the truth of all that he affirmed : and he urges upon the whole Christian Church the reception of his testi- mony, by representing the incalculable benefits which all who believed it would receive.
That we may enter fully into the declarations be- fore us, let us consider,
I. His testimony —
This may be understood as relating to the Gospel generally —
[The Gospel is certainly called " the word of life*:" and it was from eternity hid " with the Father''," and at last, "at the beginning" of the Gospel dispensation'^, was manifested to the Apostles'^, who had every possible means of examining and ascertaining the truth of it*; and who, in consequence of the fullest conviction in their own minds, " bare witness" to it as the means by which alone eternal life could be obtained^. This sense, I say, the words before us may very properly bear : and, inasmuch as the Gospel is elsewhere denominated "the word of life," (which Christ is not;) and the words *' from the beginning ^V' generally, though not always in the Epistles of St. John, import, " from the beginning of the Go- spel dispensation," it is by no means improbable that this may be the true sense of the passage.
On the other hand, his mode of expression is far less proper, if applied to the Gospel, than if applied personally to the Lord Jesus Christ ; to whom the generality of Commentators suppose the Apostle to refer. We therefore observe, that]
It may be understood also as relating personally to the Lord Jesus Christ —
[He, though not called " the word of life," is constantly known as " The Word^ :" He also is called " The Life*" :" and what seems more particularly to determine the point is, that he is in this vei*y Epistle called, " Eternal Life :" " This is the true God, and Eternal Life'." He too was from eternity " with the Father •'," and in due time "was manifest in the flesh V And it was his existence that was so determinately denied by
the
* Phil. ii. Id. '' Eph. iii. 9.
•^ <x.7r' «g%i?f must of necessity be so understood in other parts of this Epistle ; Ch. ii. 7, 24. & iii. U.
*" Rom. xvi. 25, 26.
' " Seeing and hearing" of the truth are applied to Christ, as well as to the Apostles. John iii. 1 1. with John viii. 26", 38.
' Mark xvi. 16. " In Ch. ii. 13, 14. ^ Rev. xix. 13.
'' John xi. 25. ' 1 John v. 20, '' John i. 18.
' 1 Tim. iii. 16.
202 ijoHN, 1. 1 — 3. [1176.
the heretics whom the Apostle wished to silence. He, too, not only liad lived in closest intimacy with his Disciples before his crucifixion, but, aftci his death i>nd resui-rection, had appeared to them for forty days ; and, when they doubted whether it were /«-, or whether it were not a spirit whom they saw, he said to them, *• Handle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have""." Now, if we consider the Apostle as speakinii personally of him, we can account for the vast variety of expressions tending to confirm the testimony which he bore respecting him : Whereas, if we apply the expres- sions to the Gospef, tlie terms are multiplied far beyond what the occasion called for, and the metaphors are stronger than he could with propriety use. Besides, if we understand him as speaking of Christ personally, there is a remarkable coinci- dence bet'.veen the beghniing of this Epistle of St. John, and the beginning of his Gospel. " In the beginning was the word:" and the word was " with God," and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. " In him was life ;" and " the life was the light of men." And " the word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us ; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father "."