1 John 2

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek teknia ('little children') is a term of intimate affection, not condescension, reflecting the elder's pastoral relationship with the community. The word parakletos ('advocate, helper, one called alongside') is the same term Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit in John 14:16. Here it describes Christ's ongoing intercessory role before the Father. The adjective dikaion ('righteous') qualifies Christ as the perfect advocate — his righteousness is the ground of his intercession.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek hilasmos ('atoning sacrifice, propitiation, expiation') carries both the sense of turning away wrath (propitiation) and covering sin (expiation). The word echoes the Hebrew kapporet (mercy seat) and the Day of Atonement ritual of Leviticus 16. The scope — 'the whole world' (holou tou kosmou) — extends the atonement beyond the believing community, a remarkable universalizing statement.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Leviticus 16. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. John uses two different tenses of ginoskein ('to know'): the present ginoskomen ('we know' — ongoing awareness) and the perfect egnokamen ('we have come to know' — completed action with present results). True knowledge of God is not abstract or mystical but is verified by obedience. This epistemological test recurs throughout the letter.

Translator Notes

1. John's blunt designation — pseustes ('liar') — is characteristic of the letter's stark moral categories. The claim to know God while disobeying him is not merely mistaken but constitutes a lie. 'The truth is not in him' treats truth as an indwelling reality, not merely a correct proposition.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase 'the love of God' (he agape tou theou) is ambiguous in Greek — it could mean God's love for us, our love for God, or the kind of love that comes from God. The context suggests all three dimensions. The verb teteleiōtai ('has been made complete, perfected') is a perfect passive, indicating a divine work brought to completion in the obedient believer.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek peripatein ('to walk') is the standard metaphor for conducting one's life, corresponding to the Hebrew halak. 'As he walked' (kathōs ekeinos periepatēsen) refers to Jesus's earthly life as the model for Christian conduct. The verb opheilei ('ought, is obligated') expresses moral necessity, not mere suggestion.

Translator Notes

1. The SBLGNT reads agapetoi ('beloved') rather than the KJV's 'brethren.' The 'old commandment from the beginning' likely refers to the love command that the community received when they first heard the gospel (cf. John 13:34). The paradox of old and new is resolved in the next verse.

Translator Notes

1. The commandment is both old (rooted in the Torah's love command, Leviticus 19:18) and new (realized in Christ and the believing community). The present tense paragetai ('is passing away') and phainei ('is shining') indicate an eschatological transition already underway — the new age has begun but the old has not yet fully departed. This 'already but not yet' tension characterizes Johannine eschatology.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Leviticus 19:18 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Translator Notes

1. The test is relational: hatred of a fellow believer (adelphon, 'brother') invalidates any claim to spiritual enlightenment. The phrase heōs arti ('even now, until this moment') suggests someone who has never actually moved from darkness to light, despite their claim.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek skandalon ('cause of stumbling, trap, offense') could mean either that the loving person does not stumble, or that the loving person does not cause others to stumble. Both senses may be intended — love both secures the believer and removes obstacles for others.

Translator Notes

1. The threefold description — being in darkness, walking in darkness, not knowing one's direction — forms a devastating portrait of spiritual blindness. The verb etyflōsen ('has blinded') is aorist, suggesting a decisive event: hatred did not merely dim but extinguished sight. The imagery echoes John 12:35.

Translator Notes

1. The address teknia ('little children') encompasses the whole community. The perfect passive apheōntai ('have been forgiven') indicates a completed and enduring reality. Forgiveness comes 'on account of his name' — that is, through the person and work of Christ, not through the community's merit.

Translator Notes

1. The 'fathers' (pateres) are characterized by deep, mature knowledge of Christ, 'him who is from the beginning.' The 'young men' (neaniskoi) are characterized by victory over 'the evil one' (ton poneron) — likely Satan. The perfect tenses (egnōkate, nenikēkate) indicate accomplished realities that continue in force.

Translator Notes

1. The shift from graphō ('I am writing') to egrapsa ('I have written') may indicate a second pass through the same groups, or an epistolary aorist referring to the letter itself. The SBLGNT reads paidia ('children') for the first address here, a slightly different word than teknia in v. 12 but with similar meaning. The young men's strength is grounded in two realities: the indwelling word of God and their victory over the evil one.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek kosmos ('world') here does not mean the created order (which God loves, John 3:16) but the world-system organized in opposition to God — the values, priorities, and allegiances that compete with devotion to the Father. The prohibition is a present imperative with mē, forbidding an ongoing disposition.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The triad of worldly temptations has often been compared to the threefold temptation in Genesis 3:6 (good for food, a delight to the eyes, desired to make one wise) and the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11). The Greek epithymia ('desire, craving') is morally neutral in itself but here denotes disordered desire directed at flesh-gratification and visual acquisitiveness. The word alazoneia ('arrogance, boastfulness, pretension') refers to the vain confidence that comes from material security (bios here meaning 'livelihood, possessions' rather than mere 'life').
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Genesis 3:6. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.

