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March 10, 2025

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 17

Psalm 17^[a]

A prayer of David.

17 Lord, consider my just cause.^[b]
Pay attention to my cry for help.
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer.^[c]
²Make a just decision on my behalf.^[d]
Decide what is right.^[e]
³You have scrutinized my inner motives;^[f]
you have examined me during the night.^[g]
You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.
I am determined I will say nothing sinful.^[h]
⁴As for the actions of people^[i]—
just as you have commanded,
I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men.^[j]
⁵I carefully obey your commands;^[k]
I do not deviate from them.^[l]
⁶I call to you because you will answer me, O God.
Listen to me!^[m]
Hear what I say!^[n]
⁷Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds,^[o]
you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies.^[p]
⁸Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye.^[q]
Hide me in the shadow of your wings.^[r]
⁹Protect me from^[s] the wicked men who attack^[t] me,
my enemies who crowd around me for the kill.^[u]
¹⁰They are calloused;^[v]
they speak arrogantly.^[w]
¹¹They attack me, now they surround me;^[x]
they intend to throw me to the ground.^[y]
¹²He^[z] is like a lion^[aa] that wants to tear its prey to bits,^[ab]
like a young lion crouching^[ac] in hidden places.
¹³Rise up, Lord!
Confront him.^[ad] Knock him down.^[ae]
Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man.^[af]
¹⁴Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers,^[ag]
from the murderers of this world.^[ah]
They enjoy prosperity;^[ai]
you overwhelm them with the riches they desire.^[aj]
They have many children,
and leave their wealth to their offspring.^[ak]
¹⁵As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face;^[al]
when I awake you will reveal yourself to me.^[am]

Footnotes

Psalm 17:1 sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.
Psalm 17:1 tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”
Psalm 17:1 tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”
Psalm 17:2 tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsaʾ) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.
Psalm 17:2 tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)
Psalm 17:3 tn Heb “you tested my heart.”
Psalm 17:3 tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”
Psalm 17:3 tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammoti) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmati, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.
Psalm 17:4 tn Heb “with regard to the deeds of man[kind].”
Psalm 17:4 tn Heb “by the word of your lips, I, I have watched the paths of the violent” (i.e., “watched” in the sense of “watched for the purpose of avoiding”).
Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.
Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”
Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”
Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “my word.”
Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “Set apart faithful acts.”
Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “[O] one who delivers those who seek shelter from the ones raising themselves up, by your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver.sn Those who look to you for protection from their enemies. “Seeking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
Psalm 17:8 tc Heb “Protect me like the pupil, a daughter of an eye.” The noun בַּת (bat, “daughter”) should probably be emended to בָּבַת (bavat, “pupil”). See Zech 2:12 HT (2:8 ET) and HALOT 107 s.v. *בָּבָה.
Psalm 17:8 sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.
Psalm 17:9 tn Heb “from before”; or “because.” In the Hebrew text v. 9 is subordinated to v. 8. The words “protect me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Psalm 17:9 tn Heb “destroy.” The psalmist uses the perfect verbal form to emphasize the degree of danger. He describes the wicked as being already in the process of destroying him.
Psalm 17:9 tn Heb “my enemies, at the risk of life they surround me.” The Hebrew phrase בְּנֶפֶשׁ (b^enefesh) sometimes has the nuance “at the risk of [one’s] life” (see 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23; Lam 5:9).
Psalm 17:10 tn Heb “their fat they close.” The Hebrew term חֵלֶב (khelev, “fat”) appears to stand by metonymy for their calloused hearts. They attack the psalmist without feeling any pity or remorse. Some propose emending the text to חֵלֶב לִבָּמוֹ (khelev libbamo, “fat of their heart[s]; cf. Ps 119:70, “their heart is insensitive like fat”). This assumes haplography of the לב (lamed-bet) consonantal sequence.
Psalm 17:10 tn Heb “[with] their mouth they speak with arrogance.”
Psalm 17:11 tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (ʾish^eruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשַׁר (ʾashar, “march, stride, track”).
Psalm 17:11 tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”
Psalm 17:12 tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.
Psalm 17:12 tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”
Psalm 17:12 tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”
Psalm 17:12 tn Heb “sitting.”
Psalm 17:13 tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”
Psalm 17:13 tn Or “bring him to his knees.”
Psalm 17:13 tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”
Psalm 17:14 tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mim^etim, “from men”) to מִמְּמִתִים (mimm^emitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).
Psalm 17:14 tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”
Psalm 17:14 tn Heb “their portion, in life.”
Psalm 17:14 tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.
Psalm 17:14 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”
Psalm 17:15 tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”
Psalm 17:15 tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (t^emunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see Job 4:15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

