Darby Bible
1 John 3:20
1 John 3:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
- New International Version (NIV)If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
- English Standard Version (ESV)for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Context of 1 John 3:20
18Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before him — that if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God, 22and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight.
Read all of 1 John 31 John 3:20 word by word
ὅτι ἐὰν καταγινώσκῃ ἡμῶν ἡ καρδία, ὅτι μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ θεὸς τῆς καρδίας ἡμῶν καὶ γινώσκει πάντα.¶Read the interlinear
Cross-references for 1 John 3:20
- Job 27:6My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart reproacheth [me] not one of my days.
- John 8:9But they, having heard [that], went out one by one beginning from the elder ones until the last; and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing there.
- Acts 5:33But they, when they heard [these things], were cut to the heart, and took counsel to kill them.
- Romans 2:14For when [those of the] nations, which have no law, practise by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law to themselves;
- 1 Corinthians 4:4For I am conscious of nothing in myself; but I am not justified by this: but he that examines me is the Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 14:24But if all prophesy, and some unbeliever or simple [person] come in, he is convicted of all, he is judged of all;
- 1 John 4:4Ye are of God, children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that [is] in you than he that [is] in the world.
- Job 33:12Behold, I will answer thee in this, thou art not right; for God is greater than man.
- John 10:29My Father who has given [them] to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father.
- Hebrews 6:13For God, having promised to Abraham, since he had no greater to swear by, swore by himself,
- Psalms 44:20If we had forgotten the name of our God, and stretched out our hands to a strange god,
- Psalms 90:8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret [sins] in the light of thy countenance.
- Psalms 139:1Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known [me].
- Jeremiah 17:10I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give each one according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
- Jeremiah 23:24Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? saith Jehovah.
- John 2:24But Jesus himself did not trust himself to them, because he knew all [men],
Commentaries on 1 John 3:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20If our heart condemn us - If we be conscious that our love is feigned, we shall feel inwardly condemned in professing to have what we have not. And if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, for he knows every hypocritical winding and turning of the soul, he searches the heart, and tries the reins, and sees all the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart which we cannot see, and, if we could see them, could not comprehend them…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20For if our heart condemn us - We cannot hope for peace from any expectation that our own hearts will never accuse us, or that we ourselves can approve of all that we have done. The reference here is not so much to our past lives, as to our present conduct and deportment. The object is to induce Christians so to live that their hearts will not condemn them for any secret sins, while the outward deportment may be unsullied. The general sentiment is, that if…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-21Verses 16-21 Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love, that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we should love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieved at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and full of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a true sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19-22Those who truly love (3:16–18) can feel confident that God accepts them. This kind of love shows that their faith is real and that they have new life in Christ (see 4:7–8).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Luther and Bengel take this verse as consoling the believer whom his heart condemns; and who, therefore, like Peter, appeals from conscience to Him who is greater than conscience. "Lord, Thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love Thee." Peter's conscience, though condemning him of his sin in denying the Lord, assured him of his love; but fearing the possibility, owing to his past fall, of deceiving himself, he appeals to the all-knowing God: so…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 3:20
In the dictionaries
Notes
- 1. 1 John 3:20 3.20 Elohim ↩
Commentaries on 1 John 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
Darby Bible — 1889 — Public Domain
Commentaries