3:14a

We: (Emphasis) The emphasis here is on the difference between Christians and the people of the world. This difference is seen in the way Christians love other Christians, which proves that they have passed from death to eternal life. In the Greek the pronoun “We” is emphatic to make the contrast clear. See New English Bible.

we have passed from death to life: (Metaphor) The topic of this extended metaphor is that as Christians we are no longer under the power of death and Satan, but we now have eternal life from God. Thus we are like people who were dead but have now come to life.

3:14b

because we love our brothers: (Logical Relationship) This is not giving the reason why we have passed from death to life. It is giving the reason why we know that we have passed from death to life. To avoid confusion about this many translations repeat here the phrase “We know this because.” See Good News Translation, The Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible. Others such as Living Bible change the order of clauses within the sentence.

3:14c

who does not love: (Lexical Problem) No object of the verb love is mentioned in this clause, but John is clearly still referring to loving other Christians. This can be made explicit if in your language the verb requires an object.

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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.