1 John 1:3-4

1:3 What we have seen and heard we announce ¹  to you too, so that ²  you may have fellowship ³  with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ). 1:4 Thus ⁴  we are writing these things so that ⁵  our ⁶  joy may be complete. ⁷ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “proclaim.”

[1:3]  ² tn The ἵνα (Jina) here indicates purpose.

[1:3]  ³ tn Or “communion”; or “association” (a reality shared in common, so in this case, “genuine association”). This term also occurs in vv. 6, 7.

[1:4]  ⁴ tn “Thus” is supplied to indicated the resultative nature of the Greek conjunction καί (kai) at the beginning of v. 4.

[1:4]  ⁵ tn The ἵνα (Jina) here indicates purpose.

[1:4]  ⁶ tc A number of mss, some of them important (A C K P 33 81 1505 1739 pm sy^h bo), read ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) rather than ἡμῶν (Jhmwn, “our”), which is found in somewhat better witnesses (א B L Ψ 049 1241 pm sy^p sa). Although the majority of Byzantine minuscules are split between the two readings, the Textus Receptus reads ὑμῶν. It is possible that ὑμῶν represents a scribal assimilation to John 16:24. As far as the immediate context is concerned, either reading could possibly be original, since the recipients have already been mentioned in 1:2 (ὑμῖν, Jumin) and 1:3 (ὑμῖν), while it might seem more natural for the author to be concerned about the fulfillment of his own joy than his readers’ (cf. 2 John 4, 12; 3 John 3). Overall, the first person pronoun is preferred on both external and internal grounds.

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “be fulfilled.”