(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);
and bear witness: To "bear witness" means "to testify, to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something" (Wuest, I John 94). John wants his readers to know that he has a right to write these things. Jesus tells the apostles before His ascension, "ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). John had borne that testimony and is now exercising that right and responsibility as he writes this epistle.