unto us. Ver. 3, in order to resume the broken sentence of ver. 1, repeats in a condensed form two of the clauses in that verse, that which we have seen and heard, and furnishes the governing verb, we declare. Thus the simple sentence, divested of parenthesis and resumptive words would be, We declare unto you that which was from the beginning, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the Word of Life.
That which (8). It is disputed whether John uses this in a personal sense as equivalent to He whom, or in its strictly neut- er sense as meaning something 7elateng to the person and reve- lation of Christ. On the whole, the zrepé, concerning (A. V., of ), seems to be against the personal sense. The successive clauses, that which was from the beginning, etc., express, not the Eternal Word Himself, but something relating to or predi- cated concerning (wept) Him. The indefinite that whzch, is ap- proximately defined by these clauses; that about the Word of Life which was from the beginning, that which appealed to sight, to hearing, to touch.* Strictly, it is true, the rep is ap- propriate only with we have heard, but it is used with the other clauses in a wide and loose sense (compare John xvi. 8). “The subject is not merely a message, but all that had been made clear through manifold experience concerning it” (Westcott).
Was (jv). Not éyéveto, came into beg. See on Johni. 3; vii. 84; viii. 58. It was already existing when the succession of life began.
From the beginning (a7 apy7js). The phrase occurs twice in the Gospel (vill. 44; xv. 27); nine times in the First Epis- tle, and twice in the Second. It is used both absolutely (iii. 8 ; ii. 18, 14), and relatwely (John xv. 27; 1 John ii. 24). It is here contrasted with “cn the beginning” (John i. 1). The difference is that by the words “én the beginning,” the writer
* This is the view of Alford and Westcott. Ebrard and Huther maintain the personal sense.