1. “o riv, That which was ) John writes his Epistle [which is furnished with a most august exordium. — Y. g.] in a simple style, without inscription or conclusion. He does not appear to have sent it abroad, but to have communicated it in person to his hearers. See ver. 4, compared with 2 John, ver. 12, at the end. He says, That which was from the beginning , for He who was , ch. ii. 13 ; be- cause that which occurs again immediately. When speaking of God and Christ, the apostle frequently uses a common name for a proper one by the figure Antonomasia, as He Himself He , The Holy One , The True One , and periphrasis, as He who is from the beginning , etc. In the first clause he marks out Xoyov, the Word, Himself ; and then the things which they have heard respecting Him. — %v, was) even before He was manifested. He was with the Father : see ver. 2. — arf apyfg, from the beginning) The phrase an apyfis, from the begin- ning, of frequent occurrence in this epistle, is not to be taken in one and the same sense only, but to be explained from each passage which happens to be present : ch. ii. 7, 13, 14, iii. 8. In this first passage of the epistle, the phrase from the beginning, comprises the whole state of the Word of life, with the Father, ver. 2, which state preceded his manifestation. Compare the expression, In the begin- ning, John i. 1, note. Wherefore it is not an unsuitable flight of speech. — o ax^xoa/4si/, that ichich we have heard) Hearing, the sense by which we receive instruction, is put in the first place, sight follows
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