What Does 1 John 3:5 Mean?
And you know that he was made visible to take away our shortcomings, and in him there is no falling short.
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 ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.THE KEY
He appears not to add what is missing, but to carry it away from us, while no missing is in him.
THE MEANING
He is present to carry away what you miss; in him, there is no missing. His appearing makes visible a wholeness that does not depend on your missing being hidden.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what you have missed must remain attached to you and define you: the verse names it as what he carries away.
THE ROOT
ἁμαρτίας
hamartias
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω
hamartanō
To miss or fail to hit the mark.
“our shortcomings” in this verse is hamartias. The verse uses the same word for “our sins” and for what is absent in him. Read through its root, it sets our missing beside the one in whom there is no missing, and says he appears to carry that missing away.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: To miss or fail to hit the mark.
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb shows the action beneath the noun: missing is a failure to reach what is aimed at.
hamartōlos: One who misses; a sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word describes a person through the same root, linking the condition to the act of missing.
ἄρῃ
arē
GROWS FROM
αἴρω
airō
To lift, raise, or carry away.
“take away our shortcomings” in this verse is arē. “Take away” carries the sense of lifting something off and carrying it away. The verse presents the missing as something that can be removed from us, not something that must remain fixed to us.
ALSO GROWS
epairō: To lift up or raise.
ἐπαίρω
This compound uses the same verb and keeps its image of lifting, making the movement inside “take away” easier to see.
exairō: To remove or drive out.
ἐξαίρω
This related compound makes explicit the carrying out or removal contained in the verb.
ἐφανερώθη
ephanerōthē
GROWS FROM
φανερόω
phaneroō
To make visible or disclose.
“was made visible” in this verse is ephanerōthē. His appearing is a making-visible: the verse shows who he is through what he does with our missing. What is absent in him is not hidden; it stands beside what he carries away.
ALSO GROWS
phaneros: Visible, evident, or manifest.
φανερός
This related word names the state of being brought into view.
epiphaneia: An appearance or manifestation.
ἐπιφάνεια
This related noun carries the same movement of becoming visible.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness appears through the removal of what is missing, rather than through adding something new.
As far as the east is from the west, so far he puts our rebellions from us.The next day John perceived Jesus coming toward him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the falling short of the world.So also the Anointed One, once brought near to carry the falling short of many, shall be perceived a second time, without falling short, by those who stretch out to receive him, into deliverance.THE THREAD
The next day John perceived Jesus coming toward him, and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the falling short of the world.“Taketh away” translates the same Greek verb, αἴρω (airō), “lift or carry away,” that appears in 1 John 3:5. John 1:29 widens the image: the one who carries away our missing carries away the world’s missing too.
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