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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 John 1:2 - 1:2
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
As if the apostle had said, "Christ Jesus, that eternal life which was with the Father from eternity, as being his eternal Son, was in the fulness of time manifested in the flesh, and we his apostles saw him in his assumed human nature, and do now testify, publish, and declare him unto you; he was pleased to subject himself to the notice of our senses; and what we have heard, seen, and felt, and has been manifested unto us, that we do with all integrity declare and manifest unto others."
Note here, 1. The title given to Christ, he is life, eternal life, he is so in himself, and he is the fountain of life to us; we now live by him a life of justification; and we hope to live with him a life of glorification.
Note, 2. This eternal life was from all eternity with the Father, and distinct from him; he was with the Father, not as an instrument but as an agent, in making of the world, Heb_1:2-3 And as his Father's delight, Pro_8:31.
Note, 3. This eternal life which from the beginning was with the Father, in the fulness of time was manifested to the sons of men; manifested, not as he was to the prophets by faith, so they rejoiced to see him, John 8; nor in the similtude and likeness of flesh, so he sometimes manifested himself to the patriarchs, Genesis 18; but manifested in the flesh to his apostles, who eat and drank, discoursed and conversed with him.
Note, 4. That what the apostles saw of Christ they made manifest to others; they had themselves sufficient satisfaction of the verity of Christ's human nature, and of the certainty of his doctrine, and therefore with mighty assurance they declare it unto others, and the reason of that declaration follows in the next verse.