to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applicatio… · verb — future middle deponent indicative, 1st person plural
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
are
ἐσμένesmén
G2070
we are
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
truth
ἀληθείαςalētheias
G225
truth · noun — genitive singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
assure
πείσομενpeisomen
G3982
to convince (by argument · verb — future active indicative, 1st person plural
our
ἡμῶνhēmōn
G2257
of (or from) us
hearts
καρδίανkardian
G2588
the heart · noun — accusative singular feminine
before
ἔμπροσθενemprosthen
G1715
in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or ti… · preposition
him
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
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
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed wi…
Isaiah 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
Hebrews 6:10-11 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the s…
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cau…
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Romans 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 John 3:14-19
The beloved apostle can scarcely touch upon the mention of sacred love, but he must enlarge upon the enforcement of it, as here he does by divers arguments and incentives thereto; as,
I. That it is a mark of our evangelical justification, of our transition into a state of life: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren, Jo1 3:14. We are by nature children of wrath and heirs of death. By the gospel (the gospel-covenant or promise) our state towards another world is altered and changed. We pass from death to life, from the guilt of death to the right of life; and this transition is made upon our believing in the Lord Jesus: He that believeth on the Son hath e…
hereby--Greek, "herein"; in our loving in deed and in truth (Jo1 3:18).
we know--The oldest manuscripts have "we shall know," namely, if we fulfil the command (Jo1 3:18).
of the truth--that we are real disciples of, and belonging to, the truth, as it is in Jesus: begotten of God with the word of truth. Having herein the truth radically, we shall be sure not to love merely in word and tongue. (Jo1 3:18).
assure--literally, "persuade," namely, so as to cease to condemn us; satisfy the questionings and doubts of our consciences as to whether we be accepted before God or not (compare Mat 28:14; Act 12:20, "having made Blastus their friend," literally, "persuaded"). The "heart," as the seat…
Hereby we know that we are of the truth - That we have the true religion of the Lord Jesus, and shall assure our hearts - be persuaded in our consciences, that we have the truth as it is in Jesus; as no man can impose upon himself by imagining he loves when he does not: he may make empty professions to others, but if he loves either God or man, he knows it because he feels it; and love unfelt is not love, it is word or tongue. This the apostle lays down as a test of a man's Christianity, and it is the strongest and most infallible test that can be given. He that loves feels that he does love; and he who feels that he loves God and man has true religion; and he who is careful to show the frui…
The Church Fathers
In this we know that we are of the truth. That is, when we perform acts of piety in truth, it is evident that we are of the truth, which is God, just as we imitate His perfection according to our capacity.
He had said, "Let us not love only in word and in tongue, but in work and in truth:" we are asked, In what work, or in what truth, is he known that loveth God, or loveth his brother? Above he had said up to what point charity is perfected: what the Lord saith in the Gospel, "Greater love than this hath no man, that one lay down his life for his friends," this same had the apostle also said: "As He laid down His life for us, we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren." This is the perfection of charity, and greater can not at all be found. But because it is not perfect in all, and that man ought not to despair in whom it is not perfect, if that be already born which may be perfected: and of course if born, it must be nourished, and by certain nourishments of its own must be brought unto its proper perfection.
This it is then that he enforces here. "In this we know that we are of the truth, when in deed and in truth" we love, "not only in words and in tongue: and assure our heart before Him." What meaneth, "before Him?" Where He seeth. Whence the Lord Himself in the Gospel saith: "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven." And what meaneth, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:" except that the right hand means a pure conscience, the left hand the lust of the world? Many through lust of the world do many wonderful things: the left hand worketh, not the right. The right hand ought to work, and without knowledge of the left hand, so that lust of the world may not even mix itself therewith when by love we work aught that is good. And where do we get to know this? Thou art before God: question thine heart, see what thou hast done, and what therein was thine aim; thy salvation, or the windy praise of men.
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
Assurance · Confirmed by love — Confirmed by love
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).
And hereby we know that we are of the truth,.... By the saints loving one another in deed and in truth, they know, as the cause is known by the effect, that they are of God, who is the true God, the God of truth, and cannot lie, and is truth itself; that they are the children of God, and are born of him, since they love those that are, and every like loves its like; and that they are of Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life; that they belong to him, are his, since they have his Spirit, as appears by his fruits in them, and this, among the rest, love to the brethren; and that they are his disciples, which others, even all men know, as well as themselves, by their mutual brothe…
1 John 3:19-22
19. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
19. Et in hoc cognoscimus quod ex veritate sumus, et coram ipso persuadebimus corda nostra.
20. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
20. Quod si accuset nos cor nostrum, certe major est Deus corde nostro et novit omnia.
21. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
21. Dilecti, si cor nostrum non accuset, fiduciam habemus erga Deum:
22. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
22. Et siquid petierimus, accipimus ab eo,…
Those who truly love (3:16-18) have confidence that God accepts them because real love is primary evidence of real faith and of new life in Christ (see 4:7-8).
