In verses 24-25 John shifts from proposition to exhortation. Addressing his followers directly he entreats them to keep to what they have always been taught, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, and not to believe the false teachings he has denounced in the preceding verses. This shift is clearly marked in the Greek by the use of the second person plural in initial position. Therefore several versions rightly prefer to introduce the first sentence of the verse by something like ‘As for you,’ or ‘You, however.’

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you: the aorist form of you heard in the Greek indicates that the action has been completed and is regarded as a whole, irrespective of its duration.

For from the beginning see comments on 1 John 2.7; for “to abide in” see comments on verse 14, and compare discussion below.

It is in some cases preferable to shift to a more personal wording such as ‘I beg you to stick to what you heard…’ (compare Phillips) or, with an imperative, “be sure, then, to keep in your hearts the message you heard…” (Good News Translation). But this may spoil the play on words with “abide in you” and “abide in him” (see comments on 24b).

The next sentence refers to a situation in which the demand expressed in the preceding clause has been fulfilled. It repeats that clause, but now as a condition and, in the Greek, with a change in word order. This gives the verse a solemn ring and serves to emphasize the statement.

This stylistic feature should be preserved in translation. Preferably verse 24b should repeat, completely or with only slight variations, the wording of verse 24a; for example, ‘Let what you heard … be and remain in you. If what you heard … is and remains in you,’ or ‘Have in your heart what you heard…. If you have completely put in your heart what you heard….’

Complete or slightly varied repetition, however, does not have this function of solemn emphasis in all languages. Where it does not, one may have to use a different wording, at the same time trying to express the function in another way. This may result, for example, in a rendering of verse 24b like ‘if you really have done so and remain doing so.’ To reduce verse 24b to a simple ‘if you do,’ or even ‘then,’ ‘in-that-case,’ is not advisable.

Then you will abide in the Son and in the Father: according to this clause it is only by way of the word of the gospel as it is preached by the eyewitnesses (compare 1.1-3) that one can come to the Son, just as it is only through the Son that one can come to the Father. This is probably the reason why the Son is mentioned before the Father here, not after him as in verse 22.

Then you, or ‘you too,’ ‘you similarly,’ ‘you for your part.’ In the Greek the pronoun is given emphasis by a preceding kai “and.”

The verb “to abide” is used here in the context of other agents and objects than noted before. The construction in this clause belongs to a group (a), as mentioned in verse 6, the construction in the two preceding clauses to (d). The repetition of the verb serves, however, to stress the close connection between the abiding of the gospel in man and man’s abiding in the Son and the Father, or stated otherwise, between man’s keeping to the gospel and his keeping fellowship with God in Christ.

It is again preferable to preserve this stylistic trait completely or at least partly. For the latter compare, for example, ‘if what you heard … remains effective in you, then you will remain one with the Son…,’ ‘keep what you heard, then you will keep living with the Son…’; also New English Bible‘s “you must therefore keep in your hearts that which you heard…; if what you heard then still dwells in you, you will yourselves dwell in the Son….” In some cases, however, receptor language idioms will require renderings of the verb that are wholly different, such as ‘remain in – be together with,’ ‘preserve – remain forever with,’ ‘keep in your hearts – live in union with.’

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .