What Does 1 John 5:18 Mean?
We know that whoever has been born of God does not miss the mark, but the one who has been born of God guards themselves, and the evil one does not touch them.
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
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.THE KEY
The same Greek birth-word appears twice, framing the verse’s claims about missing the mark and guarding in one source: being generated from God.
THE MEANING
The verse says that whoever is born of God does not sin, does not miss the mark, and that the one begotten of God keeps himself so the wicked one does not touch him. It speaks now of divine origin joined to active guarding, with the wicked one denied a hold on the person generated from God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the wicked one has unrestricted access to the person born of God: the verse says he does not touch that person.
THE ROOT
γεγεννημένος
gegennēmenos
GROWS FROM
γεννάω (γενν-)
beget, bring forth, generate
“has been born of God” in this verse is gegennēmenos. The Greek uses the same birth-word family for born at the opening and begotten in the middle. That repetition makes origin the frame around the verse’s claims about missing, guarding, and the wicked one’s reach: these are spoken of in relation to a life generated from God.
ALSO GROWS
genesis: origin, beginning, birth
γένεσις
The repeated begetting marks the person’s origin as God.
genos: kind, family, lineage
γένος
The family and lineage sense makes born of God language about source and belonging.
ἁμαρτάνει
hamartanei
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτάνω (ἁμαρταν-)
miss, err, fail to hit
“does not miss the mark” in this verse is hamartanei. This word family carries the language of missing and erring. Here, the KJV’s sinneth not holds the concrete shade of not missing the mark.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: missing, error
ἁμαρτία
The noun shares the word family behind sinneth and brings the language of missing into view.
hamartōlos: one who sins or errs
ἁμαρτωλός
This related word names a person through the same family of missing and error.
τηρεῖ
tērei
GROWS FROM
τηρέω (τηρ-)
keep watch, guard, observe
“guards themselves” in this verse is tērei. τηρέω is active keeping or guarding and can also mean observing or preserving. The shared base carries watchful custody into keepeth, presenting guarding as attentive action.
ALSO GROWS
paratēreō: watch closely, observe
παρατηρέω
This compound shows the root’s sense of attentive watching, which sharpens the guarding in the verse.
diatēreō: preserve carefully, keep intact
διατηρέω
This compound shows keeping as preserving something through watchful care.
THE PATTERN
Divine keeping is described as protection from the reach of evil.
The LORD watches over you from all harm; he watches over your living soul.I do not ask that you lift them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil.But the Lord is steady, who will steady you and guard you from the one who works harm.THE THREAD
I do not ask that you lift them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil.The Greek verb τηρέω appears in both passages: the KJV renders it keepeth here and keep there. John 17:15 places that keeping in the world and asks that the reader be kept from evil, opening the claim about the wicked one’s lack of touch as active guarding.
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