ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 John 1.1-2

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life 2. (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);

  1. that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ: 4. and these things we write, that our joy may be made full. (1 John 1:1-4, ASV)
WEB

1. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life 2. (and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);

  1. that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4. And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled. (1 John 1:1-4, WEB)
KJV

1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2. (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

  1. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:1-4, KJV)
YLT

1. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we did behold, and our hands did handle, concerning the Word of the Life 2. and the Life was manifested, and we have seen, and do testify, and declare to you the Life, the age-during, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us

  1. that which we have seen and heard declare we to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; 4. and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full. (1 John 1:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: The letter is formally anonymous. Early and unanimous tradition assigns it to John the apostle (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.5 and 3.16.8, c. AD 180), and its vocabulary and style are closely shared with the Fourth Gospel.
  • Audience: Churches in Roman Asia, addressed after a secession: "they went out from us, but they were not really of us" (1 John 2:19). The departing teachers denied that Jesus is the Christ (2:22) and that He has come in the flesh (4:2).
  • Location: Traditionally Ephesus, the center of the Johannine circle in Asia Minor.
  • Time period: c. AD 85-95, late in the apostolic period. The stated purpose is assurance: "these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Theological reading

The opening of the prologue, stacking sensory verbs against a denial of the incarnation.

Four verbs, escalating. Heard, seen with our eyes, beheld (etheasametha, gazed at), handled (epsēlaphēsan, felt with the hands). The last is the same verb the risen Jesus uses at Luke 24:39, "touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones." The order runs from the sense most easily mistaken to the one hardest to deny.

"What was from the beginning." Ho ēn ap' archēs, a neuter relative rather than a personal pronoun, which allows the phrase to cover both the message and the person. The Gospel's prologue opens with the same phrase, en archē (John 1:1), and the letter's readers would have heard the echo.

Verse 2, the parenthesis. "The life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us." Pros ton patera, with the Father, matches pros ton theon at John 1:1. Pre-existence is asserted in a relative clause, in passing, which is characteristic of how the New Testament states its highest claims.

Against what. The letter's opponents denied that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2). A prologue built out of touching and looking is a deliberate answer, and it is why the letter's Christology and its eyewitness claims cannot be separated.

See Historicity of Jesus and Logos Christology.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.