What Does 1 John 2:4 Mean in the King James?
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
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
Knowing God is an encounter whose evidence is what you keep, not a claim you possess.
THE MEANING
The claim “I know him” is tested in what you guard and practice. When you say you know him but do not keep his commandments, this verse calls the claim a lie and says the truth is not within you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that saying “I know him” makes that knowledge real while his commands remain unkept.
THE ROOT
γινώσκω
ginōskō
GROWS FROM
γινωσκ-
ginōsk-
To know, recognize, or become acquainted with.
This verb can name recognition through acquaintance, not merely a fact held at a distance. Here, the claim to know him is exposed by whether that encounter shapes what you keep.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge or knowing.
γνῶσις
This noun shares the seed of knowing and makes clear that the verse tests claimed knowledge by its lived expression.
epiginōskō: To recognize or come to know fully.
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related verb carries knowing toward recognition, underscoring that knowing him is more than repeating a claim.
τηρέω
tēreō
GROWS FROM
τηρε-
tēre-
To guard, watch over, or keep.
“keepeth” in this verse is tēreō. The word holds keeping together with attentive guarding. The verse sets that active care beside the claim to know him: what is guarded reveals whether the claimed encounter is present.
ALSO GROWS
paratēreō: To watch closely or observe.
παρατηρέω
This branch makes the watching within “keep” visible: keeping the commandments involves sustained attention to them.
diatēreō: To preserve or keep intact.
διατηρέω
This branch shows keeping as preserving something through time, giving the verse’s command a continuing, lived sense.
THE PATTERN
Knowing God becomes visible in the keeping that grows from that knowledge.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.The same verbs for knowing and keeping appear together here, making their connection explicit. The next verse names the rupture plainly: when keeping is absent, the claim to know becomes a lie.
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