1 John 1:3

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 John 1:7

1:7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses ⁴  us from all sin. ⁵ 

1 John 4:13

4:13 By this ⁶  we know that we reside in God ⁷  and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. ⁸ 

1 John 4:16

4:16 And we have come to know and to believe ⁹  the love that God has in us. ¹⁰  God is love, and the one who resides ¹¹  in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

John 14:23

14:23 Jesus replied, ¹²  “If anyone loves me, he will obey ¹³  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ¹⁴ 

John 15:9-10

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain ¹⁵  in my love. 15:10 If you obey ¹⁶  my commandments, you will remain ¹⁷  in my love, just as I have obeyed ¹⁸  my Father’s commandments and remain ¹⁹  in his love.

John 17:21-24

17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray ²⁰  that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory ²¹  you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – 17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, ²²  so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, ²³  so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world ²⁴ .

[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.

[1:7]  ⁴ tn Or “purifies.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn BDAG 50 s.v. ἁμαρτία 1 defines this term as “a departure fr. either human or divine standards of uprightness” (see 1 John 5:17 where ἁμαρτία [Jamartia] and ἀδικία [adikia] are related). This word occurs 17 times in 1 John, of which 11 are singular and 6 are plural.

[4:13]  ⁶ tn Again whether the referent of the phrase ἐν τούτῳ (en toutw) (1) precedes or (2) follows is a problem. This time there are two ὅτι (Joti) clauses which follow. The first is an indirect discourse clause related to γινώσκομεν (ginwskomen) and giving the content of what believers know: “that we reside in him and he in us.” The second ὅτι clause is epexegetical (or explanatory) to the ἐν τούτῳ phrase, explaining how believers know that they reside in God and God remains in them: “in that he has given us of his Spirit.”

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Grk “in him.” Context indicates that the pronoun refers to God (see 4:12).

[4:13]  ⁸ sn The genitive of his Spirit here, like the phrase in 3:24, probably reflects a partitive nuance, so that the author portrays God as ‘apportioning’ his Spirit to individual believers. This leads to the important observation that the author is not particularly interested in emphasizing (1) the ongoing interior witness of the Holy Spirit (which is what the passage is often understood to mean) but is emphasizing (2) the fact that God has given the Spirit to believers, and it is this fact that gives believers assurance of their relationship to God. In other words, it is the fact that the Holy Spirit has been given to believers, rather than the ongoing interior testimony of the Holy Spirit within the believer, which is the primary source of the believer’s assurance.

[4:16]  ⁹ tn Both ἐγνώκαμεν (egnwkamen) and πεπιστεύκαμεν (pepisteukamen) in 4:16 are perfect tenses, implying past actions with existing results. In this case the past action is specified as the recognition of (ἐγνώκαμεν) and belief in (πεπιστεύκαμεν) “the love which God has in us.” But what is the relationship between the two verbs γινώσκω (ginwskw) and πιστεύω (pisteuw)? (1) Some interpreters would see a different nuance in each. (2) But in the Gospel of John the two verbs frequently occur together in the same context, often in the same tense; examples may be found in John 6:69, 8:31-32, 10:38, 14:7-10, and 17:8. They also occur together in one other context in 1 John, 4:1-2. Of these John 6:69, Peter’s confession, is the closest parallel to the usage here: “We have come to believe [πεπιστεύκαμεν] and to know [ἐγνώκαμεν] that you are the holy One of God.” Here the order between “knowing” and “believing” is reversed from 1 John 4:16, but an examination of the other examples from the Gospel of John should make it clear that there is no difference in meaning when the order of the terms is reversed. It appears that the author considered both terms to describe a single composite action. Thus they represent a hendiadys which describes an act of faith/belief/trust on the part of the individual; knowledge (true knowledge) is an inseparable part of this act of faith.

[4:16]  ¹⁰ tn The force of the preposition ἐν (en) in the phrase ἐν ἡμῖν (en Jhmin) in 4:16a is disputed: Although (1) “for” (in the sense of “on behalf of”) is possible and is a common English translation, the other uses of the same phrase in 4:9 (where it refers to God’s love for us) and 4:12 (where it refers to God’s indwelling of the believer) suggest that (2) the author intends to emphasize interiority here – a reference to God’s love expressed in believers. This is confirmed by the only other uses in 1 John of the verb ἔχω (ecw) with the preposition ἐν (3:15 and 5:10) both of which literally mean something in someone.

[4:16]  ¹¹ tn Once again μένω (menw) in its three occurrences in 4:16 looks at the mutual state of believers and God. No change of status or position is in view in the context, so the participle and both finite verbs are translated as “resides.”

[14:23]  ¹² tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[14:23]  ¹³ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “we will come to him and will make our dwelling place with him.” The context here is individual rather than corporate indwelling, so the masculine singular pronoun has been retained throughout v. 23. It is important to note, however, that the pronoun is used generically here and refers equally to men, women, and children.

[15:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “keep.”

[15:10]  ¹⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “kept.”

[15:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “reside.”

[17:21]  ²⁰ tn The words “I pray” are repeated from the first part of v. 20 for clarity.

[17:22]  ²¹ tn Grk And the glory.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:23]  ²² tn Or “completely unified.”

[17:24]  ²³ tn Grk “the ones you have given me, I want these to be where I am with me.”

[17:24]  ²⁴ tn Grk “before the foundation of the world.”