What Does 1 John 5:14 Mean in the King James?

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

1 John 5:14 · KJV

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 confidence named here is freedom to speak openly, with the request measured by God’s will.

THE MEANING

You can speak openly to God, and the verse says he hears you when your asking is according to his will. Confidence rests in that open relationship, with the request held within his will.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This dissolves the belief that God is unreachable or does not hear you; the verse places confidence in him and says he hears the asking shaped by his will.

THE ROOT

παρρησία

parrēsia

GROWS FROM

παρρησ-

parrēs-

Open, frank speech; the word carries the sense of speaking without concealment or restraint.

⁨παρρησία⁩ (parrēsia, open confidence) can name both boldness and freedom of speech. It presents confidence as an unhidden voice, not merely certainty about an outcome.

ALSO GROWS

parrēsiazomai: to speak freely or boldly

παρρησιάζομαι

This verb from the same word family shows confidence taking the form of open speech.

pas: all, every

πᾶς

This is one component traditionally identified in the compound, suggesting speech without reserve.

rhēsis: speech, utterance

ῥῆσις

This is the speech element traditionally identified in the compound, connecting confidence with what can be said openly.

αἰτώμεθα

aitōmetha

GROWS FROM

αἰτε-

aite-

To ask or request.

“ask” in this verse is aitōmetha. The Greek word names a request rather than a demand. The verse places that request within God’s will, so asking is framed by relationship rather than control.

ALSO GROWS

aitēma: a request, something asked for

αἴτημα

This noun makes clear that the asking concerns a specific request.

aitēsis: a petition, an act of asking

αἴτησις

This related noun emphasizes the act of making a request, keeping the focus on open asking.

ἀκούει

akouei

GROWS FROM

ἀκου-

akou-

To hear or listen.

The English “heareth” can sound like bare sound detection, while this Greek word carries the sense of hearing or listening. Its wider word family can extend hearing toward heeding, though this verse specifically says that God hears the request.

ALSO GROWS

akoē: hearing, or a report heard

ἀκοή

This related noun connects hearing with what is received and conveyed.

hypakouō: to heed or obey; literally, to hear under

ὑπακούω

This compound shows how hearing can extend toward heeding, without making that extended sense the claim of this verse.

THE PATTERN

Asking is received within alignment: what is asked is shaped by relationship and desire, not detached from them.

He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Psalm 145:19 · KJVThe verse joins desire, being heard, and deliverance in the relationship of those who turn toward God.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15:7 · KJVThe asking and its fulfillment arise within an abiding relationship where Jesus’ words remain present.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

James 4:3 · KJVThe verse shows that what shapes a request matters to whether it is received.

THE THREAD

Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

1 John 3:21 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨παρρησία⁩ (parrēsia, open confidence), the same Greek word behind “confidence.” Here that openness takes the form of asking according to God’s will; the connected verse places it alongside a heart free from condemnation.

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