1 John 1:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Presenting the greatness of our mystery in its comparative antiquity, the apostle adds that it is also Life. It is Life not measured by a term of time, but self-existent, as ever existing with the Father.

So also it is said in the Gospel: “And the Word was with God” (Jn 1:1).

“The Word was” signifies not temporal existence, but the self-existent being of the known reality, the beginning and foundation of all that has received being. Without Him, what has come into being could not have come into being.

Although it is said of every created being that it exists, for example, an angel exists, heaven exists, the sun exists, and so forth, only the Son properly and perfectly exists. Through participation in Him, all things come into being.

Therefore Paul also says: “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Whoever has first heard of this from the elementary teaching passes on to the vision of Him, not bodily but intellectually, and not with bodily eyes but with noetic eyes.

“Handled” is said of the Word of Life, who said, “I am the life” (Jn 14:6). Perhaps it is also said of the Word who is in the beginning, because we heard from the Law and the prophets that He would come.

When He came openly with flesh, we saw Him and handled Him. For God, as He is in Himself, no one has ever seen (Jn 1:18).

We joined ourselves to the Word who appeared not lightly, but, as has been said, after handling. That is, after searching in the Law and the prophets, we believed in the Word who appeared in the flesh.

We saw and handled not what He was, for “who shall declare His generation?” (Is 53:8), but what He became. We handled Him both by intellectual contact and also by sensory contact, as Thomas did after the Resurrection.

For He was one and undivided, one and the same: visible and invisible, circumscribed and uncircumscribed, untouchable and tangible, speaking as man and working wonders as God.

Thus we speak of the Word because of the most intimate union of God with the flesh.

“What we beheld and what our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life.” “Beheld” means the same as saw with our own eyes and marveled. For θεάσασθαι comes from θαυμάζειν and means “to look with wonder.”

“Handled” means the same as investigated. The connection of the discourse is this: “That which was from the beginning, which we heard, and saw, and beheld with our eyes, and which our hands handled concerning the Word of Life.”

When the apostle says, “that which we saw with our eyes,” he indicates the appearing of the Lord in the flesh.

“And our hands handled concerning the Word of Life”: he means not only His flesh, but also the powers of the same Son. As a ray of the sun penetrates to the farthest place, so this ray, coming in the flesh, became tangible to the disciples.

Thus it is handed down in the traditions that John, touching the outer covering of the body itself, lowered his hand into the depth. The firmness of the body in no way resisted, but yielded place to the disciple’s hand.

Therefore he says: “And our hands handled concerning the Word of Life,” so that He who came in the flesh became tangible.

So also “the Life was manifested.” For in the Gospel the apostle says in the same way: “What came to be in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

These eyewitnesses unanimously preached to us: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and which our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life.

“For the Life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and proclaim to you that eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you,” and so forth (1 Jn 1:1-3).

And again: “We made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by following cleverly devised fables, but as eyewitnesses of His majesty.

“For He received honor and glory from God the Father when such a voice came to Him from the majestic glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

“And we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:16-18; Mt 17:5; Mk 9:7).

These eyewitnesses and trustworthy witnesses of the truth did not hesitate to confirm it not only by word, miracles, and various signs, but also by their blood, their various sufferings, and their death.

“This saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance” (1 Tim 1:15). It was preached unanimously not by one, not by two, not by three, but by many eyewitnesses.

They not only preached it, but confirmed it by signs and miracles, and did not spare their blood and souls.

Reflect on this, brother. Be instructed in this, stand in this, be courageous, and be strengthened. Stop the mouths of blasphemers and godless men, of whom not a few are already appearing.

Pray that, though we have not seen God manifested in the flesh for our sake, we may love Him with all our heart.

And “though now we do not see Him, yet believing in Him, may we rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving at last the salvation of our souls through our faith” (1 Pet. 1:8-9). Be saved.

