is picked up again here in these opening verses of 1 John. Standing in this direct chain of witnesses, the author of 1 John faithfully executes his role as a witness, even by writing this letter: “And we have beheld and testify that the Father sent his Son [to be] the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). John testifies to the Life that “appeared,” that he has seen the Life, and that his writing is his testimony “about the Word of Life” (περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς, v. 1f). The testimony about the
Page 53