1 Chronicles 21:1-17

The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel

21 An adversary^[a] opposed^[b] Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.^[c] ²David told Joab and the leaders of the army,^[d] “Go, count the number of warriors^[e] from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”^[f] ³Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army^[g] a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?”^[h]

⁴But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections.^[i] So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem. ⁵Joab reported to David the number of warriors.^[j] In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding^[k] soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.^[l] ⁶Now Joab^[m] did not number Levi and Benjamin, for the king’s edict disgusted him. ⁷God was also offended by it,^[n] so he attacked Israel.

⁸David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” ⁹The Lord told Gad, David’s prophet,^[o] ¹⁰“Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”’”^[p] ¹¹Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these: ¹²three^[q] years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords,^[r] or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the angel of the Lord will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’^[s] Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.” ¹³David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”^[t] ¹⁴So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.

¹⁵God sent an angel^[u] to ravage^[v] Jerusalem. As he was doing so,^[w] the Lord watched^[x] and relented from^[y] his judgment.^[z] He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough!^[aa] Stop now!”^[ab]

Now the angel of the Lord was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan^[ac] the Jebusite. ¹⁶David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.^[ad] ¹⁷David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed!^[ae] As for these sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family,^[af] but remove the plague from your people!”^[ag]

Footnotes

1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Or “Satan.” The Hebrew word שָׂטָן (satan) refers to an adversary, typically used without the article to refer to anyone in an adversarial role. Used with the article in Job 1-2 and Zech 3:1-2, it refers to “The Satan,” the demonic opponent. Of the heavenly accuser in those passages NIDOTTE (IV, 1231) says that “it is improbable that a specific demonic being is referred to (a possible exception may be 1 Chr 21:1).” TLOT (p. 1269) believes that 1 Chr 21:1 represents the first use of “satan” without the article as a personal name. But see the study note at the end of the verse.
1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “stood against.”
1 Chronicles 21:1 tn Heb “and incited David to count Israel.” As v. 5 indicates, David was not interested in a general census, but in determining how much military strength he had.sn The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:1 says, “The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel and he incited David against them, saying: ‘Go, count Israel and Judah!’” The version of the incident in the Book of 2 Samuel gives an underlying theological perspective, while the Chronicler simply describes what happened from a human perspective. Many interpreters and translations render the Hebrew שָׂטָן as a proper name here, “Satan” (NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). However, the Hebrew term שָׂטָן, which means “adversary,” is used here without the article. Elsewhere when it appears without the article, it refers to a personal or national adversary in the human sphere, the lone exception being Num 22:22, 32, where the angel of the Lord assumes the role of an adversary to Balaam. When referring elsewhere to the spiritual entity known in the NT as Satan, the noun has the article and is used as a title, “the Adversary” (see Job 1:6-9, 12; 2:1-4, 6-7; Zech 3:1-2). In light of usage elsewhere the adversary in 1 Chr 21:1 is likely a human enemy, probably a nearby nation whose hostility against Israel pressured David into numbering the people so he could assess his military strength. For compelling linguistic and literary arguments against taking the noun as a proper name here, see S. Japhet, I & II Chronicles (OTL), 374-75.