"That which was from the beginning," that is, we proclaim what was from the beginning. What is this that was from the beginning? The Apostle himself explains it further: concerning the Word of life, or the Life-giving Word, Jesus Christ. John says of God the Word: "that which was from the beginning." This means the same as what is said in John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1:1).

In this way the eternity of Jesus Christ as true God is depicted. In the beginning, or from the beginning, when the world had not yet received its being, and when all creatures of the visible and invisible world began to exist, God the Word already was. That is, He exists from eternity, without a beginning of being.

Before the beginning of time and before the creation of all creatures, there was no beginning and there was no time. There was only the tri-hypostatic God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore the words of the Apostle and Evangelist, "that which was from the beginning" and "in the beginning was," denote not passing time, but beginningless, constant, and unchanging eternity.

Saint John does not show his name at the beginning of the epistle, perhaps because he wrote the epistle as though in the name of the Apostles. They were eyewitnesses of all that he speaks about as the chief subject of his epistle. He says: "that which we heard, which we saw with our eyes," that is, what we, the disciples and Apostles of Jesus Christ, heard and saw.

About what does John bear witness in the name of the Apostles? He says: "that which was from the beginning, which we heard, which we saw with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life." It is as though the Theologian writes thus. We, the Apostles, proclaim God the Word, Who was from eternity. We listened to Him when, having assumed human nature, He spoke to us with human lips. We saw Him with our eyes, beheld Him attentively, and handled Him with our hands. We proclaim God the Word, the source and giver of life.

The Apostle's words are directed toward the exposure of false teachers who taught impiously about the person of Jesus Christ. Some of them, the Gnostics, denied the Godhead of Jesus. Others, the Docetists, denied His humanity. By saying of Jesus Christ, "that which was from the beginning," or by calling Him eternal, and further, the Word of life or source of life, John depicts the divine majesty of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. By the words "which we heard, which we saw with our eyes," he presents himself and the other Apostles as eyewitnesses and trustworthy witnesses of the true manifestation of the Son of God on earth. They witnessed His service for the salvation of the human race in the human nature He had assumed.

"Which we heard." God the Word, Who is from the beginning, or from eternity, in the bosom of the Father, was inaccessible to men clothed in perishable flesh, since He dwells in unapproachable light. Yet we heard Him when the eternal, incomprehensible Word became flesh (Jn 1:14).

"Which we saw with our eyes." God the Word, the Only-begotten Son of God, is invisible to the bodily eyes of men according to His divinity. Yet we saw Him, not through others, but with our own eyes. We saw Him as the God-man. We saw His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father (Jn 1:14).

"Which we beheld, and our hands handled." God the Word, Who assumed human nature, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we heard and saw not for an instant, not fleetingly or briefly. We beheld Him attentively throughout His earthly service for the salvation of the human race. And we not only heard and saw Him, for eyes and hearing can sometimes be deceived by apparitions. We handled Him with our own hands. We touched Him. Some of us reclined upon His breast and kissed Him.

The beloved disciple of Jesus reclined on His breast (Jn 13:23). Others also could touch Him when they journeyed with Him, surrounded Him during His discourses to those listening around Him, and reclined with Him at table. Thomas, and perhaps other Apostles as well, were assured through touch and handling of the reality of the Lord's Resurrection. The Lord Himself summoned His disciples to this, saying: "Handle Me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have" (Lk 24:39; cf. Jn 20:27).

By kissing, too, the disciples often touched their Lord. At that time there was a custom that disciples, when leaving a teacher or returning to him, kissed him. We see this from the example of the faithless disciple who betrayed his Teacher and Lord with a kiss (Mt 26:49). This custom passed also to the Christians of the primitive Church.

"Concerning the Word of life," the Word of life, we proclaim. Jesus Christ is called the Word of life because, as God, He is self-existent Life (Ezek 33:11; Mt 16:16; Jn 1:4; Jn 11:25). He Himself testified concerning Himself: "As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself" (Jn 5:26). "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (Jn 14:6). He gives life to all creatures (Jn 1:3), and to men He gives spiritual life (Jn 1:4; Eph 2:5) and eternal life (Jn 3:26; Jn 5:24).

By “the Word of Life” one cannot at all understand the teaching about Christ (Phil 2:16), but precisely God the Word. The apostle immediately says that this eternal Life was with the Father and was manifested to us (1 Jn 1:2).

In the Gospel he affirms that God the Word was from the beginning, and that in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (Jn 1:1-4).

The use of the same words, λόγος, ζωὴ, ἦν πρὸς, further confirms this kinship of concepts and their relation to one subject.

“Our hands handled,” ἐψηλάφησαν. Besides the testimony of hearing and sight, the Apostle John presents the testimony of another very important sense, touch, in order to show almost the impossibility of error.

When the other apostles told the Apostle Thomas that they had seen the risen Lord (Jn 20:25) and had heard His greeting (Jn 20:19-20), he did not believe their testimony. He wanted to be assured of the truth of their words only by touch.

By touching Jesus Christ more than once, the apostles could be convinced that the One speaking and living with them was not a phantom, as the Docetists claimed.

The Evangelist John, who reclined on the Lord’s breast, could be still more strongly convinced that the Word of Life was a real man.

Jesus Christ Himself, for the greater assurance of His disciples, requires them to handle Him: ψηλαφήσατε (Lk 24:39).

The Son of God is called the Word of life here, as in the Gospel, because in Him, as eternal, “in the beginning” and “from the beginning,” there is self-existent life. This life gives being to every creature. In Him is the source of life for all that lives. Thus the Lord Himself says of Himself that He has life in Himself, and therefore self-existent life (Jn 5:26, 21). He calls Himself the Life (Jn 10:25; Jn 14:6). For this reason the Apostle later calls Him eternal life (verse 2), that is, self-existent life and the source of all life (cf. the note on Jn 1:4).

“From the beginning” is the same as “in the beginning” in the Gospel of John. By this word, both here and in the Gospel, the eternity of the Son of God is expressed or portrayed. The meaning is that when the world only began to be ordered, the Word already was. Thus the Word existed before the ordering of the world. If He existed before the ordering of the world, or before the world, then He existed before time. The beginning of the world is also the beginning of time. What existed before time existed from eternity. Therefore the being of the Word is eternal and without beginning. What has no beginning of its being can also have no end. Thus the being of the Word is, in the full sense, eternal, without beginning, and without end.

The Word “was” from the beginning. He did not come into being, nor receive being, and so He does not begin the series of created things. He already was and existed when the creation of the world began (see the note on Jn 1:1). “The Word was” does not signify temporal existence, but the self-existent being of the subject in question, the beginning and foundation of all that received being. Without Him, the latter could not have come into being (Theophylact).

Thus the whole expression with which the First Epistle of John begins, when compared with the beginning of his Gospel, means this: we declare to you the eternal Word of God, the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“We heard, saw,” and so forth. “We” means the Apostles, the other disciples of Christ, and all believers then living, and precisely believers alone, according to the measure of faith. As the whole Gospel history of Christ the Son of God shows, unbelief and blindness, though seeing, did not see, and though hearing, did not hear. Seeing His works and hearing His teaching, it did not grasp or understand them. It was as if it had neither seen nor heard, but was deaf and blind. The Savior Himself spoke in this way about unbelievers (cf. Mt 13:13-15), using the words of the prophet Isaiah (Is 6:8-9).

But the Apostles, the disciples of Christ, and all believers heard and saw everything not only with bodily eyes and ears, but also with the inward hearing and eye of faith. Therefore they heard and saw with understanding and comprehension. This means they are entirely trustworthy witnesses of all that they saw and heard. They understand what was seen and heard, and therefore both the outward senses and understanding are active in them. “They heard and saw not bodily only, but intelligently, and not with bodily eyes, but with spiritual ones. For He was one and undivided, one and the same: visible and invisible, comprehended and incomprehensible, untouchable and handled, speaking as man and working wonders as God” (Theophylact).

