ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 John 4.14

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

There are ads on our codex that pay for hosting and keep the codex free. If you can, please consider whitelisting ris3n.com or allowing scripts to support the work.

Sponsored

Brands, events, influencers advertise here

ASV

12. No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us: 13. hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14. And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

  1. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. 16. And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. (1 John 4:12-16, ASV)
WEB

12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. 13. By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

  1. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16. We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. (1 John 4:12-16, WEB)
KJV

12. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

  1. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:12-16, KJV)
YLT

12. God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us; 13. in this we know that in Him we do remain, and He in us, because of His Spirit He hath given us.

14. And we, we have seen and do testify, that the Father hath sent the Son, Saviour of the world;

  1. whoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him doth remain, and he in God; 16. and we, we have known and believed the love, that God hath in us; God is love, and he who is remaining in the love, in God he doth remain, and God in him. (1 John 4:12-16, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

  • Speaker: The letter is formally anonymous. Early and unanimous tradition assigns it to John the apostle (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.5 and 3.16.8, c. AD 180), and its vocabulary and style are closely shared with the Fourth Gospel.
  • Audience: Churches in Roman Asia, addressed after a secession: "they went out from us, but they were not really of us" (1 John 2:19). The departing teachers denied that Jesus is the Christ (2:22) and that He has come in the flesh (4:2).
  • Location: Traditionally Ephesus, the center of the Johannine circle in Asia Minor.
  • Time period: c. AD 85-95, late in the apostolic period. The stated purpose is assurance: "these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Theological reading

"We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."

Testimony language again. Tetheametha kai martyroumen, we have beheld and we testify, echoing the prologue (1 John 1:1-3) where the same verb theaomai appears. The letter's claims about love and about Christ rest throughout on eyewitness testimony rather than on inference or experience.

"Savior of the world." Sōtēr tou kosmou occurs only twice in the New Testament, here and at John 4:42, on the lips of the Samaritans. The title is significant in a Roman context, where sōtēr was used of emperors and of Zeus, and where "savior of the world" was an imperial acclamation. Applying it to a crucified Galilean is a political statement as well as a theological one.

"The Father has sent the Son." Sending language, frequent in the Johannine literature, presupposes the Son's existence prior to the sending and a relation between Father and Son prior to the world. See 1 John 4:9 and John 3:17.

The scope of "world." John uses kosmos here of the world as the object of salvation, and at 1 John 2:15 of the world Christians must not love. The same word carries both, which is a caution against building doctrine on the term without attending to each context. On the extent-of-atonement question this verse is cited by all sides; see Atonement.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.