What Does 1 John 1:3 Mean?
That which we have perceived and heard, we declare to you, so that you also may share in common with us. And truly our sharing in common is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.THE KEY
The announcement does not deliver information alone; it opens you into the shared life linking the witnesses with the Father and the Son.
THE MEANING
What is seen and heard reaches you as a way into shared participation. Your fellowship with those who declare it opens into the same relationship they have with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Testimony here is more than information to hold; it is a connection you enter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that hearing about God leaves you only an observer, outside the relationship the message describes.
THE ROOT
κοινωνία
koinōnia
GROWS FROM
κοινων-
κοινων- (koinōn-): sharing in common; participation as a partner.
“share in common with us” in this verse is koinōnia. English “fellowship” can sound like friendly association; κοινωνία (koinōnia), shared participation, carries the sense of having a share in common. The verse joins participation with the witnesses to participation with the Father and the Son, so the announcement opens into a relationship already shared.
ALSO GROWS
koinōnos: partner, sharer
κοινωνός
The same κοινων- stem names a person who shares in something, showing that fellowship makes you a participant, not just a listener.
koinōneō: to share, participate
κοινωνέω
This verb uses the same stem for the act of sharing, making the verse’s fellowship an active participation in common life.
THE PATTERN
Shared life with God joins people to one another rather than leaving them isolated observers.
A Song of degrees of David. Look, how good and how sweet it is for brothers to settle also together!That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may lean its full weight on the fact that you sent me.The favor of the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and the love of God, and the sharing in common of the Set-Apart Breath, be with you all. Amen.THE THREAD
God is steady, through whom you were called into sharing in common with his Son, Jesus the Anointed One, our Lord.The same Greek term, κοινωνία (koinōnia), means shared participation. Here it names your share in the Son, clarifying the fellowship announced in 1 John as participation centered in the Father and the Son.
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