1 John 4:14

14. τεθεάμεθα καὶ μαρτ. As R.V., we have beheld and bear witness: see on 1 John 4:12 and 1 John 1:2. ἡμεῖς is emphatic, and as in the Prologue and in 1 John 4:6, means S. John and the other Apostles. See on 1 John 1:4 and 1 John 4:6. With their own eyes the Twelve saw the Son working out His mission as the Saviour of the world. Τεθεάμεθα points back to τεθέαται in 1 John 4:12 : ‘God Himself no one hath ever yet beheld, but we have beheld His Son’.

ἀπέσταλκεν. Hath sent, as in 1 John 4:9. τοῦ κόσμου is important. The Son has been sent as Saviour, not of the Jews only, nor of the ‘enlightened’ Gnostics only, but of all. There is no limit to His mission to save, and no limit to its success, excepting man’s unwillingness to accept salvation by believing on the Saviour. See on 1 John 2:2 and comp. John 3:17. Only twice in his writings does S. John use the word σωτήρ, here and in the Samaritans’ confession (John 4:42). In both places it is followed by τοῦ κόσμου.