God’s Word Translation
1 John 2:23
23Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
1 John 2:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
- New International Version (NIV)No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
- English Standard Version (ESV)No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Context of 1 John 2:23
21I’m writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don’t know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth. 22Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist. Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father. 24Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.
Read all of 1 John 21 John 2:23 word by word
πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει· ὁ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 John 2:23
- 1 John 2:22Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist.
- 1 John 4:15God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God.
- Matthew 11:27“My Father has turned everything over to me. Only the Father knows the Son. And no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.
- Luke 10:22“My Father has turned everything over to me. Only the Father knows who the Son is. And no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.”
- John 5:23so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 8:19The Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?” Jesus replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
- John 10:30The Father and I are one.”
- John 14:9Jesus replied, “I have been with all of you for a long time. Don’t you know me yet, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
- John 15:23The person who hates me also hates my Father.
- 2 John 1:9Everyone who doesn’t continue to teach what Christ taught doesn’t have God. The person who continues to teach what Christ taught has both the Father and the Son.
Commentaries on 1 John 2:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23Whosoever denieth the Son - He who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, and consequently the Christ or Messiah, he hath not the Father - he can have no birth from above, he cannot be enrolled among the children of God, because none can be a child of God but by faith in Christ Jesus. He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also - This clause is printed by our translators in Italics to show it to be of doubtful authority, as it was probably wanting in…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father - That is, has no just views of the Father, and has no evidence of his friendship. It is only by the Son of God that the Father is made known to people, Matthew 11:27; Hebrews 1:2-3, and it is only through him that we can become reconciled to God, and obtain evidence of His favor. See the notes at John 5:23. But he that acknowledges the Son, hath the Father also - This passage, in the common version…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-23Verses 18-23 Every man is an antichrist, who denies the Person, or any of the offices of Christ; and in denying the Son, he denies the Father also, and has no part in his favour while he rejects his great salvation. Let this prophecy that seducers would rise in the Christian world, keep us from being seduced. The church knows not well who are its true members, and who are not, but thus true Christians were proved, and rendered more watchful and humble…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-23You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One: The Holy Spirit gives Christians the ability to recognize spiritual truth (see Isaiah 61:1; Acts 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22). Those who have the Spirit know the truth about the Father and the Son. They can also identify teachings that do not match the apostles' teachings.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. Greek, "Every one who denieth the Son, hath not the Father either" (1Jo 4:2, 3): "inasmuch as God hath given Himself to us wholly to be enjoyed in Christ" [Calvin]. he--that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. These words ought not to be in italics, as though they were not in the original: for the oldest Greek manuscripts have them. hath--namely, in his abiding possession as his "portion"; by living personal "fellowship." acknowledgeth--by…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 2:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 John 2
- 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
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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