By Pastor Dave Farmer

Exegesis of 1 John 1:4

Exegesis in support of expanded translation.

1 John 1:4

Indeed, we alone [ the writers of Scripture] are writing these things [New Testament Books] in order that our joy [writing Scripture] may be made complete.

SPECIAL REVELATION

4a] καὶ ταῦτα γράφομεν ἡμεῖς "Indeed, we alone are writing these things...".

We start with the emphatic use of the conjunction KAI meaning MOREOVER. After such a profound fact that our God has purposed to fellowship with us, we are now to receive another blessing of grace, the Word of God. This is followed by the accusative neuter plural direct object of the demonstrative pronoun HOUTOS [5023] translated THESE THINGS. The demonstrative pronoun is placed in an emphatic position. It comes first. In English, we place the direct object after the verb, which is how we will translate the sentence. Again, from the perspective of the writer and through this grammatical device, "these things" are being highlighted.

But first, we have the verb. The verb is the present active indicative 1st person plural of GRAPHO ¹ [1125] meaning WE ARE WRITING. Before we parse the verb, there is the pronoun which duplicates the first person plural in the verbal stem. The nominative plural 1st person personal pronoun EGO [2249] literally "we, we are writing." John is not stuttering, but rather focusing collectively on the Apostles who are writing the books of the New Testament. Rather than leave this untranslated, the phrase should be "we alone are writing." John and the other writers of the books of the New Testament were exclusively writing under divine inspiration. This is very dramatic for when John sits down at his desk and picks up a pen to write every word on that parchment is God-breathed.

The present tense is a progressive present which states a fact is beginning in the past but emphasizes the present reality. The progressive present may be used to describe a scene in progress normally involving continuous action. The progressive present signifies an action in a state of progress and is depicting the progress of Special Revelation ² . This action of writing Scripture began in the past and is continuing in the present with the writing of 1 John. In the active voice the subjects are producing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the New Testament. The indicative mood declares the reality of the existence of the Word of God that lives and abides forever.

Regarding HUMIN [5213], the 2nd person plural personal pronoun, the manuscript evidence indicates that it may not be in the original. I have not included it in my translation.

STRIVING TOWARD THE GOAL

4b] ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη "... in order that our joy may be made complete."

We begin with a purpose clause introduced by HINA [2443] meaning IN ORDER THAT. This is followed by the nominative singular from CHARA [5479] meaning JOY OR HAPPINESS plus the possessive genitive plural of the 1st person plural pronoun EGO [2257] meaning OF US. THE JOY OF US becomes OUR JOY ³. The genitive of possession indicates ownership; that is, in some sense the head noun is owned by the genitive. JOY is singular, but the genitive pronoun is plural. All those who wrote the Scripture had a common experience. They had joy.

What comes next is a combination of verbs called a periphrastic construction. This is used when the writer cannot get all of the details of an action from one verbal form. So he uses two, a finite verb and a participle. We will start our analysis with the present active subjunctive of EIMI [5600] MAY BE. This is a futuristic present which denotes an event which has not occurred, the completion of the Canon of Scripture, but in the mind of the Apostle, he is so certain that his writing ministry is not over that he states it as already coming to pass. The active voice indicates the great desire of the apostle to fulfill the will of God. He does the writing. The subjunctive mood is potential. It implies a future expectation.

The second verb in this construction is the intensive perfect of PLEROO [5300] meaning TO MAKE COMPLETE. This construction is translated "OUR JOY [in writing Scripture] MAY BE MADE COMPLETE. From John's perspective, he remembers the joy that existed as he wrote the Gospel of John. The joy that now exists as he is writing 1 John. The futuristic present indicates the future joy he will have in completing the Canon of Scripture. Imagine the great joy he will have in writing the last word in the New Testament AMEN! I Believe it!

In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb. The passive voice often connotes the Grace of God, and here it refers to all of the resources which God has provided so that John might finish this special calling from Him. The participle is telic which also connotes purpose. The attainment of the ultimate objective, the completed Canon of Scripture is in view. Also, the participle is singular denoting he is the last man standing, the only surviving apostle.

ENDNOTES

¹ Our verb GRAPHOO [1125] is found in the Greek New Testament 192 times and means to write, to record. It has a very special connotation in the Bible for it refers to the Old Testament. There is a special formula used throughout the New Testament "It is written." This expression is found some 60 times in the intensive perfect tense and 32 times introducing a quotation from the Old Testament.

The formula "IT IS WRITTEN" is an intensive perfect which speaks of action in the past time having present results. Every use of this affirms again and again that the Old Testament writings were not only carefully preserved and handed down from generation to generation [regarding the past] and existed in the first century, but also they are a permanent record of what God said. They are in the words of the Psalmist "forever settled in heaven" Psalm 119:89. Paraphrased "it is written" means this Scripture was written long ago, and it is authoritatively binding on us all.

The Lord and the Apostles show in this expression the reverence and esteem they held for the Word of God. On 13 occasions they prefixed these words with the adverbial comparative KATHOS [2531] JUST AS. It is stronger in the Greek. It emphasizes that what is written is an accurate reproduction of what was spoken or written, Romans 8:24. The Noun GRAPHE [1124] is translated 51 times in the New Testament exclusively as "SCRIPTURE." These two words are interchangeable, for instance:

Matthew 21:42

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures [graphe], ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Luke 20:17

But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written GRAPHOO]: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone’?

When our Lord was debating with the religious establishment, He often resorted to very sophisticated arguments. At one time is quoted from Psalm 82:6 in which he called that passage both Scriptures and the Word of God. They were to Him one in the same. At that same time he said, The Scripture cannot be broken". In other words, Jesus said, "You cannot argue with me on this point for this is what the Word of God says." It is authoritative and binding upon all. In addition, He said, "what is written is inerrant" John 10:33-36

² Special Revelation is the activity of God whereby He reveals Himself to us by His WORDS.

³ There exists a textual variant in verse four that has been corrected by the newer versions and has to do with whether the original writing had "your joy" or "our joy." John is focusing on his personal joy as he recognized that he was a part of an ongoing process of writing the Word of God. He was given the high honor to be the one still standing to complete the work of inscripturating God's Word. The other possibility is "your joy" and is possible due to John 15:11 where our Lord said to the disciples, "that your joy may be made full." Both are true, but they are not identical statements in the Greek.