SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:2
(porque la vida es manifestada; y tambin lo vimos, y testificamos, y os mostramos aquella la vida eterna, la cual estaba con el Padre, y nos ha aparecido);
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 John 1:2
Verse 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's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. For the life was manifested , &c.] 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 1 Timothy 3:16 John 3:8). 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 Christ, the true God, and eternal life, as in ( 1 John 1:#20 5:20); so called, because he has everlasting life in himself; as he is the living God, and because he has eternal life for all his people; not only the purpose and promise of it are in him, but the thing itself; and it is in his power and gift to bestow it on all the Father hath given to him, and to them he does give it. The beginning of it lies in the knowledge of him, and the consummation of it will be in the lasting vision and enjoyment of him: which was with the Father ; that is, which life, eternal life, and Word of life, was from the beginning, or from all eternity with God the Father; which phrase is expressive of the eternal existence of Christ, as the Word and Son of God, with his Father, his relation to him, his oneness in nature, and equality with him, and his personal distinction from him; (see John 1:1); and was manifested unto us ; in human nature, as before observed, and that to the apostles, as he was not to the patriarchs and prophets; for though they saw him in promise, in prophecy, in type, and figure, and he sometimes appeared in an human form for a short time to them, yet they did not see him incarnate, in actual union with human nature; nor had they him dwelling among them, and conversing with them, as the apostles had; this was an happiness peculiar to them.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - That essential Good, that uncreated Excellence, which had been from the beginning, from eternity, as equal with the Father, and which at lengt appeared in human nature for the salvation of sinners, was the grea 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 his crucified for sinners, and afterwards risen from the dead. They touche 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 believer might share their comforts and everlasting advantages. They had fre access to God the Father. They had a happy experience of the truth in their souls, and showed its excellence in their lives. This communio of believers with the Father and the Son, is begun and kept up by the influences of the Holy Spirit. The benefits Christ bestows, are no like the scanty possessions of the world, causing jealousies in others but the joy and happiness of communion with God is all-sufficient, s that any number may partake of it; and all who are warranted to say that truly their fellowship is with the Father, will desire to lea others to partake of the same blessedness.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 η 3588 ζωη 2222 εφανερωθη 5319 5681 και 2532 εωρακαμεν 3708 5758 και 2532 μαρτυρουμεν 3140 5719 και 2532 απαγγελλομεν 518 5719 υμιν 5213 την 3588 ζωην 2222 την 3588 αιωνιον 166 ητις 3748 ην 2258 5713 προς 4314 τον 3588 πατερα 3962 και 2532 εφανερωθη 5319 5681 ημιν 2254
Vincent's NT Word Studies
2. This verse is parenthetical. Compare, for similar interruptions of the construction, ver. 3, John i. 14, iii. 16, 31; xix. 35.
And (kai). See on John i. 10; viii. 20.
The Life (h zwh). The Word Himself who is the Life. 59 Compare John xiv. 6; v. 26; 1 John v. 11, 12. Life expresses the nature of the Word (John i. 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 (efanerwqh). See on John xxi. 1. Corresponding with the Word was made flesh (John i. 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 i. 7.
Shew (apaggellomen) Better, as Rev., declare. See on John xvi. 25. So here. The message comes from (apo) God.
That eternal life (thn zwhn thn aiwnion). 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 ii. 8; iv. 9; 2 John 11. This particular phrase occurs only here and ii. 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 (htiv). 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 (prov ton patera). See on with God (John i. 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 xii. 26. The title "the Father" occurs rarely in the Synoptists, and always with reference to the Son. In Paul only thrice (Rom. vi. 4; 1 Cor. viii. 6; Eph. ii. 18). Nowhere in Peter, James, Jude, or Revelation. Frequent in John's Gospel and Epistles, and in the latter, uniformly. 60
