1 John 1:3

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD - resumed from 1 John 1:1, where the sentence was interrupted by 1 John 1:2, a parenthesis. DECLARE WE UNTO YOU. 'Aleph (') A B C add also: unto you also who have not seen or heard Him. THAT YE ALSO MAY HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH US - that ye also who have not seen, may have the fellowship with us which we who have seen enjoy. What that fellowship consists in he states: "Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son." Faith realizes the unseen as spiritually visible. Not until by faith we too have seen, do we kno...

3_That which we have seen. _He now repeats the third time the words, _seen _and _heard_, that nothing might be wanting as to the real certainty of his doctrine. And it ought to be carefully noticed, that the heralds of the Gospel chosen by Christ were those who were fit and faithful witnesses of all those things which they were to declare. He also testifies of the feeling of their heart, for he says that he was moved by no other reason to write except to invite those to whom he was writing to the participation of an inestimable good. It hence appears how much care he had for their salvation; which served not a little to induce them to believe; for extremely ungrateful we must be, if we refuse to hear him who wishes to communicate to us a part of that happiness which he has obtained. He also sets forth the fruit received from the Gospel, even that we are united thereby to God, and to his...

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 1:3. _THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD_] We deliver nothing by hearsay, nothing by tradition, nothing from conjecture; we have had the fullest certainty of all that we write and preach. _THAT YE ALSO MAY HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH US_] That ye may be preserved from all false doctrine, and have a real _participation_ with us apostles of the grace, peace, love, and life of God, which communion we have _with God_ the Father, who hath loved us, and given his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us; and _with his Son Jesus_ _Christ_, who laid down his life for the life of the world and _through_ whom, being God manifested in the flesh, we have union with God, are made partakers of the Divine nature and dwell in God, and God in us....

THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD DECLARE WE UNTO YOU - We announce it, or make it known unto you - referring either to what he purposes to say in this Epistle, or more probably embracing all that he had written respecting him, and supposing that his Gospel was in their hands. He means to call their attention to all the testimony which he had borne on the subject, in order to counteract the errors which began to prevail. THAT YE MAY HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH US - With us the apostles; with us who actually saw him, and conversed with him. That is, he wished that they might have the same belief, and the same hope, and the same joy which he himself had, arising from the fact that the Son of God had become incarnate, and had appeared among people. To “have fellowship,” means to have anything in common with others; to partake of it; to share it with them, (see the notes at...

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,

THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEN AND HEARD,.... This is repeated, both to confirm and illustrate what had been before said, and to carry on the discourse to what follows: DECLARE WE UNTO YOU; in the ministry of the word; the person and offices of Christ being the sum and substance of the Gospel ministration, that declares him to be the true God and eternal life, God over all, blessed for ever; and truly man, made of a woman, and made under the law; and to be the only Mediator between God and man, to be prophet, priest; and King, and to be the alone Saviour and Redeemer: this declares the greatness and excellency of his salvation, what an able, proper, and suitable Saviour he is; and what precious promises and spiritual blessings are in him, even all grace and eternal glory. And this declaration of him is made in the Gospel, for the following ends and purposes, THAT YE ALSO MAY HAVE FELLOWSHIP W...

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.