What Does 1 John 1:10 Mean in the King James?
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Denying your own missing does more than conceal it: your words make God a liar and show that his word is not in you.
THE MEANING
When you say you have not missed, your claim collides with what God says and makes him sound false. The verse reveals that his word is absent from that denial; the break is between your claim and the truth it rejects.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that denying any missing protects your truthfulness; the denial instead makes God’s testimony sound false.
THE ROOT
ἡμαρτήκαμεν
hēmartēkamen
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
To miss, to miss the mark.
The Greek verb for “sinned” names missing, not a separate kind of thing sealed off from the rest of life. The denial “we have not missed” cannot erase that missing; it puts the speaker’s claim against what God says.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing; sin.
ἁμαρτία
The noun in 1 John 1:8 shares this root, linking the denial of having sin to the denial of having sinned.
hamartōlos: One who misses; sinner.
ἁμαρτωλός
This branch makes the root describe a person in relation to the missing, not a fixed identity beyond it.
ψεύστην
pseustēn
GROWS FROM
ψευδ-
pseud-
Falsehood, lying.
The verse says the denial makes God a liar: the falsehood arises in the speaker’s claim, not in God’s word. The sentence exposes the consequence of denying the missing, the truth is made to sound false.
ALSO GROWS
pseudomai: To lie, speak falsely.
ψεύδομαι
The denial is speech that contradicts what God says.
pseudos: Falsehood, lie.
ψεῦδος
This names the false account produced when the speaker says no missing exists.
THE PATTERN
When people deny the missing, God’s truth is made to sound false; acknowledging it brings truth into speech.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.THE THREAD
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.The Greek “sin” here, ἁμαρτία (hamartia), shares its root with “sinned” in verse 10. Verse 8 shows denial turning inward as self-deception; verse 10 shows the same denial making God sound false.
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