Passage

1 John 5.11-13

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son.

11. And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. 13. These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.

And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: 15. and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. (1 John 5:9-15, ASV)

WEB

9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. 10. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.

11. The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He who has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life. 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. 15. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. (1 John 5:9-15, WEB)

KJV

9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

11. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: ^{in: or, concerning him} 15. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (1 John 5:9-15, KJV)

YLT

9. If the testimony of men we receive, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that He hath testified concerning His Son. 10. He who is believing in the Son of God, hath the testimony in himself; he who is not believing God, a liar hath made Him, because he hath not believed in the testimony that God hath testified concerning His Son;

11. and this is the testimony, that life age-during did God give to us, and this, the life, is in His Son; 12. he who is having the Son, hath the life; he who is not having the Son of God, the life he hath not. 13. These things I did write to you who are believing in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that life ye have age-during, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God.

And this is the boldness that we have toward Him, that if anything we may ask according to his will, He doth hear us, 15. and if we have known that He doth hear us, whatever we may ask, we have known that we have the requests that we have requested from Him. (1 John 5:9-15, YLT)

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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

The letter's conclusion and its stated purpose.

Verses 11-12, the testimony summarized. God has given eternal life, the life is in His Son, and the one who has the Son has the life. The antithesis is stated without qualification; see 1 John 5.11-12.

Verse 13, the purpose statement. "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." Two things follow.

The letter is an assurance document. Every test in it, obedience, love, and confession of the incarnate Christ, exists so that anxious believers can know where they stand, not so that they can audit each other. The purpose clause governs how the whole letter should be read and used.
Assurance is presented as normal. John writes so that believers "may know", hina eidēte, not so that they may hope or suspect. Whatever account of assurance one holds, the letter treats confidence as available in this life rather than deferred to judgment.

Comparison with the Gospel's purpose statement. John 20:31 says its signs are written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." The Gospel is written to produce faith; the letter to those who already have it, so that they may know they have it. Read together, the pair describes the two tasks and marks the letter's audience clearly.

Context of the split. The readers had watched teachers leave claiming superior knowledge of God (1 John 2:19). Verse 13's insistence that they may know is aimed directly at that wound.

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.

G0166 - aionios, aionios, Strong's G0166
G2222 - zoe, zoe, Strong's G2222
G3686 - onoma, onoma, Strong's G3686
G4100 - pisteuo, pisteuo, Strong's G4100
G5207 - huios, huios, Strong's G5207
G1492 - oida, oida, Strong's G1492

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Belief Vs Knowledge, via 1 John 5.13
Christian Muslim Defender, via 1 John 5.13
Conditional Immortality, via 1 John 5.11-12

Lexicon:

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.