UTN uW Translation Notes:

1 John 1 General Notes

Structure and formatting

1. Opening of the letter (1:1–4)2. Genuine believers obey God and love one another (1:5–10, continues through 2:17)

Important Translation Issues in this Chapter

The Word of Life

John uses the phrase “the Word of life” to refer to Jesus in (1:1. "The Word" is a title that John uses for Jesus. If you have translated the beginning of the Gospel of John, see how you translated it there. This title does not refer to a word that is spoken by someone. By using this title for Jesus, John is saying that Jesus is God’s most important message to all people. Jesus is the one who reveals who God is. In your translation of this title, try to make it clear that this is the title of a person whose role it is to communicate a message. Something like “The Message” or “The Revealer” might be appropriate. Consider also the title that is used in an accepted translation in your area. Here, John connects the title "the Word" with the phrase "of life." By this, John probably means that Jesus reveals God to the world and that Jesus also is the source of life. A translation of this entire phrase could be something like, "Jesus, the Message of God who gives life." (See: wordofgod)

Order of Information

Like many Greek compositions of this time, for stylistic purposes, this letter begins with a very long sentence. It goes from the beginning of 1:1 to the middle of 1:3. The parts of this sentence may not be in the order that is customary in many languages. The direct object comes first, and it is very long, made up of many different clauses. The subject and verb do not come until near the end. And in the middle, there is a long digression. So think about the best way to translate and arrange the parts of this sentence in your language.One approach that might work well in your language would be to create a verse bridge that includes all of 1:1–3. You could break up this long sentence into several smaller sentences, repeating the subject and verb for clarity. This would allow you to present the parts of the sentence in an order that might be more customary in your language and that your readers might understand better. Here is an example of 1 John 1:1–3 rearranged into an order that might be clearer in your language:“We want you to have fellowship with us, and also with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are declaring to you what we have seen and heard. We are declaring to you what was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched. It has to do with the Word of life. Indeed, the life appeared, and we have seen it, and we are testifying to it. Yes, we are announcing to you the eternal life that was with the Father and that then came to us.”If you take this approach, another way to translate a combination of the second and third sentences would be, “So we are declaring to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and what our hands have touched.”Another approach that could also work well and which would not require a verse bridge would be to leave the phrases in their present order, but to divide the sentence into three parts at the verse divisions. If you do that, you could also put your translation of the phrase “regarding the Word of life” at the beginning rather than the end of 1:1 and present it as a topical introduction to the letter. Otherwise, your readers might not get the sense that this is a letter until they reached 1:4, where John formally states his purpose for writing. An example of 1 John 1:1–3 in this order would be:“1 This is about the Word of life. This Word was from the beginning. We have heard him, we have seen him with our eyes, we have looked at him and our hands have touched him. 2 Indeed, this one who is life appeared, and we have seen him, and we are testifying about him. Yes, we are announcing to you the eternal life that was with the Father and that then came to us. 3 We are declaring to you what we have seen and heard so that you will have fellowship with us, and this fellowship is also with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”The notes to 1:1–4 provide further specific suggestions for how to translate this long opening sentence. (See: translate-versebridge)

Important Textual Issues in this Chapter

In 1:4, the most accurate ancient manuscripts read “so that our joy may be fulfilled.” The ULT follows that reading. However, some other ancient manuscripts read, “your joy” instead of “our joy.” If a translation of the Bible already exists in your region, consider using whichever reading is found in that version. If a translation does not already exist, we recommend that you follow the reading in the ULT text. (See: translate-textvariants)