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Text and Translation
Greek Text
1. Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται· καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν γεννήσαντα ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ.
2. ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅταν τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν·
3. αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν· καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν.
English Translation
1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God; and everyone who loves the one who begot also loves the one who has been born of him.
2. In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.
3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome.
Graphical Grammar
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Weighty Words
- γεγέννηται – 3rd sing perf. pass. indic. ▶ γεννάω: see discussion below.
- γεγεννημένον perf. pass. ptc. masc. sg. acc. ▶ γεννάω: see discussion below.
- ὅταν – conj.: see discussion below.
- τηρῶμεν – 1st pl. pres. act. subj. ▶ τηρέω: keep watch over, guard; keep, hold, reserve, preserve; keep, observe, fulfill, pay attention to. See discussion below.
Syntax Sense
This passage is a nice break from the last few TBWMs. Let’s talk about some lexical issues and pattern recognition tips.
Verse 1 – Aspect of the γεννάω forms
Both forms are perfect—one passive indicative, one a participle. The aspect is the same in both—completed birth with ongoing identity and consequence. John is not saying is being born, or was once born, but has been born and therefore now stands as God’s child.
Verse 2 – ὅταν and τηρέω
ὅταν derives from ὅτε + ἄν. It introduces a general temporal condition and takes the subjunctive. It means “when(ever),” “whenever” or “at the time when.” It does not mean “until” (ἕως). The sense here is not “we know love up to the point that….” It’s much more precise, “we know love precisely at the point where loving God and keeping commandments is happening.” That’s an important conceptual distinction.
You know this from elementary Greek: τηρέω does not mean merely to obey. You can see the glosses above. it means keep, guard, attend to, and hold fast. “Keep his commandments” is better choice here than “obey” here, because it preserves continuity, care, and relational obedience rather than mere compliance.
Verse 3 – αὕτη
You may have picked up on this right away, this is the demonstrative pronoun and not the personal pronoun, it. Demonstrative pronouns in Greek introduce an explanation and are normally best rendered as “this,” not “it.” Because αὕτη is not merely referring back to “love of God” as a noun; it is pointing forward to a definition. Grammarians call that a cataphoric (forward-pointing) demonstrative, if you’re keeping score on grammar terms.
John is not saying “it [meaning,: love of God] is that we keep his commandments.” He is saying something quite different: this is what “the love of God” consists in–keeping his commandments.
Αὕτη functions like “this is how,” “this is what it looks like,” or “this is defined as.” English “this” does that naturally. Here is a rule you can keep in mind. When a Greek demonstrative (οὗτος / αὕτη / τοῦτο) introduces a clause that defines or explains a concept, English normally requires “this,” not “it.” This especially so when (i) the clause is introduced by ἵνα / ὅτι, (ii) the author is answering an implicit “what is…?” question, or (iii) the statement has definitional force.
This is pretty basic. So why are we discussing it here? I am dwelling on function, so you are not fooled by form when reading the text.
Αὕτη here should have been obvious as a demonstrative and not a personal pronoun because of the accent. This is not “αὐτή,” the pronoun, which should have been obvious. But how you read should not rise and fall by your mastery of accents. Accents are the least reliable signal of meaning. A Greek reader would not have been confused by the meaning whether there were accents. Indeed, if you are ever reading an old manuscript, it won’t have the accents anyway (old manuscripts didn’t have the accents).1 The key way to tell whether this is a demonstrative or a pronoun is by understanding how it functions in the sentence.
Put another way, Greek meaning is carried primarily by syntax and discourse function, not diacritics. The accents help learners; they don’t create meaning.
In unaccented Greek, αὑτη / αὐτή would look identical. So how did ancient readers know? By conducting the exact exercise we just worked through: inquire as to what role is the word is playing in the sentence.
In 1 John 5:3: αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα…, a personal pronoun cannot do what this word is doing here. Αὕτη introduces a definition, it points forward to a clause, it answers an implicit “what is…?” question. Only a demonstrative can do that. So even without accents, the grammar forces the reading. Here’s a rule you can actually use when accents aren’t available or are ambiguous: if a pronoun introduces, defines, or explains a concept—especially with ἵνα or ὅτι—it must be demonstrative, not personal.
For example when you see, “___ is love…,” “___ is the commandment…,” or “___ we know…,” your brain should immediately say That’s οὗτος-family behavior. Without even looking at accents.
Demystifying the Discourse
The most prominent thing that catches my eye here is in verse 2. John is doing something subtle by reversing the direction of the test you might expect. He does not say, “we know we love God’s children by how we treat them.” He said, instead: “We know we love God’s children when we love God and keep his commandments.” That’s counterintuitive—and very Johannine.
Your turn!
- Compare this passage to Belonging through Abiding (I Jn 2:18-27) and The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error (I Jn 4:1-6). Do you see thematic, structural, or discourse relationships between them? What develops, repeats, or intensifies?
Previous passage: 4:16-21 | Next passage: 5:4-5
Return to TBWM – I John
See complete translation of I John here.
- I think all elementary Greek textbooks love to tell how Aristophanes of Byzantium introduced Greek accents around 200 BC. He created them primarily as a pedagogical tool to help non-native speakers correctly pronounce the pitch and tone of Ancient Greek texts–remember Greek was expanding widely at this time and there were lots of “Greek as a second language” learners. Although he invented the system, these diacritics were only used sporadically for hundreds of years. It was not until the Byzantine period (9th to 10th century AD) that applying accent marks to every word became a standard and universal practice. ↩︎