Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has 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.
- KJV Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath 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.
- 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 4:15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
- John 8:19They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
- John 5:23that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
- 2 Jn 1:9–11Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn’t have God. He who remains in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son.
- John 15:23–24He who hates me, hates my Father also.
- 1 Jn 5:1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
- John 14:9–10Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
- Matt 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
- Luke 10:22Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”
- 1 Jn 2:22Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:23 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.