of all that he affirmed : and he urges upon the whole Christian Church the reception of his testimony, by representing the incalculable benefits which all who believed it would receive.
That we may enter fully into the declarations before 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 life3 :" and it was from eternity hid " with the Father b," and at last, " at the beginning" of the Gospel dispensation0, was manifested to the Apostles d, who had every possible means of examining and ascertaining the truth of ite ; 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 f. 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^," generally, though not always in the Epistles of St. John, import, " from the beginning of the Gospel dis- pensation," 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*1:" He also is called " The Life1" and what seems more particularly to determine the point is, that he is in this very epistle called, " Eternal Life :" " This is the true God, and Eternal LifeV He too was from eternity " with the Father1," and in due time " was manifest in the flesh m."
a Phil. ii. 16. b Eph. iii. 9.
c air apyfie must of necessity be so understood in other parts of this epistle ; ii. 7, 24. and iii. II.
d Rom. xvi. 25, 26.
e " 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.
f Mark xvi. 16. el John ii. 13, 14. h Rev. xix. 13.
i John xi. 25. k 1 John v. 20. ' John i. 18.
,n 1 Tim. iii. 16.