What Does 1 John 3:20 Mean in the King James?
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
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
The Greek uses the same knowing-root for the heart’s condemnation and God’s knowing: the heart knows against you, but God knows all.
THE MEANING
When your heart condemns you, that verdict is not the whole truth. God’s knowing is greater than your heart and reaches all things, including what your inner accusation cannot see.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that an accusing verdict must be complete because it comes from within you; this verse places that verdict inside God’s greater knowing.
THE ROOT
καταγινώσκῃ
kataginōskē
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginōskō
To know or perceive through encounter, rather than merely possess information.
“condemn / knoweth” in this verse is kataginōskē. The verse uses this knowing-root twice: the heart “knows against” you, while God knows all things. The root reveals that the heart’s condemnation is a kind of knowing, but it does not contain the reach of God’s knowing.
ALSO GROWS
kataginōskō: Condemn, find fault with; literally, to know against.
καταγινώσκω
This is the word translated “condemn”: the heart’s verdict takes the form of knowing against you.
ginōskō: Know, perceive through encounter.
γινώσκω
This is the word translated “knoweth”: the same knowing-root now names God’s knowing of all things.
THE PATTERN
God’s complete knowing reaches beyond the limits of human judgment, including the verdicts we form about ourselves.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.THE THREAD
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.Paul uses the same γινώσκω (ginōskō), “know,” root and names human knowing as partial. That opens John’s contrast further: the heart’s condemning knowledge is real, but it does not have the final or complete view.
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