Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

1 John 1:8

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

KJV

ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔχομεν, ἑαυτοὺς πλανῶμεν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν.

Greek NT

Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est.

Vulgate

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

ASV

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Douay-Rheims

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In the original Greek

14 distinct Greek words appear in this verse.

εἰμί
eimi
verb · 2461×
καί
kai
conjunction · 8973×
λέγω
lego
verb · 2256×
οὐ
ou
particle · 1626×
πλανάω
planao
verb · 39×
ἀλήθεια
aletheia
noun · 109×
ἁμαρτία
amartia
noun · 173×
ἐάν
ean
conditional · 333×
ἐν
en
preposition · 2743×
ἑαυτοῦ
eautou
reflexive_pronoun · 316×
ἔχω
echo
verb · 707×
ἡμεῖς
emeis
pronoun · 862×
ὁ
o
article · 19778×
ὅτι
oti
conjunction · 1299×

Textual variants

1 variant unit attested by manuscript witnesses and modern critical editions.

minor
SBLGNT: οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν | WH/NIV/RP: οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν | Treg: ἐν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔστιν
  • οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν — SBLGNT
  • οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν — Westcott-Hort, Reader's GNT (NA27), Robinson-Pierpont
  • ἐν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔστιν — Tregelles
source: sblgnt-apparatus

Themes

Doctrines that cite this verse

Historic Christian voices

17 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

§827"Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal."299 All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners.300 In everyone, the…
§1425"YOU were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."9 One must appreciate the magnitude of the gift God has given us in the sacraments of Christian initiation in order to grasp the degree to which sin is excluded for him who has "put on Christ."10 But the apostle John also says: "If we say we have no sin, …
City of God · 3 passages
Chapter 9.—Of the Perturbations of the Soul Which Appear as Right Affections in the Life of the Righteous. But so far as regards this question of mental perturbations, we have answered these philosophers in the ninth book687687 C. 4, 5. of this work, showing that it is rather a verbal than a real dispute, and that they seek contention rather than truth. Among ourselves, accordi…
Chapter 17.—Of the Endless Glory of the Church. “And I saw,” he says, “a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them. And God sh…
Chapter 25.—Of Malachi’s Prophecy, in Which He Speaks of the Last Judgment, and of a Cleansing Which Some are to Undergo by Purifying Punishments. The prophet Malachi or Malachias, who is also called Angel, and is by some (for Jerome14561456 In his Proem. ad Mal. tells us that this is the opinion of the Hebrews) identified with Ezra the priest,14571457 See Smith’s Bible Dict. o…
No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and me…
Is charity in the will as its subject? Is charity caused in man by preceding acts or by a Divine infusion? Is it infused according to the capacity of our natural gifts? Does it increase in the person who has it? Does it increase by addition? Does it increase by every act? Does it increase indefinitely? Can the charity of a wayfarer be perfect? The various degrees of charity Can…
Not only sin properly so called (that is, a voluntary transgression of a known law) but sin improperly so called (that is, an involuntary transgression of a divine law, known or unknown) needs the atoning blood. I believe there is no such perfection in this life as implies an entire deliverance from ignorance, mistake, or infirmity. I believe a person filled with the love of Go…
Heidelberg Catechism · 2 passages
Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly? A. No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.
Q. But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? A. No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments.
Canons of Dort · 2 passages
Those people whom God according to his purpose calls into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he also sets free from the reign and slavery of sin, though in this life not entirely from the flesh and from the body of sin.
Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the best works of God's people, giving them continual cause to humble themselves before God, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death more and more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, and to press on toward the goal of perfection.

Cross-references

  • 1Chr 15:13 — For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
  • 1Cor 3:18 — Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
  • 1Cor 3:18 — Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
  • 1John 1:6 — If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
  • 1John 1:6 — If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
  • 1John 1:10 — If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
  • 1John 1:10 — If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
  • 1John 2:1 — My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
  • 1John 2:4 — He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
  • 1John 2:4 — He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
  • 1John 3:5 — And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
  • 1John 3:19 — And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
  • 1Kgs 8:46 — If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or n
  • 1Kgs 8:46 — If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or n
  • 1Tim 6:5 — Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
  • 2Chr 6:36 — If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or nea
  • 2Chr 6:36 — If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or nea
  • 2John 1:2 — For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
  • 2John 1:2 — For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
  • 2Pet 2:13 — And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast wi
  • 2Tim 3:13 — But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
  • 3John 1:3 — For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
  • Dan 9:4 — And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
  • Eccl 7:20 — For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
  • Eccl 7:20 — For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
  • Eph 2:3 — Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
  • Ezra 10:1 — Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and chi
  • Gal 2:11 — But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
  • Gal 5:17 — For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
  • Gal 6:3 — For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
  • Gal 6:3 — For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
  • Gal 6:7 — Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
  • Gen 12:12 — Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
  • Gen 18:15 — Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
  • Isa 53:6 — All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
  • Isa 64:6 — But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
  • Jas 1:22 — But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
  • Jas 1:22 — But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
  • Jas 1:26 — If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
  • Jas 3:2 — For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.