(and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (c) Being sent by him: and that doctrine is correctly said to be shown, for no man could so much as have thought of it, if it had not been thus shown.
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.
Commenting on 1 John 1:1-4
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...