SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 John 2000 – Page 2

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:8

4:8b

because: (Logical Relationship) This clause (God is love) gives the reason why we know that such a person does not know God. The most important thing about God is his love, so anyone who knows him will certainly show some of his love to others.

God is love: (Meaning) This does not mean that God is the same thing as love, or that God is nothing more than love. John is saying that all of God’s character is summed up by the word “love,” and that the most important thing about him is his love, and everything he does is done out of love for people.

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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:7

Paragraph 4:7–10

Read 4:7–10 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: In these verses John urges us to love one another because God showed us how much he loved us by sending his Son to die for us.

4:7a

let us love: (Tense) The tense of the Greek verb here shows that this is an order or encouragement to continue loving each other.

4:7b

love comes from: (Metaphor) See the note on 2:16e “is not from.” The basic meaning of the metaphor here is that love is something especially associated with God and that he is the one who causes and enables Christians to love others.

4:7c

Everyone who loves: (Meaning) John is referring to Christians who love others. He does not mean that any non-Christian who loves someone is a child of God. In translation this may need to be made clear by saying, “Anyone of you who loves.”

who loves: (Lexical Problem) No object of love is mentioned here, but throughout this section John is talking about loving other people. So if the verb “love” requires an object in your language, you can say “who loves other people.” This applies also to 4:8a.

born of God: (Metaphor) This refers to the same idea as being a child of God, because such a person has received spiritual life from God.

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:6

4:6a

We: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of this pronoun:

(1) It is probably exclusive, meaning “we apostles,” since the believers had heard the teaching of the apostles from John.

(2) Some think it is inclusive, meaning “we apostles together with you believers.”

4:6d

That: (Pronoun Reference) The word That refers to what John has just said. He is telling his readers that to test whether a person’s teaching comes from the Holy Spirit or from an evil spirit, they should see if that person follows the apostles’ teaching or not.

Spirit of truth: (“Of” Construction) This means the Holy Spirit, who reveals the truth about God.

4:6e

spirit of deception: (“Of” Construction) This means an evil spirit, or the spirit of the antichrist, which deceives people.

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:5

4:5a

They: (Pronoun Reference) It needs to be clear in translation that this refers to the false prophets.

of the world: (Meaning) The false prophets are not children of God; they belong to the evil world of everything that is opposed to God.

4:5b

speak from the world’s perspective: (Meaning) John means that the teaching of these people is based on human wisdom, not on God’s revelation.

4:5c

and the world listens to them: (Logical Relationship) This is a second result of the fact that the false prophets are “from the world.” (The first result is in 4:5b.)

the world: (Multiple Senses) Here world has a slightly different sense from that which it has in the beginning of this sentence. Here it means the same as in 4:4d, “the people of the world who do not know God.”

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:4

Paragraph 4:4–6

Read 4:4–6 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: Since John has just given his readers a warning, he now reassures them that they have the Holy Spirit in them, and so they will know who is truly speaking messages from the Holy Spirit.

4:4a

from God: (Meaning) The Greek phrase used here is the same as that used in 3:10a and other places meaning “children/people of God.”

4:4b

have overcome them: (Metaphor) This does not refer to a physical conflict. John is talking about how the Christians were not persuaded when these other people tried to convince them to accept their false teaching. They had been able to answer all the arguments of the false prophets.

them: (Pronoun Reference) This refers to the false prophets. It is clear from the whole book that they are the same people as the “enemies of Christ” (Good News Translation) mentioned in 2:18–19. As the last reference to them was in 4:1, many translations refer to them here with a noun phrase meaning “false prophets.”

4:4c

greater is: (Lexical Problem) It is clear from the rest of this verse that this means greater in respect to power and authority. See Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

He who is in you: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of who this refers to:

(1) It probably means the Holy Spirit (see Good News Translation), since the Holy Spirit is in focus in this passage.

(2) Some think it means Christ, or God.

he who is in the world: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of who this refers to:

(1) It probably refers to the spirit and power of the antichrist as mentioned in 4:3 (Good News Translation). See the note on 4:3b.

(2) Some think it refers to Satan, or to the antichrist himself (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English).

the world: (Multiple Senses) This is used here in the sense of “the people of the world who do not know God.”

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:18

4:18a

There is no fear: (Event Idea) Here John uses a noun, fear, to express the idea of being afraid. The rest of the verse makes it clear that he is talking about being afraid of God, so if the verb “fear” requires an object in your language, “God” can be made explicit here.

in love: (Event Idea) Again a noun, love, is used to express an event idea, “loving.” Here it probably means “when God loves someone/us.”

4:18b–c

perfect love drives out fear: (Metaphor) This clause repeats the meaning of the previous one, using the metaphor of someone expelling an enemy from a place. For a restatement of this clause without the metaphor see the Display.

4:18d

fear involves punishment: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two views of what this means:

(1) It probably means “the reason why people are afraid of God is that they know he will punish them on the day of judgement.” (The Jerusalem Bible, Living Bible)

(2) Some think it means “when someone is afraid of God he is causing himself to suffer just as if God was punishing him.” (New English Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

4:18e

who fears: (Lexical Problem) Again the implied object of this verb is God.

4:18f

been perfected in love: (Meaning) This means the same as “love has been perfected” in 4:17a and “love is perfected” in 4:12c. See the note on 4:12c.

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 3:24

3:24a

Whoever: (Meaning) This means “anyone/everyone who.” It includes John and his readers.

His commandments: (Pronoun Reference) This refers to God’s commands. But since the last person mentioned in the previous sentence was Christ, it may be necessary to make “God” explicit here. See Good News Translation, The Jerusalem Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

in God: (Collocation) As in 2:5, this refers to being in union with God. See the note on 2:5.

3:24b

and God in him: (Ellipsis) The full meaning here is that God lives in them, just as they live in God. In your language it may not be natural to use the same expression for both of these, so you may need to say something like “they are constantly united with God and God is in their hearts.”

3:24c

And by this: (Pronoun Reference) This phrase refers forward to 3:24d.

3:24c-d

we know…by the Spirit: (Meaning) John means that the presence of the Holy Spirit in us proves that God is living in us.

3:24d

the Spirit: (Biblical Term) This means the Holy Spirit.

(1) Probably Christ is part of the name. (Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version (2011 Revision), New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, King James Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) Some think that Christ is the title, and that the sentence therefore means, “Jesus is the Messiah and he came as a human being.” (The Jerusalem Bible)

has come: (Meaning) This refers to when Jesus came into the world.

in the flesh: (Biblical Term) The phrase in the flesh is used here with the meaning “as a human being.” See Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

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

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 3:23

3:23a

this: (Pronoun Reference) The word this refers to 3:23b–d, believing in Jesus and loving one another.

His commandment: (Lexical Problem) John here says commandment in the singular to show that belief and love are the summary or main point of all God’s commands. In some languages it may not be possible to have the singular this and commandment referring to the two verbs “believe” and “love.” If that is the case in your language, you can say something like “These are the most important things he told us to do.”

3:23b

the name: (Figure of Speech) This refers to Jesus’ authority and character and everything about him as God’s Son.

3:23d

as He commanded: (Alternative Interpretations) It is not completely clear who He refers to here:

(1) It probably means “Christ” (see Good News Translation), since it was Christ who gave the commandment to love. See John 13:34.

(2) It may mean “God.”

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

Step into the multitudes of languages of the Bible and join the worldwide conversation!

Source: SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 2000

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:8

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:7

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:6

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:5

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:4

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:18

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 3:24

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 3:23

Step into the multitudes of languages of the Bible and join the worldwide conversation!

American Bible Society