en_tn/1jn/01/01.md

# General Information:

The apostle John wrote this letter to believers. All instances of "you," "your," and "yours" include all believers and are plural. Here the words "we" and "us" refer to John and those who had been with Jesus. In verses 1-2 many pronouns like "that," "which," and "it" are used. They refer to "the Word of life" and "the eternal life." But, since these are names for Jesus, you can use pronouns that refer to a person like "who," "whom" or "he." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-you]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-exclusive]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-pronouns]])

# which we have heard

"which we have heard him teach"

# which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at

This is repeated for emphasis. Alternate translation: "which we ourselves have seen" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism]])

# the Word of life

"Jesus, the one who causes people to live forever"

# life

The word "life" throughout this letter refers to more than physical life. Here "life" refers to being alive spiritually. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy]])