Moreover, the Apostles hear and see not through the testimony of others, but directly for themselves. Therefore their testimony is in every respect unchangeable.

“We heard.” God the Word, Who from the beginning and from eternity exists in the bosom of the Father and dwells in unapproachable light, was inaccessible to men clothed in corruptible flesh. Yet we heard Him when He, eternal and incomprehensible, appeared in the flesh (Jn 1:14) and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth.

“We saw with our eyes.” This is an emphatic expression. We saw not through others, but ourselves, with our own eyes. We saw not only with the inward eyes of faith, or by spiritual contemplation, and not in a vision or a dream, as the ancient prophets and holy men did. We saw with ordinary bodily eyes, enlightened by intelligent understanding.

“We looked upon and handled.” God the Word, Who assumed human nature, we not only heard and saw, but, contemplating Him, we looked upon Him. That is, we did not see or hear Him only for an instant or briefly, as the prophets saw and heard Him in vision or contemplation. We looked upon Him, or contemplated Him, in detail and attentively, often, much, and for a long time, throughout His whole earthly ministry to the human race.

And we not only heard, saw, and looked upon Him intently and at length, but we handled Him with our own hands. Hearing and sight can sometimes deceive, though this is incredible when very many see and hear very often or continually. Yet we not only saw, heard, and looked upon Him, but handled Him with our own hands.

Thus His beloved disciple reclined upon His breast. Thomas, and perhaps other disciples, were assured of the reality of His Resurrection through touching and handling Him, when He Himself invited them to do so. Through touch and the kiss, the disciples often handled Him when they returned to Him and when they left Him, since it was customary in such cases to kiss Him. No doubt very many touched Him, and in doing so handled Him, when they traveled with Him, surrounded Him during His discourses, sometimes pressed upon Him, and the like.

Especially His closest disciples remained constantly with Him. They heard, saw, looked upon, and handled Him. All this unchangeably and incontestably bears witness to the truth of the manifestation in the flesh of God the Word, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is declared by the Apostles, in the person of John, to all believers and unbelievers.

“We,” says St. John the Theologian in the name of all the Apostles, “declare to you concerning the Word of life, which was from the beginning, which we heard, which we saw,” and so forth. If it is said of the Word of life that He was from the beginning, that He existed from the first, then the truth of the pre-eternal being of the Word of life, the Son of God, is confessed. This expression is equivalent to the opening words of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word.”

In both places the thought is given that the Son of God had being before the world, and that He is without beginning. “He is before all things” (Col 1:17). As the Son of God, equal in Godhead to God the Father, He had glory with Him before the world existed (Jn 17:5). He did not come forth from the Father in time, as other creatures did. Rather, He “was,” that is, He was always present with the Father as His consubstantial Son.

By the further words, “which we heard, which we saw, which we looked upon, and our hands handled,” the dogma of the Incarnation of the Word of life, the Son of God, is confessed. He Who existed before the ages, and by His spiritual nature was invisible, appeared in time in such a state that He became an object of sensible apprehension. Such was the state of His Incarnation.

At a certain time He took the form of man, concealing under this form the glory of His Godhead. Living among men, in outward appearance and external condition He differed in nothing from other mortals. All could hear His words, see His works and miracles with their own eyes, and touch Him with their hands.

His constant companions, the Apostles, were especially deemed worthy of this closeness to Him. Yet they differed from most of the other eyewitnesses and hearers of Christ in this way: through sensible perception they were brought to faith in Christ as the God-man and Redeemer, and were confirmed in it.

Thus, contemplating His works, in which His divine power was manifested, they saw in them His glory, “the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father” (Jn 1:14). They were brought to this conviction especially by contemplating the Lord’s Transfiguration, His Resurrection, and His Ascension into heaven.

