Matthew Henry on 1 John 1:1-4
The apostle omits his name and character (as also the author to the Hebrews does) either out of humility, or as being willing that the Christian reader should be swayed by the light and weight of the things written rather than by the name that might recommend them. And so he begins,
I. With an account or character of the Mediator's person. He is the great subject of the gospel, the foundation and object of our faith and hope, the bond and cement that unite us unto God. He should be well known; and he is represented here, 1. As the Word of life, Jo1 1:1. In the gospel these two are disjoined, and he is called first the Word, Joh 1:1, and afterwards Life, intimating, withal, that he is intelle…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 John 1:2
the life--Jesus, "the Word of life."
was manifested--who had previously been "with the Father."
show--Translate as in Jo1 1:3, "declare" (compare Jo1 1:5). Declare is the general term; write is the particular (Jo1 1:4).
that eternal life--Greek, "the life which is eternal." As the Epistle begins, so it ends with "eternal life," which we shall ever enjoy with, and in, Him who is "the life eternal."
which--Greek, "the which." the before-mentioned (Jo1 1:1) life which was with the Father "from the beginning" (compare Joh 1:1). This proves the distinctness of the First and Second Persons in the one Godhead.
Adam Clarke on 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.
John Gill on 1 John 1:2
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…
