1 John 4:14 - Exposition

And we have beheld, and do bear witness. The emphatic ἡμεῖς clearly means "we apostles;" and "beheld" τεθέαμεθα implies contemplation with bodily eyes, as in 1 John 4:12 . The invisible God can be only "invisibly seen" by the pure heart. But the incarnate Son has been visibly contemplated; and to bear witness of this fact was the very office of an apostle ( John 15:27 ; Acts 1:8 ). The language of this verse, as of 1 John 1:1 , 1 John 1:3 , would be strained and rather unreal in one who had not seen the Christ in the flesh. Note that σωτῆρα has no article, and is not in mere apposition, but is a second predicate: "The Father hath sent [see on 1 John 1:10 ] the Son as Saviour," i.e., to be such. "The world," as commonly in St. John's writings, is specially the unregenerate among the human race.