I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
- KJV I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
- BSB I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.
- NASB I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
- NLT So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
John writes not because they lack the truth but because they know it and know no lie comes from it. He reinforces what they already believe.
Overview
John clarifies his purpose: he writes to those who already know the truth, strengthening rather than informing them. He stresses that truth and falsehood are incompatible; 'no lie is of the truth.' This affirms his confidence in their genuine faith while equipping them to reject the deceivers' lies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 2 Pet 1:12Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
- Jude 1:5Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe.
- Prov 1:5that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:
- Rom 15:14–15I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others.
- Prov 9:8–9Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 2:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.