1 John 2:21
in 1 John 2I 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye 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.
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This verse in 1 John 2
Commentary
16 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth - You are not to regard my writing to you in this earnest manner as any evidence that I do not suppose you to be acquainted with religion and its duties. Some, perhaps, might have been disposed to put this construction on what he had said, but he assures them that that was not the reason why he had thus addressed them. The very fact that they did understand the subject of religion, he says, was rather the reason why he wrote to them.
This site's exposition
an anointing from the Holy One
on 1 John 2:20-21
Against teachers claiming superior knowledge, every believer has an anointing from the Holy One, the Greek chrisma, the Spirit given at conversion. John writes because you have it, to confirm what they know. The anointing gives discernment, since no lie comes from the truth.
This site's exposition
no lie comes from the truth
John writes to people who already hold the truth, to confirm it and to arm them. Any teaching that contradicts that truth cannot come from it. The readers can test each new doctrine against what they already know.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
"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." Since this is the case, you know that I have not written to you because you do not know …
You all know the truth because you received it in the rule of faith which you professed at your baptism.
This I know, that even he who teaches that it is meet to tell lies, wishes to be thought to teach a truth. For if it be false which he teaches, who would care to give heed to false doctrine, in which both he deceives that teaches and he is deceived that learns? But if, in order that he may be able to find some disciple, he upholds that he teaches a truth when he teaches that it is meet to lie, how will that lie be of the truth, when the Apostle John reclaimeth, "No lie is of the truth?" It is therefore not true, that it is sometimes right to lie; and that which is not true to no man is at all to be persuaded.
"I write unto you not because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth." Behold, we are admonished how we may know antichrist. What is Christ? Truth. Himself hath said "I am the Truth." But "no lie is of the truth." Consequently, all who lie are not yet of Christ. He hath not said that some lie is of the truth, and some lie not of the truth. Mark the sentence. Do not fondle yourselves, do not flatter yourselves, do not deceive yourselves, do not cheat yourselves: "No lie is of the truth."
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews · Written before 258.
proposed
That innocency asks with confidence, and obtains. In the Epistle of John: "If our heart blame us not, we have confidence towards God; and whatever we ask, we shall receive from Him." Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are they of a pure heart, for they shall see God." Also in the twenty-third Psalm: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? The innocent in hands and of a pure heart."
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, etc. For you know the truth of faith and life taught by the anointing of the Spirit, and you do not need to be taught, except that you should persist in what …
And because every lie is not of the truth. This verse depends on the above, and the sense is: We have not written to you as if you do not know the truth, but as though you know it: and also knowing this, that every …
So that after the apostle had said the foregoing, no one would think that he ascribes the knowledge of this to himself alone and therefore boasts of it before the other believers, he fittingly adds: "and you have an anointing." He speaks as if to …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
I have written - Namely, 1 John ii, 13. To you because ye know the truth - That is, to confirm you in the knowledge ye have already. Ye know that no lie is of the truth - That all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it.
I have not written unto you,....
They are liars, egregious opposers of sacred truth: Who is a liar, or the liar, the notorious liar of the time and age in which we live, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? The great and pernicious lies that the father of lies, or of liars, spreads in the world, were of old, and usually are, falsehoods and errors relating to the person of Christ.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
For right (a straight line) is the index of itself and of what is crooked [ESTIUS]. The Greek is susceptible of ALFORD'S translation, "Because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth" (literally, "every lie is excluded from being of the truth").
I have not written, etc. - It is not because ye are ignorant of these things that I write to you, but because you know them, and can by these judge of the doctrines of those false teachers, and clearly perceive that they are liars; for they contradict the truth which ye have already received, and consequently their doctrine is a lie, and no lie can be of the truth, i.e. consistent with Christianity.
The words behind it
21 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οὐκ | ouk | Not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔγραψα | egrapsa | I have written | G1125 → | 189 times |
| ὑμῖν | humin | to you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| οἴδατε | oidate | you know | ||
| τὴν | ten | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀλήθειαν | aletheian | truth | G225 → | 109 times |
| ἀλλ᾽ | all᾽ | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| οἴδατε | oidate | you know | ||
| αὐτὴν | auten | it | G846 → | 5565 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| πᾶν | pan | any | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ψεῦδος | pseudos | lie | G5579 → | |
| ἐκ | ek | of | G1537 → | 911 times |
| τῆς | tes | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀληθείας | aletheias | truth | G225 → | 109 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔστιν. | estin | is. | G1510 → | 2333 times |
οὐκNot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔγραψαI have written
egrapsaG1125 →189 times
ὑμῖνto you
huminG4771 →2973 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
οἴδατεyou know
oidate
τὴνthe
tenG3588 →19766 times
ἀλήθειανtruth
aletheianG225 →109 times
ἀλλ᾽but
all᾽G235 →635 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
οἴδατεyou know
oidate
αὐτὴνit
autenG846 →5565 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
πᾶνany
panG3956 →1235 times
ψεῦδοςlie
pseudosG5579 →
ἐκof
ekG1537 →911 times
τῆςthe
tesG3588 →19766 times
ἀληθείαςtruth
aletheiasG225 →109 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔστιν.is.
estinG1510 →2333 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 1:5let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
it leads to
- Proverbs 12:1
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
- Proverbs 9:9
Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.
- Proverbs 12:1
Through
Jude 1:5Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.
it leads to
- Hebrews 3:16
For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
- Numbers 26:64–65
Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
- 1 Corinthians 10:1–12
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
- Psalms 106:26
So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,
- Numbers 14:22–37
not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Hebrews 3:16
Through
2 Peter 1:12Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.
it leads to
- Romans 15:14–15
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.
- Romans 15:14–15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 John

This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Augustine of Hippo, Against Lying; Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 3; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Cyprian, Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews; Hilary of Arles, INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 John and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 John.