1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Or “people.”
1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Heb “Go, count Israel.” See the note on “had” in v. 1.
1 Chronicles 21:2 tn Heb “their number.”
1 Chronicles 21:3 tn Or “people.”
1 Chronicles 21:3 tn Heb “Why should it become guilt for Israel?” David’s decision betrays an underlying trust in his own strength rather than in divine provision. See also 1 Chr 27:23-24.
1 Chronicles 21:4 tn Heb “and the word of the king was stronger than Joab.”
1 Chronicles 21:5 tn Heb “and Joab gave to David the number of the numbering of the army [or “people”].”
1 Chronicles 21:5 tn Heb “a thousand thousands and 100,000.”
1 Chronicles 21:5 tc The parallel text in 2 Sam 24:9 has variant figures: “In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers.”
1 Chronicles 21:6 tn Heb “he”; the proper name (“Joab”) has been substituted for the pronoun here for stylistic reasons; the proper name occurs at the end of the verse in the Hebrew text, where it has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation.
1 Chronicles 21:7 tn Heb “There was displeasure in the eyes of God concerning this thing.”
1 Chronicles 21:9 tn Heb “seer.”
1 Chronicles 21:10 tn Heb “Three I am extending to you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.”
1 Chronicles 21:12 tc The parallel text in the MT of 2 Sam 24:13 has “seven,” but LXX has “three” there.
1 Chronicles 21:12 tc Heb “or three months being swept away from before your enemies and the sword of your enemies overtaking.” The Hebrew term נִסְפֶּה (nispeh, Niphal participle from סָפָה, safah) should probably be emended to נֻסְכָה (nus^ekhah, Qal infinitive from נוּס [nus] with second masculine singular suffix). See 2 Sam 24:13.
1 Chronicles 21:12 tn Heb “or three days of the sword of the Lord and plague in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying in all the territory of Israel.”
1 Chronicles 21:13 tn Heb “There is great distress to me; let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but into the hand of men let me not fall.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn The parallel text of 2 Sam 24:15 reports that God sent a plague, while 24:16-17 attributes this to the instrumentality of an angel.
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “destroy.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “while he was destroying.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “saw.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Or “was grieved because of.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn For this nuance of the Hebrew word רַב (rav), see BDB 913 s.v. 1.f.
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”
1 Chronicles 21:15 tn In the parallel text in 2 Sam 24:16 this individual is called אֲרַוְנָא (ʾaravnaʾ, “Aravna”), traditionally “Araunah.” The form of the name found here also occurs in vv. 18-28.
1 Chronicles 21:16 tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”
1 Chronicles 21:17 tn “and doing evil I did evil.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite form of the verb for emphasis.
1 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “let your hand be on me and on the house of my father.”
1 Chronicles 21:17 tn Heb “but on your people not for a plague.”

1 John 2:1-6

2 ¹(My little children,^[a] I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.^[b]) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate^[c] with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One,^[d] ²and he himself is the atoning sacrifice^[e] for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.^[f]

Keeping God’s Commandments

³Now^[g] by this we know that we have come to know God:^[h] if we keep his commandments. ⁴The one who says “I have come to know God”^[i] and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. ⁵But whoever obeys his^[j] word, truly in this person^[k] the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. ⁶The one who says he resides^[l] in God^[m] ought himself to walk^[n] just as Jesus^[o] walked.

