2:21a
(Good News Translation) then: (Logical Relationship) Having stated that his readers have knowledge, John points out that this shows he is confident of their true faith in Christ (as in 2:12–14). Good News Translation and Living Bible make this connection explicit.
I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of: (Sentence Breaks) John is telling his readers not to think that the reason for his writing to them is that he considers them ignorant of the truth. Notice that this statement contains two negatives, which may make it unclear in translation. It may therefore be better to make it a separate sentence from 2:21b–c and make the reasoning more explicit. Or it could be translated using a rhetorical question:
Am I writing to you because I think that you do not know the truth? No. It is not because of that. I am sure that you know the truth.
2:21b–c
(Revised Standard Version) because you know it, and you know that…: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different interpretations as to how 2:21b and 2:21c relate to each other:
(1) John is probably saying that his readers know two things, firstly, the truth, and secondly, that no lie comes from it. (King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, The Jerusalem Bible)
(2) Some think he is only mentioning one thing they know (the truth) and then he gives another reason for his writing, namely that no lie comes from the truth. (Berean Standard Bible, New English Bible)
2:21c
comes from: (Metaphor) To say that a lie comes from something abstract like truth is a metaphor, which may not be natural in your language. The basic meaning to be translated here is that truth and lies are totally different, so it is impossible for wrong beliefs (lies) to be part of God’s truth.
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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.