Translator Notes

1. The present tense paragetai ('is passing away') conveys the world's transience as an ongoing reality, not merely a future event. The contrast between the passing world and the one who 'remains forever' (menei eis ton aiōna) echoes the Johannine theme of abiding. Doing the will of God is not legalistic compliance but alignment with God's eternal purposes.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase eschatē hōra ('last hour') without the article suggests a qualitative description of the present era rather than a precise chronological claim. John's innovation is to pluralize 'antichrist' (antichristoi polloi) — the expected single eschatological opponent has multiplied into many present figures. The word antichristos appears only in the Johannine Epistles (here, 2:22, 4:3, and 2 John 7) in the entire New Testament.

Translator Notes

1. This verse reveals the concrete historical situation behind the letter: a group has seceded from the community. John interprets their departure theologically — it was not a loss but a revealing. The contrary-to-fact conditional (ei ... ēsan ... memenēkeisan an) asserts that genuine belonging would have produced perseverance. Their leaving exposed what was always true.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek chrisma ('anointing') is etymologically related to Christos ('anointed one'). In the Old Testament, anointing was reserved for kings, priests, and occasionally prophets. John declares that all believers possess this anointing. The SBLGNT reading oidate pantes ('you all know') rather than oidate panta ('you know all things') emphasizes that every believer — not just leaders — has been given knowledge through the Spirit.

Translator Notes

1. John writes not to inform but to confirm — the community already possesses the truth through their anointing. The final clause establishes an absolute separation between truth and falsehood that will undergird his identification of the secessionists' teaching as lies.

Translator Notes

1. The definite article (ho pseustēs, 'the liar') elevates this beyond a general statement — this is the liar par excellence. The specific denial — that Jesus is the Christ — likely reflects a proto-Gnostic or Cerinthian position that separated the human Jesus from the divine Christ. John insists that denying the Son necessarily entails denying the Father, because the two are inseparable in the Johannine theological framework.

Translator Notes

1. The verb homologeōn ('confessing, acknowledging') is the counterpart to arnoumenos ('denying'). The relationship with the Father is mediated entirely through the Son — there is no access to the Father apart from the Son. This echoes Jesus's words in John 14:6-9. Some manuscripts omit the second clause; the SBLGNT includes it.

Translator Notes

1. The emphatic hymeis ('you') at the beginning contrasts the faithful community with the secessionists. 'From the beginning' (ap' archēs) refers to the original apostolic message they received. The logic is reciprocal: if the message remains in them, they remain in the Son and the Father. Abiding in the truth and abiding in God are inseparable.

Translator Notes

1. The promise (epangelia) of eternal life (tēn zōēn tēn aiōnion) is the content of remaining in the Father and Son. In Johannine theology, eternal life is not merely future but a present reality that begins with knowing God (John 17:3). The emphatic autos ('he himself') likely refers to Christ.

Translator Notes

1. The participle planōntōn ('those deceiving, leading astray') is present tense, indicating ongoing activity. The secessionists are not merely gone — they are actively attempting to draw the remaining community after them. The verb planein ('to lead astray, deceive') is the root of the English 'planet' (a wandering star) and captures the sense of being led off course.

Translator Notes

1. The statement that believers 'have no need for anyone to teach you' does not reject all teaching (John's letter is itself teaching) but asserts that the community possesses an internal criterion — the Spirit's anointing — by which to evaluate external claims. This echoes Jeremiah 31:34 ('they shall all know me') and Jesus's promise of the Spirit of truth in John 16:13. The final menete ('remain') is an imperative: continue abiding in him.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Jeremiah 31:34. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The term parrēsian ('confidence, boldness, freedom of speech') was a civic virtue in Greek culture — the right to speak openly before authority. Here it describes the believer's posture before Christ at his return. The word parousia ('coming, presence, arrival') is the standard early Christian term for the second coming of Christ. John shifts to the first person plural ('we may have') — he includes himself among those who will face this moment.

Translator Notes

1. The verb gegennētai ('has been born') is a perfect passive, indicating a divine act with enduring consequences — being born of God is not a human achievement but a divine begetting. The logic runs from God's character to the believer's conduct: because he is righteous, those born of him will practice righteousness. This sets up the major theme of chapter 3.