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) THE LIFE - Jesus, "the Word of life." WAS MANIFESTED - previously having been "with the Father." SHOW, [ apangellomen (G518)] - as 1 John 1:3, "declare" (cf. 1 John 1:5). The general term: write in the particular (1 John 1:4). THAT ETERNAL LIFE, [ teen (G3588) zooeen ...

2_For _(or, _and_) _the life was manifested _The copulative is explanatory, as though he had said, “We testify of the vivifying Word, as life has been manifested.” The sense may at the same time be twofold, that Christ, who is life and the fountain of life, has been manifested, or, that life has been openly offered to us in Christ. The latter, indeed, necessarily follows from the former. Yet as to the meaning, the two things differ, as cause and effect. When he repeats, _We shew_, or _announce eternal life_, he speaks, I have no doubt, of the effect, even that he announces that life is obtained for us in Christ. We hence learn, that when Christ is preached to us, the kingdom of heaven is opened to us, so that being raised from death we may live the life of God. _Which was with the Father. _This is true, not only from the time when the world was formed, but also from eternity, for he was...

1-4 That essential Good, that uncreated Excellence, which had been from the beginning, from eternity, as equal with the Father, and which at length appeared in human nature for the salvation of sinners, was the great subject concerning which the apostle wrote to his brethren. The apostles had seen Him while they witnessed his wisdom and holiness, his miracles, and love and mercy, during some years, till they saw him crucified for sinners, and afterwards risen from the dead. They touched him, so as to have full proof of his resurrection. This Divine Person, the Word of life, the Word of God, appeared in human nature, that he might be the Author and Giver of eternal life to mankind, through the redemption of his blood, and the influence of his new-creating Spirit. The apostles declared what they had seen and heard, that believers might share their comforts and everlasting advantages. They...

Verse 1 John 1:2. _FOR THE LIFE WAS MANIFESTED_] The Lord Jesus, who is the creator of all things, and the _fountain of life_ to all sentient and intellectual beings, and from whom _eternal life_ and _happiness_ come, _was manifested_ in the flesh, and we _have seen him,_ and in consequence _bear witness_ to him as the fountain and author of eternal life; for he who _was from eternity with the Father was_ _manifested unto us_ his apostles, and to the whole of the Jewish nation, and preached that doctrine of eternal life which I have before delivered to the world in my gospel, and which I now farther confirm by this epistle....

FOR THE LIFE WAS MANIFESTED - Was made manifest or visible unto us. He who was the life was made known to people by the incarnation. He appeared among people so that they could see him and hear him. Though originally with God, and dwelling with him, John 1:1, yet he came forth and appeared among people. Compare the Romans 1:3 note; 1 Timothy 3:16 note. He is the great source of all life, and he appeared on the earth, and we had an opportunity of seeing and knowing what he was. AND WE HAVE SEEN IT - This repetition, or turning over the thought, is designed to express the idea with emphasis, and is much in the manner of John. See...

EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 1:1 1. THE INTRODUCTION. It declares the writer's authority, based on personal experience; announces the subject-matter of his Gospel, to which this Epistle forms a companion; and states his object in writing the Epistle. These opening verses help to raise the reader to the high frame of mind in which the apostle writes. Emotion, suppressed under a sense of awe and solemnity, is shown by the involved construction through which his thoughts struggle for utterance. We are reminded of the introduction to the Gospel, especially in the first clause. Both announce to us the subject of the writing which follows—the Word who is the Life. Both set before us, in the simplest language, truths of profoundest meaning. But while in the Gospel he seems to lose sight of his readers in the magnitude of his subject,

FOR THE LIFE WAS MANIFESTED,.... That is, the Word of life, who is life itself, the fountain of life, having it as God, in and of himself, without derivation from, and independent of another, originally and eternally, and who is the cause, author, and giver of life in every sense to others; this living God, who from all eternity was invisible, was in the fulness of time manifested in human nature; see John 1:14. AND WE HAVE SEEN [IT]; as before with the eyes of their bodies: AND BEAR WITNESS; for they were both eye and ear witnesses of the Word, and of the truth of his incarnation, and bore a faithful record to his proper deity, and real humanity: AND SHOW UNTO YOU THAT ETERNAL LIFE; Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life, as in 1 John 5:20; so called,

1 John 1:1. _That which was from, the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life;_ The fact that Christ was really in the flesh, that he was no phantom, no shadow mocking the eyes that looked upon him, is exceedingly important, and hence John (whose style, by the way, in this Epistle is precisely like the style which he uses in his Gospel) John begins by declaring that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who in his eternity was from the beginning, was really a substantial man, for he says, «We have heard him» hearing is good evidence; «Which we have seen with our eyes» eyesight is good, clear evidence certainly; «Which we have locked upon» this is better still, for this imports a deliberate, careful, circumspect gaze; but better still, «Which our hands have handled» for John had leaned his head on

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE LIFE MANIFESTED CHAPTER 1:1-4 The opening verses of this Epistle are very precious and are the key to the whole Epistle. Three Scriptures speak of what was in the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). This is the beginning of all things which God called into existence out of nothing. “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This takes us beyond the first verse of the Bible. It reveals Him, by whom and for whom God created all things, in His eternal existence with God and as God. The third Scripture is the first verse of John's Epistle. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have h

THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE. The writer is concerned with the HYPERLINK "file:///Vord" of life. Life, which from the beginning had been contained in the Word, found at length in Jesus a manifestation to which John and others could bear witness (p. 745). He writes, therefore, so that his readers may share both his convictions and his experience, and in so doing may reflect his joy. The repeated we, though possibly simply a plural of majesty, may be a true plural (especially since I is used in 1 John 2:1; 1 John 2:7), John claiming to speak in the name of the whole circle of apostolic witnesses. Even so, however, the natural interpretation of heard, seen, beheld, handled, is that the writer himself had known Jesus in the flesh. 1 John 1:1.