Paragraph 4:17–18

Read 4:17–18 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: These verses concentrate on another theme from 4:12, namely God’s love being complete in us.

4:17a

In this way: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different interpretations as to what the Greek pronoun translated this refers to here:

(1) Probably it points forward to the second clause of the verse, “we have confidence…” (Good News Translation, The Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) Some of these translations therefore restructure the sentence.

(2) Some think the pronoun refers back to the idea of loving and living in God in 4:16. (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision) later editions)

love has been perfected among us: (Meaning) This is the same phrase as in 4:12c, except that a different preposition “among” is used here instead of “in.” See the note on 4:12c.

4:17b

so that: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different interpretations of how the first and second clauses of this verse fit together:

(1) Probably the first clause, “(God’s) love becomes complete in us” is explained by the second clause, “by our having confidence on the day of judgment.” (The Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) John means that when we are allowing God to love us and to love others through us as he wants to, then we will not be afraid of God, even on the day of judgment.

(2) Some think that the second clause gives the purpose of the first clause. (New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation)

(3) Some think that the second clause gives the result of the first clause.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

4:17c

the day of judgment: (Biblical Term) This refers to the day when God will judge everyone, including believers.

4:17d

for: (Logical Relationship) This gives the reason why we will have confidence on the day of judgment. In translation it may be necessary to make clear which clauses it links. See Good News Translation and the Display.

in this world: (Multiple Senses) Here John uses this phrase to refer to our life on earth.

we are just like Him: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of what this refers to, although it may not be necessary to make it explicit in translation:

(1) It probably refers to God living in us and us living in God, just as God and Christ were always in one another.

(2) It may refer to us being in a relationship of perfect love with God, as Christ was.

Him: (Pronoun Reference) This refers to Christ.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.