1 John 1:2

This verse is parenthetical. Compare, for similar interruptions of the construction, ver. 3, John 1:14; John 3:16; John 3:31; John 19:35.

And [κ α ι]. See on John 1:10; John 8:20.

The Life [η ζ ω η]. The Word Himself who is the Life. 59 Compare John 14:6; John 5:26; 1 John 5:11; 1 John 5:12. Life expresses the nature of the Word (John 1:4). The phrase, the Life, besides being equivalent to the Word, also indicates, like the Truth and the Light, an aspect of His being.

Was manifested [ε φ α ν ε ρ ω θ η]. See on John 21:1. Corresponding with the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). The two phrases, however, present different aspects of the same truth. The Word became flesh, contemplates simply the historic fact of incarnation. The life was manifested, sets forth the unfolding of that fact in the various operations of life. The one denotes the objective process of the incarnation as such, the other the result of that process as related to human capacity of receiving and understanding it. "The reality of the incarnation would be undeclared if it were said, 'The Life became flesh. ' The manifestation of the Life was a consequence of the incarnation of the Word, but it is not coextensive with it" (Westcott). Have seen - bear witness - shew. Three ideas in the apostolic message : experience, testimony, announcement.

Bear witness. See on John 1:7.

Shew [α π α γ γ ε λ λ ο μ ε ν] Better, as Rev., declare. See on John 16:25. So here. The message comes from [α π ο] God.

That eternal life [τ η ν ζ ω η ν τ η ν α ι ω ν ι ο ν]. A particularly faulty translation, since it utterly fails to express the development of the idea of life, which is distinctly contemplated by the original. Render, as Rev., the life, the eternal life; or the life, even the eternal life. For a similar repetition of the article compare 1 John 2:8; 1 John 4:9; 2 John 1:11. This particular phrase occurs only here and 1 John 2:25. John uses zwh aijwniov eternal life, and hJ aijwniov zwh the eternal life, the former expressing the general conception of life eternal, and the latter eternal life as the special gift of Christ. Aijwniov eternal, describes the life in its quality of not being measured by time, a larger idea than that of mere duration.

Which [η τ ι ς]. Not the simple relative h which, but defining the quality of the life, and having at the same time a kind of confirmatory and explanatory force of the word eternal : seeing that it was a life divine in its nature - "with the Father" - and therefore independent of temporal conditions.

With the Father [π ρ ο ς τ ο ν π α τ ε ρ α]. See on with God (John 1:1). In living, active relation and communion with the Father. "The preposition of motion with the verb of repose involves eternity of relation with activity and life" (Coleridge). The life eternally tended to the Father, even as it emanated from Him. It came forth from Him and was manifested to men, but to the end that it might take men into itself and unite them with the Father. The manifestation of life to men was a revelation of life, as, first of all and beyond all, centering in God. Hence, though life, abstractly, returns to God, as it proceeds from God, it returns bearing the redeemed world in its bosom. The complete divine ideal of life includes impartation, but impartation with a view to the practical development of all that receives it with reference to God as its vivifying, impelling, regulating, and inspiring center.

The Father. See on John 12:26. The title "the Father" occurs rarely in the Synoptists, and always with reference to the Son. In Paul only thrice (Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 2:18). Nowhere in Peter, James, Jude, or Revelation. Frequent in John's Gospel and Epistles, and in the latter, uniformly. 60