Footnotes

1 John 2:1 sn My little children. The direct address by the author to his readers at the beginning of 2:1 marks a break in the pattern of the opponents’ claims (indicated by the phrase if we say followed by a negative statement in the apodosis, the “then” clause) and the author’s counterclaims (represented by if with a positive statement in the apodosis) made so far in 1:6-10. The seriousness of this last claim (in 1:10) causes the author to interrupt himself to address the readers as his faithful children and to explain to them that while he wants them not to sin, they may be assured that if they do, they can look to Jesus Christ, as their advocate with the Father, to intercede for them. After this, the last of the author’s three counter-claims in 1:5-2:2 is found in the if clause in 2:1b.
1 John 2:1 tn There is some dispute over the significance of the aorist tense of ἁμάρτητε (hamartēte): (1) F. Stagg (“Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy in the Johannine Epistles,” RevExp 67 [1970]:423-32, esp. 428) holds that the aorist is nondescriptive, saying nothing about the nature of the action itself, but only that the action has happened. This is indeed the normal aspectual value of the aorist tense in general, but there is some disagreement over whether with this particular verb there are more specific nuances of meaning. (2) M. Zerwick (Biblical Greek §251) and N. Turner (MHT 3:72) agree that the present tense of ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) means “to be in a state of sin” (i.e., a sinner) while the aorist refers to specific acts of sin. Without attempting to sort out this particular dispute, it should be noted that certain verbs do have different nuances of meaning in different tenses, nuances which do not derive solely from the aspectual value of the tense per se, but from a combination of semantic factors which vary from word to word.sn So that you may not sin. It is clear the author is not simply exhorting the readers not to be habitual or repetitive sinners, as if to imply that occasional acts of sin would be acceptable. The purpose of the author here is that the readers not sin at all, just as Jesus told the man he healed in John 5:14 “Don’t sin any more.”
1 John 2:1 tn The description of the Holy Spirit as “Paraclete” is unique to the Gospel of John (14:16, 26; 15:26; and 16:7). Here, in the only other use of the word in the NT, it is Jesus, not the Spirit, who is described as παράκλητος (paraklētos). The reader should have been prepared for this interchangeability of terminology, however, by John 14:16, where Jesus told the disciples that he would ask the Father to send them ‘another’ paraclete (ἄλλος, allos, “another of the same kind”). This implies that Jesus himself had been a paraclete in his earthly ministry to the disciples. This does not answer all the questions about the meaning of the word here, though, since it is not Jesus’ role as an advocate during his earthly ministry which is in view, but his role as an advocate in heaven before the Father. The context suggests intercession in the sense of legal advocacy, as stress is placed upon the righteousness of Jesus (᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον, Iēsoun Christon dikaion). The concept of Jesus’ intercession on behalf of believers does occur elsewhere in the NT, notably in Rom 8:34 and Heb 7:25. Something similar is taking place here, and is the best explanation of 1 John 2:1. An English translation like “advocate” or “intercessor” conveys this.
1 John 2:1 tn Or “Jesus Christ the righteous.”
1 John 2:2 tn A suitable English translation for this word (ἱλασμός, hilasmos) is a difficult and even controversial problem. “Expiation,” “propitiation,” and “atonement” have all been suggested. L. Morris, in a study that has become central to discussions of this topic (The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 140), sees as an integral part of the meaning of the word (as in the other words in the ἱλάσκομαι [hilaskomai] group) the idea of turning away the divine wrath, suggesting that “propitiation” is the closest English equivalent. It is certainly possible to see an averting of divine wrath in this context, where the sins of believers are in view and Jesus is said to be acting as Advocate on behalf of believers. R. E. Brown’s point (Epistles of John [AB], 220-21), that it is essentially cleansing from sin which is in view here and in the other use of the word in 4:10, is well taken, but the two connotations (averting wrath and cleansing) are not mutually exclusive and it is unlikely that the propitiatory aspect of Jesus’ work should be ruled out entirely in the usage in 2:2. Nevertheless, the English word “propitiation” is too technical to communicate to many modern readers, and a term like “atoning sacrifice” (given by Webster’s New International Dictionary as a definition of “propitiation”) is more appropriate here. Another term, “satisfaction,” might also convey the idea, but “satisfaction” in Roman Catholic theology is a technical term for the performance of the penance imposed by the priest on a penitent.sn The Greek word (ἱλασμός, hilasmos) behind the phrase atoning sacrifice conveys both the idea of “turning aside divine wrath” and the idea of “cleansing from sin.”
