The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 11

written, it can scarcely be questioned, by the author of the Fourth Gospel; written upon a specific theme, on a distinct method, with an avowed aim. Two preliminary stntements hereupon require distinct and emphatic notice here. 1. Thero is a declara- tion that the writer was one who lrnd been brouo-ht into close contact with the Person of the Lord Jesus, who had himself intimately known him, and who had associates in knowledge of and fellowship with him. 2. The internal evidence that the author of this Epistle is the same who wrote the Fourth Gospel is unusually clear. If any man could be known by his style of writing, snrely the Apostle John can bo by the way he ph1ys upon the w0rds" life,"" light,"" love." Note: Each apostle has his own key-words. Those of John are the ones just specified. 'l'hat of James is" worlr11." That of Paul is "faith." That of Peter is "hope." The main key-word of John hero is "life." In these introductory verses the apostle opens up his theme. The purport of his Epistle, yea, not only of his Epistle, but of his entire apostolic and ministerial life, is indicated here; it bas to do with" the Word of life," i.e. (cf. Westcott, in loc.) with th,! revehtion of life; may we not rather say with the Life and its self-revelation 1 1 In opening up this introductory paragraph we may trace the Life in five stages. I. 'l'HE LIFE ETERNALLY EXISTENT. "That which was from the beginning." With God there is no beginning. With him there shall be no end. But Divine revelation is worded to suit the exigencies of our limited apprehension. Finite minds make their own horizon of thought. Both back and front there are limits beyond which thought cannot go. 2 Hence we are mercifully allowed to think as of a beginning and as of an end. Not as if either were a "definite concrete fact." s Let us, then, go back to this "beginning." It is not said, either here or in John i., that the Life then (l-ylvfTo) came to be, but (iiv) was (cf. Prov. viii. 22-31; also Phil. ii. 6, 6,r&pxc.,11). 'l'bere is here no thought of life apart from a Living One-a personal Being. There can be none. 'fhat Living One was before all creation-its ground, its medium, its reason, its centre of support. In him all things hold together. This Life was "from the beginning." But note-- II. THE LIFE WAS MA1''IFESTED IN TIME_. "The Life was manifested" (ver. 2). From what afterwards follows, there can be no queslion that the apostle here refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. .And in thus declaring that he passed out of eternity into the limits of time, out of the invisible to the visible realm, he thus avows the mystery of the Incarnation. A mystery, without the assumption of which the words and life of the Christ can no more be accounted for than the stability of the framework of nature can be accounted for without the law of gravitation. The difficulties that gather r,mnd the doctrine would be insuperable if it were a mere marvel, leading nowhere and effecting nothing. But since it is the centre of a framework of doctrine around which the noblest hopes do gather, and the substratum of the renewed life of an en~ire living Church, the difficulties gather rather round its denial than around its assertion: The Life was •11w1nifested. The Divine Life can only be manifested to man by takmg the form of man. III. THE LIFE PERSONALLY VERIFmD. "We have 'seen,' 'tasted,' handled,'" etc. This should be compared with John i. 14, "We beheld his glory." 'l'he seeing of the glory was by no means coextensive with beholding the bodily form. "The eye only sees that which it brinas with it the power of seeing." Some saw Christ to vilify; otherd to adore him. ,?The pure in heart will see God." The Nathanaeis will see heaven opened, but the" wise and prudent" will miss the sight. IV. 'l'HE LIFE THUS VERIFIED IB .AUTHORITATIVELY DECLARED. "'l'hat which we have seen . . . declare we unto you." Here are, as Westcott admirably remarks, "in due sequence the ideas of personal experience, responsible affirmation, authoritative announcement." This latter is involved in the words," we declare." Some object to authority in matters of religion. But wby? Only ignorance can demur to it, so long as the authority is a lawful one. And since the authority here implied is that which comes from adequate knowledge on the matter in band, none ought to demur to it for a moment. 1 See Dr. Kennedy's a.dmirable work,' The Self-Revelation of Jesus Christ' (Isbister). • See Clernancc,'s 'Theories of Future Punishment,' eh. vi. 1 Wc,stcutt on' The Epistles of Si. John,' p. 3, col i. ou. 1. 1-10.J 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF ,JOHN. 7