Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
- KJV And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
- BSB Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.
- NKJV Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
- NASB The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
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
Those who keep his commandments abide in God, and the Spirit he gave assures us of this mutual indwelling. The Spirit confirms our union with God.
Overview
Obedience marks the mutual abiding of God and the believer. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the inward witness that God remains in us. This introduces the role of the Spirit in assurance and discernment, leading into chapter 4's call to test the spirits by their confession of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Cor 3:16Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
- 1 Jn 4:15–16Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
- 1 Jn 4:12–13No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
- 2 Tim 1:14That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
- 1 Cor 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
- 1 Jn 2:6he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked.
- Rom 8:9–17But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
- John 14:21–23One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
- John 17:21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
- 1 Jn 4:7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
- John 6:54–56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- 1 Jn 3:22and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
- John 15:7–10If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
- Gal 4:5–6that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
- 2 Cor 6:16What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
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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 3:24 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
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