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Please note: The order in which Calvin addresses the Books of the "catholic epistles" does not line up with their order we find in our Bibles. The order follows the estimated time line of their respective writing.

THE ARGUMENT

This Epistle is altogether worthy of the spirit of that disciple who,
above others, was loved by Christ, that he might exhibit him as a
friend to us. But it contains doctrines mixed with exhortations; for he
speaks of the eternal Deity of Christ, and at the same time of the
incomparable grace which he brought with him when he appeared in the
world, and generally of all his blessings; and he especially commends
and extols the inestimable grace of divine adoption.

On these truths he grounds his exhortations; and at one time he
admonishes us in general to lead a pious and holy life, and at another
time he expressly enjoins love. But he does none of these things in a
regular order; for he everywhere mixes teaching with exhortation. But
he particularly urges brotherly love: he also briefly touches on other
things, such as to beware of impostors, and similar things. But each
particular shall be noticed in its own place.
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CHAPTER 1
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1 John 1:1-2

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;

1. Quod erat ab initio, quod audivimus, quod vidimus oculis nostris,
quod intuiti sumus, quod manus nostrae contrectaverunt, de Sermone
vitae;

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)

2. Et vita manifesta est, et vidimus et testamur et annuntiamus vobis
vitam aeternam, quae erat apud Patrem, et manifesta est nobis.


He shows, first, that life has been exhibited to us in Christ; which,
as it is an incomparable good, ought to rouse and inflame all our
powers with a marvelous desire for it, and with the love of it. It is
said, indeed, in a few and plain words, that life is manifested; but if
we consider how miserable and horrible a condition death is, and also
what is the kingdom and the glory of immortality, we shall perceive
that there is something here more magnificent than what can be
expressed in any words.

Then the Apostle's object, in setting before us the vast good, yea, the
chief and only true happiness which God has conferred on us, in his own
Son, is to raise our thoughts above; but as the greatness of the
subject requires that the truth should be certain, and fully proved,
this is what is here much dwelt upon. For these words, What we have
seen, what we have heard, what we have looked on, serve to strengthen
our faith in the gospel. Nor does he, indeed, without reason, make so
many asseverations; for since our salvation depends on the gospel, its
certainty is in the highest degree necessary; and how difficult it is
for us to believe, every one of us knows too well by his own
experience. To believe is not lightly to form an opinion, or to assent
only to what is said, but a firm, undoubting conviction, so that we may
dare to subscribe to the truth as fully proved. It is for this reason
that the Apostle heaps together so many things in confirmation of the
gospel.

1 That which was from the beginning As the passage is abrupt and
involved, that the sense may be made clearer, the words may be thus
arranged; "We announce to you the word of life, which was from the
beginning and really testified to us in all manner of ways, that life
has been manifested in him;" or, if you prefer, the meaning may be thus
given, "What we announce to you respecting the word of life, has been
from the beginning, and has been openly shewed to us, that life was
manifested in him." But the words, That which was from the beginning,
refer doubtless to the divinity of Christ, for God manifested in the
flesh was not from the beginning; but he who always was life and the
eternal Word of God, appeared in the fullness of time as man. Again,
what follows as to the looking on and the handling of the hands, refers
to his human nature. But as the two natures constitute but one person,
and Christ is one, because he came forth from the Father that he might
put on our flesh, the Apostle rightly declares that he is the same, and
had been invisible, and afterwards became visible. [59]

Hereby the senseless cavil of Servetus is disproved, that the nature
and essence of Deity became one with the flesh, and that thus the Word
was transformed into flesh, because the life-giving Word was seen in
the flesh.

Let us then bear in mind, that this doctrine of the Gospel is here
declared, that he who in the flesh really proved himself to be the Son
of God, and was acknowledged to be the Son of God, was always God's
invisible Word, for he does not refer here to the beginning of the
world, but ascends much higher.

Which we have heard, which we have seen. It was not the hearing of a
report, to which little credit is usually given, but John means, that
he had faithfully learnt from his Master those things which he taught,
so that he alleged nothing thoughtlessly and rashly. And, doubtless, no
one is a fit teacher in the Church, who has not been the disciple of
the Son of God, and rightly instructed in his school, since his
authority alone ought to prevail.

