1 John 5 | Liberation and Inclusion Translation

¹ Everyone who trusts that Jesus is the Christ^a has been birthed by God, and everyone who loves the one who gives birth loves whoever is birthed by God. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and follow through with^b God’s directions. ³ You see, the love of God is this: that^c we pay attention to God’s directions, and God’s directions are not burdensome. ⁴ That’s because everything^d that has been birthed by God triumphs over the world system. And this is the triumph happening^e over the world system: our trust. ⁵ Who is the one who triumphs over the world system if not whoever trusts that Jesus is the Son of God?^f ⁶ This is the one who came through^g water and blood, Jesus Christ—not with water only but with water and with blood. The Life-breath is a witness, since the Life-breath is truth, ⁷ because there are three witnesses: ⁸ the Life-breath and water and blood, and the three are one.^h

⁹ If we accept a declaration of what’s trueⁱ from people, God’s declaration of what’s true is more important since this is God’s declaration that God has given about the Son. ¹⁰ (Whoever places their trust in the Son of God possesses in themselves the declaration of what’s true. Whoever does not trust God makes God out to be a liar because they have not placed their trust in what God has declared to be true about God’s Son.) ¹¹ And this is the declaration: God gave us agelong life, and this life is connected with the Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³ I wrote these things to you—who place your trust in the name^j of the Son of God—so you would understand that you have agelong life. ¹⁴ And this is the courage to speak we have while we are with him because if we request anything based in what he desires, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we have learned that he hears us—whatever we request—then we have learned that we have what^k we have requested from him. ¹⁶ If anyone learns that a member of their Family is deviating but not toward death,^l they will make the request, and he will give life to them. If it is a deviation toward death, I’m not saying to ask about that one. ¹⁷ Everything unjust is deviation, but there is also deviation that is not toward death.

¹⁸ We have come to know that everyone birthed by God doesn’t deviate, but whoever is birthed by God watches him, and harm can’t stick to them. ¹⁹ We have come to know that we are from God and the entire world system lies down with harm. ²⁰ We have come to know that the Son of God^m is present and has given us insight so that we can know the true one,ⁿ and we are connected with the true one, with God’s Son Jesus Christ. This^o is the true God and agelong life. ²¹ Children, keep watch over yourselves so that you stay away from idols.

Footnotes

a Literally, christos (‘Christ’) means ‘anointed one,’ the one designated as the divinely appointed king (or sometimes prophet or priest).
b Or ‘do.’
c This seems to be a hina related to results. Hina can be used to indicate purpose, result, or as an adverb to indicate destination, or it can be used to indicate more information about an imperative. This instance indicates the result of love exchanged between God and the church.
d This word is neuter, indicating it is not about—or only about—people. Greek uses the masculine form when it is best translated as ‘everyone,’ as it does in 1 John 5:1.
e Literally, ‘this is the triumph triumphing over…’
f “The Son of God” was a nickname for the emperor, a title taken on originally by Augustus Caesar, the son of Julius Caesar who was worshiped as divine, and was then used by each subsequent Caesar.
g ‘Through’ could be interpreted two ways here, both of which work for the Greek word also. 1) He came by means of water and blood, meaning water and blood are how he came. 2) He passed through water and blood on the way to his destination.
h Or ‘unified.’ The word ‘one’ is the most literal translation of hen. Here are other ways translations have dealt with it: KJV ‘agree as one,’ NRSV ‘agree,’ NET ‘are in agreement.’
i Traditionally, ‘testimony.’ In current American usage, ‘testimony’ is only used in the context of courtroom proceedings. While this word could be used in that context during the time this was written, it was not used exclusively that way. It was a broader word about a statement or report of what was true or to the reliability of something or someone.
j The phrase ‘in the name’ and others like it appear many times. In many places, it has been translated as something along the lines of ‘as his representatives.’ Some places, like here, that way to translate it does not work well. When the phrase ‘in his name’ is describing an action, it works. When an action is being directed toward ‘the name’ the English word ‘name’ has been included. The concept of ‘name’ in scripture is more than the set of sounds or letters used to designate who is being discussed. It refers to their identity, character, and sometimes authority or cause which that person represents or leads. For instance, here, it could be loosely translated to mean something like “we place our trust in the character/identity/authority/way of being of the Son.”
k Literally, ‘have the requests we have requested.’
l Literally, ‘deviating a deviation not toward death.’
m “The Son of God” was a nickname for the emperor, a title taken on originally by Augustus Caesar, the son of Julius Caesar who was worshiped as divine, and was then used by each subsequent Caesar.
n Or ‘real one’ or ‘genuine one.’ This seems to be referring to ‘the Son of God’ and knowing the real Son of God instead of an imposter Son of God.
o ‘This’ seems to be referring to knowing and being connected with the true one, ‘his Son Jesus Christ.’