1 John 1:6

1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking ¹  in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing ²  the truth.

1 John 2:15

2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

1 John 3:14

3:14 We know that ³  we have crossed over ⁴  from death to life ⁵  because ⁶  we love our fellow Christians. ⁷  The one who does not love remains in death. ⁸ 

1 John 4:4

4:4 You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, ⁹  because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

1 John 4:15

4:15 If anyone ¹⁰  confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides ¹¹  in him and he in God.

1 John 5:11

5:11 And this is the testimony: God ¹²  has given us eternal life, ¹³  and this life is in his Son.

[1:6]  ¹ tn The context of this statement in 1:6 indicates clearly that the progressive (continuative or durative) aspect of the present tense must be in view here.

[1:6]  ² tn Or “living according to…”

[3:14]  ³ tn The first ὅτι (Joti) clause, following a verb of perception, introduces an indirect discourse clause giving the content of what the readers are assumed to know: that they have passed over from death to life, that is, that they possess eternal life. The author gives a similar reassurance to his readers in 5:13. Alternation between the verbs οἶδα (oida) and γινώσκω (ginwskw) in 1 John is probably a matter of stylistic variation (of which the writer is extremely fond) rather than indicative of a subtle difference in meaning.

[3:14]  ⁴ tn This verb essentially means “to transfer from one place to another, go/pass over,” according to BDAG 638 s.v. μεταβαίνω 1.

[3:14]  ⁵ sn Cf. John 5:24, where this phrase also occurs.

[3:14]  ⁶ tn The second ὅτι (Joti) clause in 3:14 is also related to οἴδαμεν (oidamen), but in this case the ὅτι is causal, giving the reason why the readers know that they have passed from death to life: because they love the brothers.

[3:14]  ⁷ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

[3:14]  ⁸ sn The one who does not love remains in death. Again, the author has the secessionist opponents in view. Their refusal to show love for the brothers demonstrates that they have not made the transition from (spiritual) death to (spiritual) life, but instead have remained in a state of (spiritual) death.

[4:4]  ⁵ sn Them refers to the secessionist opponents, called “false prophets” in 4:1 (compare 2:19).

[4:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “Whoever.”

[4:15]  ⁸ tn Here μένει (menei, from μένω [menw]) has been translated as “resides” because the confession is constitutive of the relationship, and the resulting state (“God resides in him”) is in view.

[5:11]  ⁹ tn The ὅτι (Joti) clause in 5:11 is epexegetical (explanatory) to the phrase καὶ αὕτη ἐστίν (kai Jauth estin) at the beginning of the verse and gives the content of the testimony for the first time: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

[5:11]  ¹⁰ sn In understanding how “God’s testimony” (added to the three witnesses of 5:8) can consist of eternal life it is important to remember the debate between the author and the opponents. It is not the reality of eternal life (whether it exists at all or not) that is being debated here, but rather which side in the debate (the author and his readers or the opponents) possesses it (this is a key point). The letter began with a testimony that “the eternal life” has been revealed (1:2), and it is consummated here with the reception or acknowledgment of that eternal life as the final testimony. This testimony (which is God’s testimony) consists in eternal life itself, which the author and the readers possess, but the opponents do not. This, for the author, constitutes the final apologetic in his case against the opponents.