1 John 3

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek potapēn ('what kind of, what manner of') expresses astonishment — this is not merely great love but a foreign, unexpected quality of love. The phrase kai esmen ('and we are') is a parenthetical exclamation affirming that the title 'children of God' is not honorific but real. We render tekna ('children') rather than the KJV's 'sons' because the Greek tekna is gender-inclusive and emphasizes birth-relationship, while huioi ('sons') would emphasize legal status.

Translator Notes

1. The tension between 'now' (nyn) and 'not yet' (oupō) captures the eschatological position of believers — genuine identity now, full transformation later. The promise 'we will be like him' (homoioi autō esometha) is stunning in its scope and deliberately left undefined. The causal clause 'because we will see him as he is' suggests that the vision of Christ itself will be transformative — seeing and becoming are linked.

Translator Notes

1. The verb hagnizei ('purifies') is the same word used for ceremonial purification in the Septuagint (e.g., Numbers 19). The eschatological hope of transformation produces present ethical effort. The standard is nothing less than Christ's own purity (hagnos).
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Numbers 19 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The Greek anomia ('lawlessness') is not merely 'breaking a rule' but rebellion against God's ordering of reality. The equation 'sin is lawlessness' (hē hamartia estin hē anomia) defines sin in its deepest sense — not as individual infractions but as a fundamental posture of defiance against divine authority. The present participle poiōn ('practicing, doing') indicates habitual action.

Translator Notes

1. The verb ephanerōthē ('was manifested, appeared') refers to Christ's incarnation. The verb arē ('take away, remove, bear') echoes John the Baptist's declaration in John 1:29 ('the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'). Christ's sinlessness is the ground of his ability to remove sin — only one without sin can bear and remove the sin of others.

Translator Notes

1. The present tenses (menōn, hamartanei, hamartanōn) are crucial: John is describing habitual, ongoing action. 'No one who remains in him keeps on sinning' does not assert sinless perfection but rather that abiding in Christ and a settled pattern of sin are incompatible. This must be read alongside 1:8-2:2, where John acknowledges that believers do sin and need an advocate. The distinction is between occasional failure and characteristic lifestyle.

Translator Notes

1. The warning against deception (mēdeis planatō) suggests the secessionists may have taught that conduct does not reflect spiritual status. John insists on the opposite: practice reveals identity. The standard of comparison is Christ's own righteousness (kathōs ekeinos dikaios estin).

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ek tou diabolou ('of the devil, from the devil') indicates origin and allegiance, just as 'born of God' indicates divine origin. The devil's sinning 'from the beginning' (ap' archēs) echoes the serpent narrative of Genesis 3 and Jesus's words in John 8:44. The verb lysē ('destroy, undo, dissolve') means literally 'to loose' — Christ unties, dismantles, and dissolves the devil's works.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] References Genesis 3 — the TCR OT rendering of that text provides the Hebrew source and explains the translation decisions involved.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The word sperma ('seed') has been interpreted as God's word, the Holy Spirit, or the divine nature implanted in the believer. In context, it likely refers to the divine life-principle communicated through new birth. 'Cannot sin' (ou dynatai hamartanein) does not mean absolute impossibility but moral incompatibility — the new nature resists and is fundamentally opposed to habitual sin. The present infinitive hamartanein describes an ongoing pattern, not a single act.

Translator Notes

1. John establishes two tests by which spiritual parentage is revealed: practicing righteousness and loving fellow believers. The phrase 'children of the devil' (ta tekna tou diabolou) is stark — just as there are children of God by divine birth, there are children of the devil by spiritual allegiance. This dualistic framework serves pastoral urgency, not philosophical speculation.

Translator Notes

1. The word angelia ('message') appears only here and in 1:5 in the New Testament. In 1:5 the message was 'God is light'; here it is the command of mutual love. These two messages — God's nature and the resulting ethical obligation — frame the letter's argument. 'From the beginning' (ap' archēs) again refers to the original proclamation of the gospel.

