1 John 2:21

21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

1 John 2:21 in Other Translations

21 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.

21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

21 So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.

21 I haven't been writing this to tell you something you don't know, but to confirm the truth you do know, and to remind you that the truth doesn't breed lies.

21 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.

21 I'm writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don't know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.

21 I have not written to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

21 I'm not writing to you because you don't know the truth but because you do know it. I'm writing to you because no lie comes from the truth.

1 John 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 John 2:21

I have not written unto you
Either this epistle, or rather what particularly here regards those apostates from the truth, in order to shun them and not be deceived by them: the apostle here obviates an objection that he saw might be made upon what he last said, that they knew all things; and, if so, why then did he write the things he did, since they knew them before? to which he answers, that he did not write to them as to ignorant, but as to knowing persons:

because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it:
the Father, who is the God of truth; Christ, who is truth itself; and the Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth; and the Gospel, which is the word of truth; and the Scriptures, which are the Scriptures of truth, and from whence truth is to be fetched, and by them to be confirmed and defended; and which, if they had not known, it would have been to no purpose for him to have written to them about the antichrists that were come into the world; and though they did know the truth, it was very proper to put them in remembrance of it, and to establish them in it, against these deceivers, which supposes former knowledge of it:

and that no lie is of the truth;
either springs from it, or is according to it, but just the reverse. The apostle has respect to the errors and heresies of the above apostates, which were flagrant contradictions to the Gospel, and as distant from it as a lie is to truth; and of such lies, and of those liars, he speaks in the next verses. The Arabic version reads, "and that every liar is not of the truth".

1 John 2:21 In-Context

19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Peter 1:12; Jude 5