1 John
Chapter 1
What Happens in This Chapter
The writer opens by saying that he and others heard, saw, and touched the Word of life, and that they are reporting this so their readers can share that life with them, and with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. He then passes on the message he heard: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. From that he draws a set of contrasts about claiming to share life with God while living in the dark, and about admitting sin instead of denying it. The chapter says that anyone who claims to have no sin is fooling himself, and that God forgives and cleans up those who admit their sins.
Plain reading written for adults. Every distinction the original makes, in plain modern English.
We are writing about what existed from the very beginning. We heard it. We saw it with our own eyes. We looked at it closely, and we touched it with our own hands. This is the Word of life.
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
The King James sentence piles up four relative clauses before it ever names what they are about, and the subject arrives only at the end: "of the Word of life." In Greek "that which" is neuter, so it can point to a thing (the message, the life that was seen) rather than to a person, and the writer does not resolve which he means; the ambiguity is in the original. "Handled" in 1611 English means touched or felt with the hands, not managed or dealt with. "Word" translates the Greek logos, which covers a spoken word, a message, an account, or the reasoning behind something; here it stands as a title, as it does in the opening of John's Gospel.
2This life was made visible. We saw it, and we say plainly what we saw. We announce to you the life that lasts forever, the life that was with the Father and was made visible to us.
2(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
"Manifested" means made visible, brought out where people could see it, not "obvious" in the modern sense. "Shew" is simply the older spelling of show. "Bear witness" is courtroom language: to testify to what you personally saw, the way a witness gives evidence. "Eternal life" translates a phrase meaning the life belonging to the coming age, a quality of life as much as a length of it.
3So we tell you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share this life together with us. And the life we share is shared with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
3That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
"Fellowship" translates koinonia, which means having something in common, a shared stake or partnership, the word used of business partners sharing a venture or of people holding property in common. It does not mean a friendly gathering or a church social, which is what the English word suggests today.
4We are writing these things to you so that your joy may be complete.
4And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
The ancient copies differ here: some read "your joy," as the King James does, and others read "our joy," which is why modern translations often print the other word. The two differ by a single letter in Greek.
5This is the message we heard from him, and we pass it on to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6If we say we share this life with him, and yet we keep living in the dark, then we are lying and we are not living out the truth.
6If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7But if we live in the light, in the same way that he himself is in the light, then we share this life with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, washes us clean from every sin.
7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9If we admit our sins, he can be trusted and he acts fairly: he forgives our sins and washes us clean from everything wrong in us.
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10If we say we have not sinned, we are calling him a liar, and his word is not in us.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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