Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.
- BSB Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
- NKJV Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
- NASB Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
- NLT Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
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
No one who denies the Son has the Father; confessing the Son means having the Father too. Access to God comes only through Jesus.
Overview
John presses the point: there is no knowing or possessing the Father apart from the Son. To confess Christ is to have the Father; to deny him is to lose both. This excludes any claim to know God that bypasses Jesus, affirming Christ as the only way to the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Jn 4:15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
- John 8:19Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
- John 5:23That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
- John 10:30I and my Father are one.
- 2 Jn 1:9–11Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
- John 15:23–24He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
- 1 Jn 5:1Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
- John 14:9–10Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
- Matt 11:27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
- Luke 10:22All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
- 1 Jn 2:22Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:23 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.