1 John 2:2 tn Many translations supply an understood repetition of the word “sins” here, thus: “but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:3 tn The translation of καί (kai) at the beginning of 2:3 is important for understanding the argument, because a similar καί occurs at the beginning of 1:5. The use here is not just a simple continuative or connective use, but has more of a resumptive force, pointing back to the previous use in 1:5.sn Now. The author, after discussing three claims of the opponents in 1:6, 8, and 10 and putting forward three counterclaims of his own in 1:7; 1:9, and 2:1, now returns to the theme of “God as light” introduced in 1:5. The author will now discuss how a Christian may have assurance that he or she has come to know the God who is light, again by contrast with the opponents who make the same profession of knowing God, but lack the reality of such knowledge, as their behavior makes clear.
1 John 2:3 tn Grk “know him.” (1) Many take the third person pronoun αὐτον (auton) to refer to Jesus Christ, since he is mentioned in 2:1 and the pronoun αὐτός (autos) at the beginning of 2:2 clearly refers to him. But (2) it is more likely that God is the referent here, since (a) the assurance the author is discussing here is assurance that one has come to know God (all the claims of the opponents in 1:5-2:11 concern knowing and having fellowship with the God who is light); (b) when Jesus Christ is explicitly mentioned as an example to follow in 1 John 2:6, the pronoun ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos) is used to distinguish this from previous references with αὐτός; (c) the καί (kai) which begins 2:3 is parallel to the καί which begins 1:5, suggesting that the author is now returning to the discussion of God who is light, a theme introduced in 1:5. The author will now discuss how a Christian may have assurance that he or she has come to know the God who is light.
1 John 2:4 tn Grk “know him.” See the note on the phrase “know God” in 1 John 2:3 for explanation.
1 John 2:5 tn The referent of this pronoun is probably to be understood as God, since God is the nearest previous antecedent.
1 John 2:5 tn Grk “in him.”
1 John 2:6 tn The Greek verb μένω (menō) is commonly translated into contemporary English as “remain” or “abide,” but both of these translations have some problems: (1) “Abide” has become in some circles almost a “technical term” for some sort of special intimate fellowship or close relationship between the Christian and God, so that one may speak of Christians who are “abiding” and Christians who are not. It is accurate to say the word indicates a close, intimate (and permanent) relationship between the believer and God. However, it is very important to note that for the author of the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles every genuine Christian has this type of relationship with God, and the person who does not have this type of relationship (cf. 2 John 9) is not a believer at all (in spite of what he or she may claim). (2) On the other hand, to translate μένω as “remain” removes some of these problems, but creates others: In certain contexts, such a translation can give the impression that those who currently “remain” in this relationship with God can at some point choose not to “remain”, that is, to abandon their faith and return to an unsaved condition. While one may easily think in terms of the author’s opponents in 1 John as not “remaining,” the author makes it inescapably clear in 2:19 that these people, in spite of their claims to know God and be in fellowship with God, never really were genuine believers. (3) In an attempt to avoid both these misconceptions, this translation renders μένω as “reside” except in cases where the context indicates that “remain” is a more accurate nuance, that is, in contexts where a specific change of status or movement from one position to another is in view.sn The Greek word μένω (menō) translated resides indicates a close, intimate (and permanent) relationship between the believer and God. It is very important to note that for the author of the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles every genuine Christian has this type of relationship with God, and the person who does not have this type of relationship (cf. 2 John 9) is not a believer at all (in spite of what he or she may claim).
1 John 2:6 tn Grk “in him.” Context indicates a reference to God since a different pronoun, ἐκεινος (ekeinos), is used later in the same verse to indicate a reference to Jesus. See the note on “Jesus” later in this verse.
1 John 2:6 tn That is, ought to behave in the same way Jesus did. “Walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s behavior or conduct.
1 John 2:6 tn Grk “that one.” Context indicates a reference to Jesus here. It is clear that ἐκεῖνος (ekeinos) here does not refer to the same person as αὐτῷ (autō) in 2:6a. The switch to ἐκεῖνος indicates a change in the referent, and a reference to Jesus Christ is confirmed by the verb περιεπάτησεν (periepatēsen), an activity which can only describe Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, the significance of which is one of the points of contention the author has with the opponents. In fact, ἐκεῖνος occurs 6 times in 1 John (2:6; 3:3, 5, 7, 16; and 4:17), and each one refers to Jesus Christ.

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 17[a]

A prayer of David.

Footnotes

The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel

Footnotes

Keeping God’s Commandments

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Psalm 17^[a]