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1 John Chapter 2

1 John Chapter 2

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
If you know Him, keep His commandments
  1. My little children, I write these things to you so that you might not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus the Anointed, the Righteous One.
  2. And He is the sin offeringfn“sin offering” is one word in Greek, usually translated “propitiation” here.  The underlying Greek word was used to translate “sin offering” in the Septuagint in Ezekiel 44:27 (one of only 6 uses in the Septuagint), and major lexicons such as BDAG support that definition as well. for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
  3. And by this we know that we *know Him: if we keep His commandments.
  4. The man saying: “I *know Him” and not keeping His commandments is a liar and the truth isn’t in him.
  5. But whoever keeps His word, truly the ^love of God has been perfected in him.  By this we know that we are in Him.
  6. The man claiming to dwell in Him, that man is also obligated to walk in the same way as He walked.
  7. Beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning.  The old commandment is the word which you heard.
  8. Then again, I write a new commandment to you which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness passes away and the true light already shines.
  9. The man claiming to be in the light and yet hating his brother is in the darkness until now.
  10. The man ^loving his brother remains in the light and there isn’t a stumbling blockfn“stumbling block” is a single word in the Greek. It specifically refers to a “bait stick”, meaning the trigger stick of a trap or snare to which the bait is attached. Think of the part of a mouse trap to which you affix the cheese. On reaching for the bait, the “bait stick” triggers the trap and ensnares the unsuspecting victim.  It can also refer to offending someone, or to stumbling, or the means by which someone stumbles. in him.
  11. But the man hating his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t *know where he is going because the darkness blinded his eyes.
  12. Little children, I write to you because your sins have been forgiven through His name.
  13. Fathers, I write to you because you *know Him who existed from the beginning.  Young men, I write to you because you have overcome the evil one.  Young children, I wrote to you because you *know the Father.
  14. Fathers, I wrote to you because you *know Him who existed from the beginning. Young men, I wrote to you because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Don’t ^love the world
  1. Don’t ^love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone ^loves the world, the ^love of the Father isn’t in him,
  2. because everything in the world – the craving of the flesh, and the craving of the eyes, and the arrogance of life – isn’t from the Father but is from the world.
  3. And the world is passing away, and its cravingsfn“cravings” is literally “craving”, but the man doing the will of God remains through the age.
  4. Young children, it’s the last hour.  And just as you heard that the anti-anointed is coming, and now many anti-anointeds have appeared, from which we know that it’s the last hour.
  5. They went out from us, but they weren’t of us.  For if they were of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so it might be obvious that they aren’t all of us.
  6. And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all *know this.
  7. I didn’t write to you because you haven’t known the truth, but because you have known it, and because every lie isn’t from the truth.
  8. Who is the liar except the man denying, who says that Jesus isn’t the Anointed?  This is the anti-anointed, the man denying the Father and the Son.
  9. Every man denying the Son doesn’t have the Father either.  The man confessing the Son also has the Father.
Remain in Him
  1. What you heard from the beginning, let it remain in you.  If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.
  2. And this is the promise that He Himself promised to us: the life of ages.
  3. I wrote these things to you concerning the men leading you astray.
  4. And you, the anointing that you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need that anyone might teach you.  But just as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and isn’t a lie; and just as it taught you, you remain in Him.
  5. And now little children, remain in Him so we might have boldness when He is revealed and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
  6. If you *know that He is righteous, you also know that every man doing righteousness has been born of Him.

 

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