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[3:19-24] • [4:1-6] • [4:7-12] • [4:13-15] • [4:16-21] • [5:1-3]
[5:4-5] • [5:6-12] • [5:13-15] • [5:16-17] • [5:18-20] • [5:21]
Text and Translation
Greek Text
7. Ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐντολὴν παλαιὰν, ἣν εἴχετε ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς· ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ παλαιά ἐστιν ὁ λόγος ὃν ἠκούσατε ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς.
8. πάλιν ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀληθὲς ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν· ὅτι ἡ σκοτία παράγεται, καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἤδη φαίνει.
9. ὁ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῶν, ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι.
10. ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐν τῷ φωτὶ μένει, καὶ σκάνδαλον ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν.
11. ὁ δὲ μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ περιπατεῖ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε ποῦ ὑπάγει, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία ἐτύφλωσε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ.
English Translation
7. Brothers, I am not writing a new commandment to you but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word, which you heard from the beginning.
8. Again, I am writing a new command to you—which is true in him and in you—that the darkness passes away and the true light now is shining.
9. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother he is in darkness even now.
10. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he goes because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Graphical Grammar
Weighty Words
- εἴχετε – 2 pl. impf act. ind. ▶ ἔχω: to have
- παράγεται – 3rd sg. pres. mid. pass. ind. ▶ παράγω: see discussion below.
- ἐτύφλωσε – 3 sg. aor. act. ind. ▶ τυφλόω: “has blinded.”
Syntax Sense
Most of the interesting things in these verses are not syntactical but discourse level. Let me point out a few observations and then turn it over to you. In verse 7, the word εἴχετε (2:7). The translation here may seem curious (have had, rather than were having), but that is because the translation is emerging from a discourse level consideration. The imperfect here does not primarily emphasize progressive action (“were having”), but a past state extending from the beginning. The phrase ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς pushes us to read this as a continuing possession, not a temporary one.
Should παράγεται be rendered “is passing” or “passes”? The word literally means “is passing by / is going away.” The present tense here is progressive. John presents the darkness as actively passing and the light as presently shining. The effect is dynamic, not static.
Notice how John repeatedly uses substantival present participles (ὁ λέγων, ὁ ἀγαπῶν, ὁ μισῶν) to describe kinds of people. He is defining identity through ongoing posture, not isolated acts.
Verse 9
Why should εἶναι be translated as present tense? It’s what is known as an infinitive in indirect discourse (Smyth § 1866.) Smyth explains that “tenses of the infinitive in indirect discourse denote the same time relative to that of the leading verb….”
The final και as “and yet” ▶ see A. T. Robertson, at 1182.
Verse 11
What feature of Greek, you might ask, authorizes you to translate the participle μισῶν as an English simple present instead of the usual “the one who is Xing”? Greek frequently uses articular participles substantivally to denote a class or characteristic identity (“the one who hates,” “whoever loves,” etc.; Smyth §1124; BDF §413). Thus, ὁ μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφόν is almost “the brother-hater” in force — far more category-oriented than English progressive aspect. English strongly disfavors repeatedly rendering such constructions as “the one who…,” so translations often compress them into simple-present expressions (“the one who hates” → “who hates” or simply “hates”).
The ὅτι means “because,” and not “that.” Why? It’s causal. If ὅτι were recitativum (“that”), it would introduce reported speech content. Here it introduces the reason the person is lost → causal (Smyth §2240; Wallace p. 459).
Demystifying the Discourse
Observe the pattern John presents here. We have the old commandment / new commandment paradox. We have darkness passing / light shining. We also have the claim vs reality pattern (which echoes 1:6–10).
Your turn!
- Why translate “οὐκ … γράφω ὑμῖν” as “I am not writing to you”?
- What is the antecedent of ὃ in verse 8: “ὃ ἐστιν ἀληθές”?
- There are three participles — λέγων, ἀγαπῶν, μισῶν. What function are they performing (adjectival, substantival, adverbial, or supplementary)? Are they parallel? Would the meaning shift depending on how you classify them? What does the present participle μισῶν suggest — snapshot or pattern?
- How does “the darkness is passing” relate to the “new commandment”?
- Why repeat “is in the light” rather than simply say “is righteous”?
- If παράγεται is rendered in English as a progressive, how should φαίνει be rendered? Why?
- What is the architecture of this passage (and all of 1st John up to this point) doing? What is John communicating through it? To put it another way, how is the architecture itself contributing meaning to John’s message on top of the meaning of the text? Or is it?
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See complete translation of I John here.