Listening to His teaching, they were convinced that they heard this teaching not from the mouth of a simple teacher like the Jewish rabbis, nor even from a prophet. They heard it from Him Who is not only the Teacher of truth, but is Himself self-existent Truth. He is the Lord of the prophets, the only Teacher, in comparison with Whom other teachers can be called teachers only in an improper sense.

Touching Him with lips and hands, the Apostles felt that they touched the greatest holiness. Therefore they touched Him with the reverence due to it. Thus one of them, touching His wounds with his hands to be assured of the truth of His Resurrection, said, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).

In calling Christ the Son of God the Word, the Apostle John has in view partly His pre-eternal being and partly the Incarnation. According to His pre-eternal being, the Word, or Son of God, has a relation to God the Father like the relation of a human word to the mind.

As our word is begotten from our mind or thought without passion and spiritually, so the Son of God is begotten from the Father without passion. As our thought is revealed or expressed in our word, so the Son of God, in His essence and perfections, is the most exact image of God the Father. Therefore He is called the radiance of His glory and the image, or imprint, of His essence (Heb 1:1, 3).

With regard to the Incarnation of the Son of God, His name as the Word indicates that God the Father, Who spoke many times to men through the prophets, finally spoke through the Son. For this the Son became incarnate, and so fully revealed the will of His Father that those who saw the Son, according to His own words, saw the Father (Jn 14:9).

The Apostle calls the Son of God not simply the Word, but “the Word of life.” St. John the Theologian says something similar of the Word in his Gospel: “In Him was life.” In both cases we are given to understand that the Son of God is self-existent life. In this sense He Himself calls Himself the Life (Jn 11:25; Jn 14:6). He Himself says of Himself, “As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself” (Jn 5:26). Being self-existent Life, He is the source of the life of all creatures, physical, spiritual, and eternal.

In the further words, verse 2 forms an introductory sentence that interrupts the connection between verse 1 and verse 3. It explains how it could happen that the Word of life, invisible in Himself, untouchable, and spiritual, could be seen, heard, and handled by the Apostles. This happened because this Life “was manifested.” He Who is invisible according to the divine essence became man, and as man became visible.

“And we,” the Apostle continues, “saw and bear witness, and declare to you the eternal Life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.” The eternal Life according to the divine nature. Existing eternally in the bosom of God the Father, the Son of God came down to earth in order to make those condemned to eternal perdition partakers of His eternally blessed life. The Apostles were called to bear witness and proclaim to men this mercy toward us.

Blessed are the Apostles, who directly saw, heard, and handled that to which they bore witness and which they told to others. These others were deprived of this blessedness, since they were not eyewitnesses of the Word of life. Yet they should not consider this deprivation irremediable for themselves.

Communion with the Apostles, as is clear from the third verse, which continues the first, is enough to make up this deprivation. Through the Apostles, those who did not directly see Christ can enter into the close communion with the incarnate Word of life which the Apostles were granted. They enter not only into communion with Him, the Son of God, but also with His Father, just as the Apostles, in the person of Christ, had close communion with the Father.

“Our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Communion with the Father is possible for everyone, according to the promise of Christ, through keeping His commandments and loving Him. “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him” (Jn 14:21). “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him. We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (Jn 14:23).

The examined reading, verses 1-7, is read only on the day of commemoration of the Apostle Thomas, because the opening words of the reading, concerning the Apostles who handled Christ with their hands, have special relation to this Apostle.

Indeed, the words by which he affirms “that which was from the beginning” mean the same as what he says elsewhere: “I am He who is” (Ex 3:14).

One may say that individual creatures are something: an angel exists, the sun exists, heaven exists. The Savior alone is wholly He who is, by participation in whom all things come into existence.

One may also say this: concerning Him who was from the beginning, we heard in the Law and from the prophets that He would come.

When He came, we truly saw Him with our eyes in the flesh. By investigating with great reverence the Scripture that bears witness to Him, we believed in the Word of Life.