What Does 1 John 3:23 Mean?
And this is his command, that we should lean our weight upon the nature of his Son, Jesus, the Anointed One, and love one another, just as he gave us a command.
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
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.THE KEY
Trusting the Son’s nature takes visible form in love for one another, so the verse holds both as one command.
THE MEANING
The Son’s name carries the nature you trust, and that trust moves through your relationships as love for one another. Belief and love meet now as one command, with love making trust visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that trust in Jesus can remain a private conviction untouched by how you love other people.
THE ROOT
ὀνόματος
onomatos
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
The Greek word family names a person or thing; in use, a name can also carry identity and character.
“the nature of his Son” in this verse is onomatos. The verse directs trust toward the Son’s name as his nature and character. Jesus is Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), the Greek form of יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua), meaning deliverance from narrowness into spaciousness; the name gathers the character trusted here.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name; to call by name
ὀνομάζω
From the same naming family, this branch shows a name identifying who someone is.
onomasia: naming; designation
ὀνομασία
It shares the ὀνομ- family and makes the link between a name and the identity it designates visible.
πιστεύσωμεν
pisteusōmen
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
This Greek consonantal family carries trust and reliability; the verb means to trust or rely.
“lean our weight upon” in this verse is pisteusōmen. The verse’s “believe” belongs to the same family as trust and firmness. Its sense reaches beyond agreeing with a statement: it is reliance placed in the Son’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust; reliance
πίστις
The noun shares the πιστ- family and names the reliance enacted by the verse’s verb.
pistos: firm; steady
πιστός
The same consonants connect trust with the quality of being steady and reliable.
ἀγαπῶμεν
agapōmen
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
The Greek word family expresses love and the relation of loving or being beloved.
The command’s love is relational: this word family names both loving and the beloved. The trust named earlier becomes visible in the way people are held in love.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: love
ἀγάπη
This noun shares the ἀγαπ- family and names the love expressed in the verse’s verb.
agapētos: beloved
ἀγαπητός
The same family names the one who is loved, keeping the command rooted in relation between persons.
THE PATTERN
The bond with God takes lived form in love, joining what is trusted or received to how people meet one another.
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you, but to stand in awe of the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your living soul,For in Jesus, the Anointed One, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any strength, but trust that works through love.A new command I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, so also you love one another.THE THREAD
And we have known and leaned our weight upon the love that God holds in us. God is love, and the one who remains in love stays in God, and God remains in him.Here the same Greek roots for trusting and loving appear together: trust rests in love received, and life with God takes shape in love. It opens 1 John 3:23 by showing the shared movement held in its one command.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us