Know

When translating teams translate from Greek to English it is not easy to be exact but to keep the sense and the context of the text.  This study is taking 1 John 5:13-21 and showing that six (6)  times the Greek word (Oida) was translated as ‘know’.  That in V.20 the Greek word (ginosko) was found in the manuscript and also translated ‘know’.    Which is NOT wrong or leads to a wrong conclusion for the reader, however the reader isn’t able to quickly discern the different intent for the 2^nd Greek Word (ginosko) that the writer John used.

Please follow the path into a word search and see what outcome you gain:

In the passage:

1 John 5:13-21(ESV)
¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. 
¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 
¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God^£ will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 
¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
¹⁸We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
¹⁹We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 
²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

The first six times the word “know” was translated from the Greek word:  Oida

The last time or the Underlined word “know” was translated from the Greek Word:  Ginosko

1 John 5:20:

²⁰ And we know (oida) that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know (ginosko) him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

By spending some time in thought about the verse we may conclude that to ‘know that the Son of God’ would mean an awareness, where as if one might ‘know him who is true’  would be a more intimate and complete knowledge of Christ. 

We may know the store clerk that checks us out at the grocery store, but we don’t really know the person she is for we have surface information.  The 2^nd know would be that level of knowing our spouse.  We would quickly identify the different levels of knowing our spouse verses a friend.

Review the English Line verses the original language.  Here we see that ‘you may know’ is the Greek word:  “oida”  and found in Strongs as G1492 and Louw Nida as LN28.1

Strong’s G1492οἶδα[eido, oida /i·do/] v. A root word; TDNT 5:116; TDNTA 673; GK 3857; 666 occurrences; AV translates as “know” 282 times, “cannot tell + 3756” eight times, “know how” seven times, “wist” six times, translated miscellaneously 19 times, “see” 314 times, “behold” 16 times, “look” five times, “perceive” five times, “vr see” three times, and “vr know” once. 1to see. 1ato perceive with the eyes. 1bto perceive by any of the senses. 1cto perceive, notice, discern, discover. 1dto see. 1d1i.e. to turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to anything. 1d2to pay attention, observe. 1d3to see about something. 1d31i.e. to ascertain what must be done about it. 1d4to inspect, examine. 1d5to look at, behold. 1eto experience any state or condition. 1fto see i.e. have an interview with, to visit. 2to know. 2ato know of anything. 2bto know, i.e. get knowledge of, understand, perceive. 2b1of any fact. 2b2the force and meaning of something which has definite meaning. 2b3to know how, to be skilled in. 2cto have regard for one, cherish, pay attention to (1Th. 5:12). Additional Information: For synonyms see entries 1097, ginosko; 1987, epistamai; and 4920, suniemi.See entry 5825 for comparison of synonyms.

Louw Nida:  LN28.1γινώσκω^a; οἶδα^a; γνωρίζω^a; γνῶσις^a,εως f: to possess information about—‘to know, to know about, to have knowledge of, to be acquainted with, acquaintance.’

γινώσκω^a: διότι γνόντες τὸν θεὸν οὐκ ὡς θεὸν ἐδόξασαν ‘since, although they knew about God, they did not honor him as God’ or ‘… they did not give him the honor that belongs to him’ Ro 1:21; ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ δικαιοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀνθρώπων,ὁ δὲ θεὸς

γινώσκει τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ‘you are the ones who make yourselves look right in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts’ Lk 16:15.

οἶδα^a: γρηγορεῖτε οὖν,ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν ‘watch out, then, because you do not know the day or hour’ Mt 25:13; τὰς ἐντολὰς οἶδας ‘you know the commandments’ Mk 10:19.

γνωρίζω^a: τί αἱρήσομαι οὐ γνωρίζω ‘which I shall choose, I do not know’ Php 1:22.

γνῶσις^a: τοῦ δοῦναι γνῶσιν σωτηρίας τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ ‘to let his people know that they will be saved’ Lk 1:77.

Below is a diagram to see the Greek word (Oida) in more of an encompassing manner.  “Oida” is the word in the center of the circle and the outside ring shows the various English translation of that word. 

167 or 286 times this Greek Word is translated “know, knowing, knows”  and the remainder of time it is translated according to the other list (right side) as knew, understand, understanding, known, etc…

Note above the concise definition from the ANLEX and the BDAG dictionaries…

ANLEX:  see; have seen; know; know, understand, comprehend; know…

BDAG:  know; know; can, be able; understand, recognize, come to know…

Reviewing the ROOT of the word one can learn that has only two (2)  or for  233 times it is “oida” and only twice “synoida”

In these few verses (Oida) is the Greek word that was translated “know” below:

The last part of Verse 20 has the Greek word “ginosko” used and translated “know”:

This Greek Word (ginosko) has a Strong’s #G1097 and Louw Nida LN28.1:

1097γινώσκω[ginosko /ghin·oce·ko/] v. A prolonged form of a primary verb; TDNT 1:689; TDNTA 119; GK 1182; 223 occurrences; AV translates as “know” 196 times, “perceive” nine times, “understand” eight times, and translated miscellaneously 10 times. 1to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel. 1ato become known.2to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of. 2ato understand. 2bto know. 3Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. 4to become acquainted with, to know. Additional Information: For synonyms see entries 1492, eido; 1987, epistamai; and 4920, suniemi.See entry 5825 for comparison of synonyms.

