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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 John 2:3 - 2:3
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Hereby (en toutōi). See this phrase also in 1Jo 2:5; 1Jo 3:16, 1Jo 3:19, 1Jo 3:24; 1Jo 4:2, 1Jo 4:13; 1Jo 5:2. That is explained by the ean clause, “if we keep his commandments” (ean tērōmen, condition of the third class, ean with present active subjunctive, “if we keep on keeping”), the clause itself in apposition with toutōi (locative case).
Know we that we know him (ginoskomen hoti egnōkamen auton). “Know we that we have come to know and still know him,” egnōkamen the perfect active indicative of ginōskō. The Gnostics boasted of their superior knowledge of Christ, and John here challenges their boast by an appeal to experimental knowledge of Christ which is shown by keeping his (autou, Christ’s) commandments, thoroughly Johannine phrase (12 times in the Gospel, 6 in this Epistle, 6 in the Apocalypse).