SIL Translator's Notes on 1 John 4:11

Paragraph 4:11–12

Read 4:11–12 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: Here John appeals to us to love one another so that God can truly live in us and cause his love to reach others through us.

4:11a

if: (Multiple Senses) The conjunction if is not used here to introduce something that might or might not be true. Here it refers to something that is known to be true, so in many languages a conjunction like “since” or “because” will be more appropriate. See New International Version (2011 Revision) and Display.

so loved us: (Multiple Senses) Here the word so is used in the sense of “so much.” It means that God loved us very much and as a result of that he sent his Son to die for us.

© 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 2:8

2:8a

a new commandment: (Meaning) This refers again to the command to love one another. See the note on 2:7a. John is not referring to a second command.

2:8b

which is true in Him and also in you: (Alternative Interpretations) There are different opinions about what the Greek words refer to in this part of the verse:

(1) John is probably saying, “the newness of this new command is truly seen in him and you.” This is the opinion of most commentators, since it is the most natural meaning of the Greek.

(2) Most English versions give the meaning as, “the truth of this new command is seen in him and you.” However, this is not what the Greek appears to mean.

2:8c–d

For: (Logical Connection) 2:8c–d shows in what way the command is new in Christ and in John’s readers. Christ was God’s light coming into the world driving away the darkness by his love, and for the Christians their whole lives and behavior were being changed as they loved one another.

darkness…light: (Metaphor) See the note on 1:5b–c.

© 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 3:12

3:12 (Logical Relationship)

John illustrates the command to love one’s brother by using Cain as a contrasting example (from Genesis 4). Cain did not love his brother and his deeds were evil. Read Genesis 4:1–16 before translating this verse.

3:12a

Cain: (New Participant) Cain has not been mentioned previously in this letter, so you may need to be careful how you refer to him in your translation. He was someone who lived a very long time before John and his readers, but they all knew about him.

3:12b

belonged to the evil one: (Meaning) See the note on 3:8a “is of the devil.” The meaning is the same here.

the evil one: (Meaning) As in 2:13e, this refers to Satan. See the note on 2:13e.

3:12c

brother: (Lexical Problem) This refers to Abel, who was Cain’s younger brother.

3:12d

And why did Cain slay him?: (Rhetorical Question) This is a rhetorical question used to emphasize the fact that the reason Cain committed murder was because he continually did evil. This showed that he belonged to Satan. If rhetorical questions are not used in this way in your language it will be necessary to use an emphatic statement. See The Jerusalem Bible.

3:12e

his own deeds: (Meaning) This probably refers to Cain’s whole way of life, not just the fact that he made an offering of grain to God instead of an animal sacrifice.

© 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 5:4

5:4a

born of God: (Meaning) See the note on 5:1b.

overcomes the world: (Metaphor) With this metaphor John is saying that Christians can successfully resist the temptation to follow the ways of this world. And normally this is what they do. Therefore nothing can force us to disobey God. He is not saying that we have actually defeated the people of this world in some fight.

the world: (Multiple Senses) In this verse the world means the evil ways of human beings and everything in the world that is opposed to God.

5:4b

victory that has overcome: (Lexical Problem) This is a figure of speech meaning “the thing which has enabled us to overcome.”

our faith: (Emphasis) John is here emphasizing that it is through our continuing to trust God that we are able to overcome the world.

faith: (Biblical Term) The next verse makes clear that here faith refers to believing in Jesus as God’s Son.

© 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 2:19

2:19a

They went out from us: (Meaning) These people whom John has just called “antichrists” had originally been members of the church. Then they disagreed with the other members over whether Jesus was the Christ whom God sent from heaven, and so they left the church. This proved that they had never really been true Christians (2:19d).

2:19b

they did not belong to us: (Meaning) John means that those people had never really been members of the group of believers. They were never true Christians like himself and his readers.

2:19d

(Good News Translation) they left so that…: (Meaning) John is not saying that these people left the church with the purpose in their minds of showing that they were not really Christians. Rather he is saying that God’s purpose in their leaving was that it should have the effect of making clear that they were not Christians. See Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Living Bible.

© 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 3:23

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.”

© 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 5:15

5:15a–b

He hears us in whatever we ask: (Logical Relationship) This repeats what John has said in the previous verse. When he says whatever we ask he is assuming that this will be “according to His will” as he mentioned in verse 14.

5:15a

if we know: (Multiple Senses) The word if here is used with the meaning of “since/because.” See Good News Translation.

5:15c

we already possess: (Tense) The tense used in the Greek here shows that God grants Christians’ requests at the very moment we make them. When we ask for something we already have it.

© 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 1:7

1:7a

if we…: (Expression) Here John is giving a positive contrast to the last verse, showing what Christians should be doing. Therefore it may be appropriate to use “we” here even if you have used “somebody” in 1:6.

walk in the light: (Metaphor) This means behaving consistently with what God has revealed about his nature and his will. This is clearly contrasted with “walk in the darkness” in the previous verse.

1:7b

He is in the light: (Meaning) Notice the difference from 1:5. Here John says that God is in the light. This is focusing on his actions, which are always good and pure and in accordance with his nature.

1:7c

fellowship with one another: (Focus) The obvious consequence of us walking in the light would be that we would have fellowship with God. But here John is focusing on the fact that doing God’s will causes us to be united with all God’s people. He is warning his readers against the false teachers, who led their followers to break away from fellowship with other Christians.

1:7d

blood of Jesus His Son: (Meaning) This term is often used in the N.T. to refer to Jesus’ violent death, which removes our sin in the same way that the blood of the sacrificed animals did in the O.T.

cleanses: (Metaphor) This is a metaphor for removing from us all that would make us unacceptable to God, that is, all evil. Note that here John is referring to the process that continues throughout our Christian lives.

© 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.