(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 we have seen, and bear witness ...  By this, John refers to his gospel, to which, in a sense, this letter is an appendix.  His "witness" or "testimony" is incorporated in that which he wrote.  Again, "we" refers to the apostles.  Macknight paraphrased the words here thus: "We apostles who accompanied him during his abode on earth, etc."[12] Clemance also understood this whole verse as concerning Jesus Christ.  He wrote: "From what follows, there can be no question that the apostle here refers to the Lord Jesus Christ."[13] "Bear witness" means to proclaim, testify, or bear testimony, such words appearing no less than nineteen times in these epistles.  Thus, John's assault on error was a thundering reiteration of basic gospel truth.  As Hoon said: