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The witness to the Word of Life
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: 2 For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us: 3 That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your joy may be full.
God is light
5 And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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1:1 That which was from the beginning: From these words, as well as from the first words of St. John's gospel, " In the beginning was the word," is inferred the eternity of the Son of God. By the word "beginning," some understand, the beginning of time, or, of creation; and even from the words understood in this sense, they infer his eternity; for, at the beginning of all time, before any object was created, the Word "was," and to what other moment can it refer, but the permanent, indivisible moment of eternity. This interpretation derives probability from the clear parallelism that exists between the description given by Moses of the Genesis of creation, and that given by St. John, both here, and in his gospel, of the eternal Genesis of the Son of God. In the one, it is said, "in the beginning God created heaven and earth'' the difference being, that at the beginning of time, the world received existence, but at the same beginning the Word already was; hence, existing before all time, before anything was created, which would be untrue, he himself were a creature. Therefore, he was uncreated and from eternity. By "the beginning," then, according to these, is meant, the beginning of any time, whether actual or imaginary, and even then the Word "was;" hence, eternal. In scriptural language, "to be from the beginning," expresses eternity, thus, in Isaiah 43:13, God says of himself, "and from the beginning I am the same." Others understand the word " beginning," as well here, as in the commencement of the gospel, to refer directly to eternity, which is a beginning without a beginning; termed, "beginning," to suit the weak conceptions of our obscure and limited understandings. (Bishop John McEvilly) have seen with our eyes...: For thus he professes himself to be not only the eye-witness, but also the hearer; and besides that, the historian of all the wondrous facts concerning the Lord in their order. (Caius Fragments) hands have handled: that is, He who came in the flesh became capable of being touched. (St. Clement of Alexandria On 1 John)
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