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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
1 Yhn 5 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V19 V20 V21
◄ ← 1 YHN (1 JHN) 5:18 ↓ → ║ ©
OET (OET-LV) We_have_known that everyone which having_been_born of the god is_ not _sinning, but the one having_been_born of the god is_keeping him and the evil one is_ not _touching against_him.
OET (OET-RV) We know that everyone who’s been reborn into God doesn’t keep sinning, but the messiah who was born from God watches over them and so the evil one can’t touch them.
Read 5:13–21 carefully.
Section Theme: John ends his letter by reassuring his readers that they do have eternal life and that they do truly know God.
Read 5:18–21 in both BSB and GNT. Compare the two versions.
Paragraph Theme: Finally John reminds the readers that God protects them from the temptation to sin and that they really do know God, so they should reject all false teaching.
We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning;
¶ We(incl) know that anyone who has become a child of God does not sin continually,
anyone born of God does not keep on sinning: (Meaning) The Greek for this clause is almost exactly the same as 3:9, “Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin.” It means that no child of God should be continually or habitually sinning.
the One who was born of God protects him,
because God’s Son, Jesus Christ, protects him,
(Logical Relationship) The rest of the verse gives the reason why Christians do not continually sin. This connection may be clearer if a conjunction such as “because” is used.
the One who was born of God: (Tense) The tense of the Greek verb here is different from the tense of “anyone born of God” in 5:18a. It indicates that in 5:18b John is referring to a specific person who was once born of God. Several translations make this reference clearer by translating it as “the Son of God.” See GNT, JB, NEB, JBP, LB.
protects him: (Connotation) This implies that the Son of God keeps that person safe from Satan’s attempts to lead him into sin.5.18 (Text) The pronoun himself in KJV is based on a Greek text which is generally considered inferior.
and the evil one cannot touch him.
so that Satan, who causes all evil, cannot harm him in any way.
and: (Logical Relationship) The clause in 5:18c can be considered as a result of the Son of God keeping the Christian safe. So it may be clearer in translation to link it with a conjunction such as “and so” or “so that.”
the evil one: (Meaning) As in 2:13e, this is a common way of referring to Satan.
touch: (Connotation) This word implies the idea of touching someone with the intention of doing something bad to that person. It may therefore be clearer to translate it by “harm.” See GNT and later editions of NIV.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ
everyone ¬which ˓having_been˒_born of ¬the God
See how you translated the similar expression in [2:29](../02/29.md). Alternate translation: [everyone whose father is God]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ
everyone ¬which ˓having_been˒_born of ¬the God
See whether in [2:29](../02/29.md) you decided to explain this metaphor. Alternate translation: [everyone whose spiritual father is God]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει
not ˓is˒_sinning
See how you translated this expression in [3:6](../03/06.md) and see the discussion of “sin” in Part 3 of the Introduction to 1 John. Alternate translation: [does not sin wantonly and continually]
Note 4 topic: translate-textvariants
ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρεῖ ἑαυτὸν
¬which the_‹one› the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οἴδαμεν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ἀλλʼ ὁ γεννηθείς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρεῖ αὐτόν καί ὁ πονηρός οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ)
Many ancient manuscripts read “the one begotten from God keeps himself.” The ULT follows that reading. In this case, the one begotten from God refers to the believer, just as the earlier phrase, everyone having been begotten from God, refers to the believer. In this reading, the believer guards himself from sin. Other ancient manuscripts read “the one begotten from God keeps him.” In this case, the one begotten from God refers to Jesus, who guards the believer from sin. If a translation of the Bible exists in your region, you may wish to use the reading that it uses. See the notes in the introduction to this chapter.
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
ὁ πονηρὸς
¬which the_‹one› the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οἴδαμεν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ἀλλʼ ὁ γεννηθείς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρεῖ αὐτόν καί ὁ πονηρός οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ)
As in [2:13](../02/13.md), John is using the adjective evil as a noun in order to indicate a specific being. ULT adds one to show this. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this with an equivalent expression. Alternate translation: [the one who is evil]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
ὁ πονηρὸς
¬which the_‹one› the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Οἴδαμεν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ἀλλʼ ὁ γεννηθείς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρεῖ αὐτόν καί ὁ πονηρός οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ)
John is speaking of the devil by association with the way that he is evil. Alternate translation: [the devil]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ
not not ˓is˒_touching ˱against˲_him
This is an idiom. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent idiom or use plain language. Alternate translation: [cannot hurt him]
OET (OET-LV) We_have_known that everyone which having_been_born of the god is_ not _sinning, but the one having_been_born of the god is_keeping him and the evil one is_ not _touching against_him.
OET (OET-RV) We know that everyone who’s been reborn into God doesn’t keep sinning, but the messiah who was born from God watches over them and so the evil one can’t touch them.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.