SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:1

Read 4:1–3 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: John warns his readers to test anyone who claims to have a message from the Holy Spirit.

4:1a

every spirit: (Meaning) Here John is telling his readers not to accept without question the words of anyone who claims that they received from the Holy Spirit the message which they are proclaiming or teaching. John warns that some people who do this are false prophets and their messages come from evil spirits, which are enemies of Christ. Therefore the term spirit here includes both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits. In translation it may be clearer if it is made explicit that every spirit refers to people who claim to be speaking messages from God. See Good News Translation, Living Bible.

4:1b

test the spirits: (Meaning) This again refers to testing the words of people who give messages or teaching in God’s name. In translation it must not sound like an instruction to Christians to seek oracles or soothsayers or spirit diviners.

4:1c

from God: (Meaning) If the spirit is from God, it is the Holy Spirit, since no other “spirit” comes from God.

4:1d

For many: (Logical Relationship) This clause gives John’s reason for his instruction to test those who claim to speak for God. In your language, it may be more natural to put the reason first. For example:

“Everywhere there are many liars who claim that they are speaking words from God. So do not believe everyone who says that he has the Spirit of God in him. Instead you should test everything so that you may know whether that person really has God’s Spirit.”

have gone out: (Multiple Senses) This is not used here in the sense of leaving a specific place; rather it is referring to many people going to different places.

into the world: (Multiple Senses) Here world is used in the sense of “everywhere.”

© 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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 2:23

2:23 (Emphasis)

In this verse John is making it clear that our relationship to God depends on our believing in Jesus. He emphasizes this by stating it first negatively and then positively.

2:23a

have the Father: (Meaning) This is another way by which John refers to Christians’ close relationship and union with God the Father. See also the note on 2:5c “in Him.”

2:23b

confesses the Son: (Meaning) This is the opposite of “denies the Son.” It means “accepts, says openly that he believes in Jesus as the Son of God.”

© 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.

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.”

© 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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 5:19

5:19b

the whole world: (Multiple Senses) In this verse this phrase means all those people in the world who have not accepted God.

© 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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 2:2

2:2a

the atoning sacrifice: (Meaning) This shows the basis on which Jesus is able to ask God to forgive us. It is because he himself bore all the punishment which God had ordered us to bear for our sins. He did this by his death, and in this way he took the place of the sacrificial animal which God had said in the Old Testament must be the payment for sin.

2:2b

the whole world: (Figure of Speech) Here this phrase means all the people in the world.

© 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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 3:6

3:6 (Logical Relationship)

This verse is the conclusion which John draws from what he has said in 3:4–5. This connection may need to be made clear by a joining word such as “so/therefore” (Good News Translation, New English Bible, Living Bible).

3:6a

No one…keeps on sinning: (Emotive Impact) John is not just making a statement here. He is giving an indirect command to his readers, who he knows are in Christ, that they should not sin.

keeps on sinning: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different interpretations of the tense of the Greek verb used here:

(1) It probably means “should not be continually/habitually sinning.” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation, Living Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) Some think it means “should not commit any sin.” (The Jerusalem Bible, Revised Standard Version, King James Version)

in Him: (Collocation) As in 2:5, this is John’s way of talking about a close personal relationship and union with God. See the note on 2:5c.

3:6b

continues to sin: (Meaning) This means the same as “keeps on sinning” in 3:6a.

3:6c

seen: (Metaphor) This does not refer to literal “seeing,” since most Christians have never seen Christ with their eyes. It is a metaphor for understanding or recognizing Christ for who he is, the Son of God.

© 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.

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.

© 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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 2:13

2:13a

fathers: (Alternative Interpretations) John is addressing a group among his readers who are in some respect older than the others. Note that they are not “fathers” to John himself, since he is a very old man at the time of writing this letter and this group is included in those he called “my children” in 2:1. However there are two interpretations of how those in this group are older than the other Christians:

(1) John probably means those who have been Christians for a longer time.

(2) Some think it means those who are older in age.

2:13b

you know: (Multiple Senses) See the note “to know Him” on 2:3a.

2:13b–c

Him who is from the beginning: (Meaning) This is referring to Jesus Christ, who existed even before the world was created. So it may be necessary to make the name explicit in translation. See also the note on 1:1 “from the beginning.”

2:13d

young men: (Alternative Interpretations) There are two interpretations of this phrase:

(1) It probably means those who have been Christians for a short time.

(2) Some think it means men between 20 and 40 years old.

2:13e

the evil one: (Meaning) This is a common way of referring to Satan in the New Testament. The name “Satan” may need to be made explicit here in order to make it clear that the phrase the evil one does not refer to just any evil person.

2:13f

I have written: (Alternative Interpretations) In 2:13f and 2:14 the Greek has the past tense, literally, “I wrote,” instead of the present tense, “I am writing,” which it has in 2:12a–13e. There are different views as to whether this change of tense indicates a different meaning or not:

(1) It is probably just a matter of style with no difference of meaning. John is continuing to refer to what he is writing in this present letter. (Berean Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Living Bible)

(2) Some think that the past tense indicates that John is referring only to the first part of this letter or to something else which he had written. (The Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, King James Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

children: (Alternative Interpretations): See the note on 2:12a.

2:13g

the Father: (Expression) In some languages it may be necessary to say “our(incl) Father.”

© 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.