Who thus hopes in him, literally “who has this hope upon him.” The goal of the hoping is not explicitly indicated, but it is implied in the demonstrative pronoun, which is pointing back to “we shall be like him” in verse 2. The prepositional phrase indicates the person upon whom the hope is based; in other words, the person on whom those who hope are relying for the fulfillment of their hope. Him is to be interpreted in the same way as the third person singular pronouns in verse 2b.

In some cases all this has to be made explicit; for example, ‘each one of us, if we are expecting that God will cause us to become like him.’ Less explicit renderings are preferable as long as they do not obscure the meaning. Some examples are ‘who hopes that he (or God) will cause that to happen,’ ‘who expects such a blessing from God,’ ‘who trusts that God will fulfill that hope.’

For the Greek phrase “to have hope,” compare comments on “to have sin” in 1.8. The construction serves to stress that the hope is a continuous source of influence, as brought out by ‘who is never without (or who is always living in) hope.’ If, as is the case in Revised Standard Version and in several versions in other receptor languages, one has to shift from “to have hope” to ‘to hope,’ this aspect should not be lost; hence, for example, ‘who is and keeps hoping.’

† “To hope” (also in 2 John 12; 3 John 14) is a semantically complex concept. There are to be distinguished four main semantic components which combine in various ways to represent the concept of “hope.” These are (1) time, for hope always looks to the future; (2) anticipation, for there is always some goal to the time span; (3) confidence, namely, that the goal hoped for will occur; and (4) desire, since the goal of hoping is represented as a valued object or experience.

In general, languages select one or another of these components and extend it. Therefore terms for “hope” are often closely related to words having other areas of meaning, such as ‘believing,’ ‘waiting,’ ‘trust,’ ‘promise,’ ‘expectation,’ ‘dependency.’

In some languages the complex semantic structure of “hope” is reflected by the combination of two or three of the just-mentioned terms, such as ‘wait-desire,’ ‘confidence-fulfill-desire,’ or ‘wait for with believing.’ In others one uses an idiomatic or descriptive expression; for example, ‘to put one’s liver on,’ ‘to put one’s heart in,’ ‘the awaiting of his heart,’ ‘to look for intently.’

Purifies himself, or ‘causes himself to be pure,’ ‘takes care to be pure.’ The present tense expresses a continuous activity; hence ‘makes and keeps himself pure.’

As he is pure serves to indicate example or norm rather than comparison; hence ‘for he is pure,’ and compare also “for he knows how pure Christ is” (Phillips). The pronoun he, literally “that one,” refers unequivocally to Christ; compare comments on 2.6. The verb is in the present tense, because purity is an essential characteristic not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly Christ.

The words pure and “to purify” may have cultic meaning, as in John 11.55, or ethical meaning, as in James 4.8; 1 Peter 1.22, and in the present verse. Therefore the present clause is saying virtually the same as “in him there is no sin” in verse 5.

Some receptor languages do not have a term for pure that can be used in this cultic-ethical sense. Or the term they have is so predominantly cultic that its application to an ethical quality is not or is hardly possible. In such cases one may have to shift to such terms as ‘holy’ or ‘good,’ or to use descriptive or idiomatic phrases; for example, ‘straight of heart,’ ‘habitually fixing the heart,’ ‘watching oneself’ (a term used in one American Indian language for a holy life), ‘rejecting all that is bad.’

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 .