When he says, we have seen with our eyes, it is no redundancy, but a
fuller expression for the sake of amplifying; nay, he was not satisfied
with seeing only, but added, which we have looked upon, and our hands
have handled By these words he shews that he taught nothing but what
had been really made known to him.

It may seem, however, that the evidence of the senses little availed on
the present subject, for the power of Christ could not be perceived by
the eyes nor felt by the hands. To this I answer, that the same thing
is said here as in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, "We have
seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father;" for
he was not known as the Son of God by the external form of his body,
but because he gave illustrious proofs of his Divine power, so that in
him shone forth the majesty of the Father, as in a living and distinct
image. As the words are in the plural number, and the subject equally
applies to all the apostles, I am disposed to include them, especially
as the authority of testimony is what is treated of.

But no less frivolous (as I have before said) than impudent is the
wickedness of Servetus, who urges these words to prove that the Word of
God became visible and capable of being handled; he either impiously
destroys or mingles together the twofold nature of Christ. It is,
therefore, a pure figment. Thus deifying the humanity of Christ, he
wholly takes away the reality of his human nature, at the same time
denying that Christ is for any other reason called the Son of God,
except that he was conceived of his mother by the power of the Holy
Spirit, and taking away his own subsistence in God. It hence follows
that he was neither God nor man, though he seems to form a confused
mass from both. But as the meaning of the Apostle is evident to us, let
us pass by that unprincipled man.

Of the Word of life The genitive here is used for an adjective,
vivifying, or life-giving; for in him, as it is said in the first
chapter of John's Gospel, was life. At the same time, this distinction
belongs to the Son of God on two accounts, because he has infused life
into all creatures, and because he now restores life to us, which had
perished, having been extinguished by the sin of Adam. Moreover, the
term Word may be explained in two ways, either of Christ, or of the
doctrine of the Gospel, for even by this is salvation brought to us.
But as its substance is Christ, and as it contains no other thing than
that he, who had been always with the Father, was at length manifested
to men, the first view appears to me the more simple and genuine.
Moreover, it appears more fully from the Gospel that the wisdom which
dwells in God is called the Word.

2 For (or, and) the life was manifested The copulative is explanatory,
as though he had said, "We testify of the vivifying Word, as life has
been manifested." The sense may at the same time be twofold, that
Christ, who is life and the fountain of life, has been manifested, or,
that life has been openly offered to us in Christ. The latter, indeed,
necessarily follows from the former. Yet as to the meaning, the two
things differ, as cause and effect. When he repeats, We shew, or
announce eternal life, he speaks, I have no doubt, of the effect, even
that he announces that life is obtained for us in Christ.

We hence learn, that when Christ is preached to us, the kingdom of
heaven is opened to us, so that being raised from death we may live the
life of God.

Which was with the Father. This is true, not only from the time when
the world was formed, but also from eternity, for he was always God,
the fountain of life; and the power and the faculty of vivifying was
possessed by his eternal wisdom: but he did not actually exercise it
before the creation of the world, and from the time when God began to
exhibit the Word, that power which before was hid, diffused itself over
all created things. Some manifestation had already been made; the
Apostle had another thing in view, that is, that life was then at
length manifested in Christ, when he in our flesh completed the work of
redemption. For though the fathers were even under the law associates
and partakers of the same life, yet we know that they were shut up
under the hope that was to be revealed. It was necessary for them to
seek life from the death and resurrection of Christ; but the event was
not only far remote from their eyes, but also hid from their minds.
They depended, then, on the hope of revelation, which at length in due
time followed. They could not, indeed, have obtained life, except it
was in some way manifested to them; but the difference between us and
them is, that we hold him already revealed as it were in our hands,
whom they sought obscurely promised to them in types.

But the object of the Apostle is, to remove the idea of novelty, which
might have lessened the dignity of the Gospel; he therefore says, that
life had not now at length began to be, though it had but lately
appeared, for it was always with the Father.
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[59] It is more consistent with the passage to take "from the
beginning" here as from the beginning of the Gospel, from the beginning
of the ministry of our Savior, because what had been from the beginning
was what the apostles had heard and seen. That another view has been
taken of these words has been owing to an over-anxiety on the part of
many, especially of the Fathers, to establish the divinity of our
Savior; but this is what is sufficiently evident from the second verse.
See ch. 2:7, 24. -- Ed.