1 John 2:24 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 John 2:24
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active indicative, 2nd person plural
from
ἀπ᾽ap᾽
G575
"off · preposition
beginning
ἀρχῆςarchēs
G746
(properly abstract) a commencement · noun — genitive singular feminine
If
ἐὰνean
G1437
a conditional particle · conditional particle
which
ὅςhós
G3739
the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun
heard
ἠκούσατε,ēkousate
G191
to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active indicative, 2nd person plural
from
ἀπ᾽ap᾽
G575
"off · preposition
beginning
ἀρχῆςarchēs
G746
(properly abstract) a commencement · noun — genitive singular feminine
remain
μείνῃmeinē
G3306
to stay (in a given place · verb — aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
you
ὑμῖνhymîn
G5213
to (with or by) you
ye
ὑμεῖςhymeîs
G5210
you (as subjective of verb)
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
continue
μενεῖτε.meneite
G3306
to stay (in a given place · verb — future active indicative, 2nd person plural
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
Son
υἱῷhuiō
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — dative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
Father
πατρὶpatri
G3962
a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — dative singular masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make…
John 15:9-10 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
1 John 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
1 John 4:16 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.
2 John 1:5-6 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one…
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 17:21-24 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou h…
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 John 2:20-27
Here, I. The apostle encourages the disciples (to whom he writes) in these dangerous times, in this hour of seducers; he encourages them in the assurance of their stability in this day of apostasy: But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. We see, 1. The blessing wherewith they were enriched - an unguent from heaven: You have an unction. True Christians are anointed ones, their name intimates as much. They are anointed with the oil of grace, with gifts and spiritual endowments, by the Spirit of grace. They are anointed into a similitude of their Lord's offices, as subordinate prophets, priests, and kings, unto God. The Holy Spirit is compared to oil, as well as to f…
Let that--truth respecting the Father and the Son, regarded as a seed not merely dropped in, but having taken root (Jo1 3:9).
ye--in the Greek standing emphatically at the beginning of the sentence. YE, therefore, acknowledge the Son, and so shall ye have the Father also (Jo1 2:23).
from the beginning--from the time of your first hearing the Gospel.
remain--Translate as before, "abide."
ye also--in your turn, as distinguished from "that which ye have heard," the seed abiding in you. Compare Jo1 2:27, "the anointing abideth in you . . . ye shall abide in Him." Having taken into us the living seed of the truth concerning the Father and the Son, we become transformed into the likeness o…
Let that therefore abide in you - Continue in the doctrines concerning the incarnation, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Lord Jesus, which you have heard preached from the beginning by us his apostles.
Ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father - Ye who are preachers shall not only be acknowledged as ministers of the Church of Christ, but be genuine children of God, by faith in the Son of his love; and ye all, thus continuing, shall have fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
The Church Fathers
Rejecting ungodliness, John goes on to teach the doctrine of godliness and to encourage his listeners to accept it, saying that by it they will have fellowship with both the Father and the Son, as well as the promise of eternal life.
"Therefore, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father." Therefore, John says this: but you, let what you have heard from the beginning, namely the divine teaching about Christ, remain in you. The name means, "Let it remain in you." "For if what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father." This is, you will be his partners.
That which you have heard from the beginning, let it remain in you, etc. He says, follow with all your heart that faith, those doctrines which you have received from the voice of the apostles from the earliest times of the nascent Church. For these alone are what make you partakers of divine grace. And if anyone says to you, "Behold, here is Christ, behold, there he is," do not believe it. For false prophets will arise, as the Lord foretold (Mark XIII). And you, he says, will remain in the Son and in the Father. He places the Son first, because as the Son himself says: "No one comes to the Father except through the Son" (John XIV); no one will see the glory of divine exaltation except he who is reborn through the sacraments of the humanity which the Son assumed. Or surely he named the Son first and then the Father for the reason that the Arians may not say that the Son should be believed to be lesser than the Father because he has never found to be named before the Father.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Union With Christ · Includes union with the Father — Includes union with the Father
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on 1 John 2:24
Let that therefore abide in you,.... Meaning the word of God, 1Jo_2:14; the Gospel of Christ, which there was reason to believe had a place in their hearts, and which they had embraced and professed; and therefore the apostle exhorts them to perseverance in it; and particularly not to let go the doctrine concerning the Father and the Son, and this their relation to each other, which is the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the distinct personality of Father, Son, and Spirit; the contrary to which leaves the three without either name, or distinction from each other: the arguments to enforce this exhortation follow,
which ye have heard from the beginning; they had heard it not…
1 John 2:24-29
24. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
24. Ergo quod audistis ab initio, in vobis maneat: si in vobis manserit quod ab initio audistis, et vos in Patre et Filio manebitis.
25. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
25. Atque haec est promissio, quam ipse nobis promisit, nempe vitae eternae (vel, quam nobis pollicitus est vitam eternam.)
26. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
26. Haec scripsi vobis de iis qui seducunt vos.
27. But the anointing which…
John instructs his readers to resist the lies of such antichrists and to remain faithful to the truth that he and the other apostles have proclaimed to them. If they would do this, then they would remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father and have assurance of eternal life (John 3:15, 36; 6:40, 47, 57; 17:2-3).