Louw Nida did not assign it a different i.d. as the definition covers both.

Louw Nida:  LN28.1γινώσκω^a; οἶδα^a; γνωρίζω^a; γνῶσις^a,εως f: to possess information about—‘to know, to know about, to have knowledge of, to be acquainted with, acquaintance.’

γινώσκω^a: διότι γνόντες τὸν θεὸν οὐκ ὡς θεὸν ἐδόξασαν ‘since, although they knew about God, they did not honor him as God’ or ‘… they did not give him the honor that belongs to him’ Ro 1:21; ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ δικαιοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀνθρώπων,ὁ δὲ θεὸς

γινώσκει τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ‘you are the ones who make yourselves look right in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts’ Lk 16:15.

οἶδα^a: γρηγορεῖτε οὖν,ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε τὴν ἡμέραν οὐδὲ τὴν ὥραν ‘watch out, then, because you do not know the day or hour’ Mt 25:13; τὰς ἐντολὰς οἶδας ‘you know the commandments’ Mk 10:19.

γνωρίζω^a: τί αἱρήσομαι οὐ γνωρίζω ‘which I shall choose, I do not know’ Php 1:22.

γνῶσις^a: τοῦ δοῦναι γνῶσιν σωτηρίας τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ ‘to let his people know that they will be saved’ Lk 1:77.

Below is a diagram to see the Greek word (Ginosko) in more of an encompassing manner.  “Ginesko” is the word in the center of the circle and the outside ring shows the various English translation of that word.  130 or 222 times this Greek Word is translated “know, knowing, knows”  The remainder of time it is translated according to the others as known, knew, understand, learn, learned, learning, perceive,   etc…

The Brief definitions by:

ANLEX:  know, come to understand, ascertain; know, be acquainted with…

BDAG:   know, know about, make acquaintance of; learn (of), ascertain, find out…

KEY IDEA:  to really know the person…..

Reviewing the ROOT one learns that ‘ginosko” has a list of specific Greek words to convey a more precise definition when speaking.   Read the list below:

In 1 John 5:13-21 ONE TIME or in verse 20 the Greek word: (ginosko), whereas the others were the Greek Word (oida).

By taking the time to study the specific Greek Words we are able to gain an enhanced understanding of the text.  1 John 5:20(ESV)
²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 

Just knowing or being aware that Jesus has come and is the promised Messiah is not enough for a life sentence with Jesus.  Many of the Jews listened to Him as he taught (i.e. sermon of the mount in Matthew 5+) and yet did not accept Him as the ‘promised’ one.  Even if we accept Him as ‘the Messiah’ it is still not enough.  We need to continue to grow in understanding of Him.  We need to learn to ‘walk with Him’.  This text is showing us that to accept Christ as our “savior” is just the beginning.  We need to move forward and have a deep understanding of the position that Christ holds in our lives.  Do we take the time to learn about His directives for our lives?  Do we see the person that Jesus is?  Have we developed an ‘agape’ love for Him? 

For your reading pleasure – The Application Bible Commentary presented these three ideas concerning this passage of 1 John 5:13-21:

PRAYERS THAT GET RESULTS – What is John’s formula for prayer that moves the hands of God? Pray in line with his will and pray with confidence! God always hears and answers requests that are in accordance with his plan. To pray effectively, then, believers need to determine God’s will. And what is that? Consider this: most of God’s will is already found in the pages of Scripture! If God has commanded a certain attitude or action, we can be confident that is how God wants us to live. So turn the commands of God’s Word into requests. Make the prayers found in God’s Word your own. Pray God’s promises back to him. By using the Scripture as the basis for your prayer life, you will be sure to pray in a way that honors God.

While every wrong is sin, that is, all unrighteousness is sin—including the sin committed by believers (1:7, 9; 3:4)—not all sin leads to death. The sin that ends in death includes both the act of deliberately denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the state of spiritual death that deliberately rejects Christ, destroying faith and love. John did not forbid prayer for the one who rejects Christ, but neither did he encourage it.

ENEMY TERRITORY – This passage echoes a truth taught earlier by the apostle Paul: For the time being, God has allowed Satan to exercise a large measure of authority over the present age (2 Corinthians 4:4). This means that this world is certainly not sympathetic to what Christians believe, nor is it even neutral when it comes to spiritual matters. Knowingly or not, every institution, political system, or philosophy that does not seek to honor Christ plays right into the hands of the evil one. Corporately, they are under his control, with the result being that the world is a hostile place for believers. Be aware that you are living in enemy territory. Spiritual warfare is taking place all around you. Be careful that you do not buy into worldly attitudes and actions that look like no big deal but are actually satanic in origin.

Verse 21 – A WARNING – “Keep yourself from idols” is John’s way of saying “keep yourself from anything that might take God’s place in your heart.” An idol doesn’t have to be a carved image of some make-believe deity. It can be a goal, a desire, a relationship, an occupation, a hobby, a possession—anything that captures your full devotion. The aged apostle knew that even believers in Christ can get caught up in lesser things. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love” is the hymn writer’s description of this tendency to set our affection on things that are not of God. Examine your heart today. What do you see? What has priority? Where do your deepest affections lie? Are you guilty of idolatry?