Translator Notes

1. The verb esphaxen ('slaughtered, butchered') is a violent word often used for slaying sacrificial animals (it appears in Revelation for the slaughter of the Lamb, 5:6). John attributes Cain's act to his spiritual origin — he 'was of the evil one' (ek tou ponērou ēn). The rhetorical question and answer reveal that hatred of righteousness motivates murder. This interprets Genesis 4 through a spiritual-warfare lens.
2. [TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Genesis 4. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.

Translator Notes

1. The imperative mē thaumazete ('do not be surprised, stop marveling') echoes Jesus's words in John 15:18-19. The world's hatred of believers follows the same pattern as Cain's hatred of Abel — the righteous provoke hostility simply by being righteous. The conditional ei ('if') with the indicative misei suggests this is a real condition: the world does hate them.

Translator Notes

1. The perfect metabebēkamen ('we have passed') describes a completed transition with enduring results — believers have already crossed from the realm of death into the realm of life. Love for fellow believers is not the cause of this transition but the evidence of it. The stark alternative — remaining in death — is the default human condition apart from divine intervention.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek anthrōpoktonos ('murderer,' literally 'man-killer') is the same word used of the devil in John 8:44. John equates hatred with murder in its spiritual essence — the same move Jesus makes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-22). The logic is relentless: hatred = murder, and no murderer possesses eternal life.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase tēn psychēn autou ethēken ('he laid down his life') directly echoes Jesus's words in John 10:11, 15 and 15:13. The Greek psychē means 'life, soul, self.' Love is defined not by sentiment but by sacrifice. The obligation (opheilomen, 'we ought') extends the pattern of Christ's self-giving to all believers — this is the highest expression of the love command.

Translator Notes

1. The Greek splanchna ('inner organs, bowels, heart') was the seat of compassion in ancient thought, corresponding roughly to the modern 'heart.' The verb kleisē ('shuts, closes') is vivid — it pictures someone deliberately closing off the natural response of compassion. John moves from the grand principle (laying down one's life) to the mundane test (sharing material resources), suggesting that daily generosity is the realistic measure of love.

Translator Notes

1. The contrast between logō and glōssē ('word' and 'tongue/speech') on one side, and ergō and alētheia ('deed/action' and 'truth') on the other, establishes that genuine love is demonstrated through concrete acts. 'In truth' (en alētheia) adds the dimension of sincerity — the actions must be genuine, not performative.

Translator Notes

1. The verb peisomen ('we will persuade, reassure, set at rest') indicates the active process of calming a troubled conscience. Loving in deed and truth provides the believer with objective evidence of genuine faith, which in turn produces inner assurance before God.

Translator Notes

1. This is one of the most pastorally significant verses in the letter. The Greek kataginōskē ('condemns, accuses') describes the inner voice of self-accusation. The response is not to dismiss the heart's verdict but to appeal beyond it to God, who 'is greater' — his knowledge of our love and obedience is more comprehensive and more gracious than our own self-assessment. The verse offers comfort to the scrupulous, not license to the careless.

Translator Notes

1. The word parrēsian ('confidence, boldness, freedom of speech') reappears from 2:28. A clear conscience — not from self-deception but from genuine love in action — produces bold access to God. This confidence is not self-reliance but the fruit of a life aligned with God's commands.

Translator Notes

1. The connection between obedience and answered prayer echoes John 15:7 ('if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish'). The logic is not transactional — obedience does not earn answers — but relational: the obedient life is aligned with God's will, so its requests are naturally in harmony with his purposes.

Translator Notes

1. John distills all of God's commands into two inseparable requirements: faith in Christ and mutual love. The singular 'commandment' (entolē) encompasses both, suggesting they cannot be separated — faith without love, or love without faith, is incomplete. The aorist pisteusōmen ('believe') may point to the decisive act of faith, while the present agapōmen ('love') indicates ongoing practice.

Translator Notes

1. The mutual indwelling formula — 'remains in God, and God in that person' — is the hallmark of Johannine theology (cf. John 15:4-5). The Spirit is introduced for the first time in the letter as the means by which believers know God's presence. This sets up the discussion of testing the spirits in chapter 4. The verb edōken ('has given') is aorist, pointing to the definitive gift of the Spirit.