Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, August 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

1 John 3:19

In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Assurance;   Commandments;   God;   Love;   Poor;   Righteous;   Righteousness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Assurance;   The Topic Concordance - Truth;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Assurance;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Assurance;   Conscience;   Mercy;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Truth;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Knowledge of God (1);   Union to Christ;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Heart;   John, the Letters of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Assurance;   John, Epistles of;   Kingdom of God;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Assurance;   Assurance (2);   John Epistles of;   Unity (2);  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Here;   John, the Epistles of;   Truth;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for July 25;   Every Day Light - Devotion for November 5;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and will reassure our hearts before him
King James Version (1611)
And hereby wee know that wee are of the trueth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
King James Version
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
English Standard Version
By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
New American Standard Bible
We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him,
New Century Version
-
New American Standard Bible (1995)
We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
Berean Standard Bible
And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:
Contemporary English Version
When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God.
Complete Jewish Bible
Here is how we will know that we are from the truth and will set our hearts at rest in his presence:
Darby Translation
And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before him—
Easy-to-Read Version
That's how we know we belong to the way of truth. And when our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God, because God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thereby we know that we are of the trueth, and shal before him assure our hearts.
George Lamsa Translation
And by this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before he comes.
Good News Translation
This, then, is how we will know that we belong to the truth; this is how we will be confident in God's presence.
Lexham English Bible
By this we know that we are of the truth and will convince our heart before him,
Literal Translation
And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before Him,
Amplified Bible
By this we will know [without any doubt] that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart and quiet our conscience before Him
American Standard Version
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him:
Hebrew Names Version
And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,
International Standard Version
And this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to establish our hearts in his presence.John 18:37; 1 John 1:8;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And by this we make known that we are of the truth, and before that he cometh we make confident our hearts.
Murdock Translation
And by this, we recognize that we are of the truth; and, before he shall come, we make our hearts confident.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Hereby we knowe that we are of the trueth, and shall assure our heartes before hym.
English Revised Version
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him,
World English Bible
And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
Weymouth's New Testament
And in this way we shall come to know that we are loyal to the truth, and shall satisfy our consciences in His presence
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In this thing we knowen, that we ben of treuthe, and in his siyt we monesten oure hertis.
Update Bible Version
And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him:
Webster's Bible Translation
And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
New English Translation
And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence,
New King James Version
And by this we know [fn] that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
New Living Translation
Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.
New Life Bible
This is how we know we are Christians. It will give our heart comfort for sure when we stand before Him.
New Revised Standard
And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hereby, shall we get to know, that, of the truth, we are, and, before him, shall persuade our heart;
Douay-Rheims Bible
In this we know that we are of the truth and in his sight shall persuade our hearts.
Revised Standard Version
By this we shall know that we are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
for therby we knowe that we are of the veritie and can before him quiet oure hertes.
Young's Literal Translation
and in this we know that of the truth we are, and before Him we shall assure our hearts,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Hereby knowe we, that we are of the verite, and can quyete oure hertes before him.
Mace New Testament (1729)
Hereby we shall know that we are true professors, and set our consciences securely at rest.
Simplified Cowboy Version
What we do will show the truth of our ride. When we stand before God, we will be confident in our ride with Jesus.

Contextual Overview

14 We are conscious that we have come out of death into life because of our love for the brothers. He who has no love is still in death. 15 Anyone who has hate for his brother is a taker of life, and you may be certain that no taker of life has eternal life in him. 16 In this we see what love is, because he gave his life for us; and it is right for us to give our lives for the brothers. 17 But if a man has this world's goods, and sees that his brother is in need, and keeps his heart shut against his brother, how is it possible for the love of God to be in him? 18 My little children, do not let our love be in word and in tongue, but let it be in act and in good faith. 19 In this way we may be certain that we are true, and may give our heart comfort before him,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hereby: 1 John 3:14, 1 John 1:8, John 13:35, John 18:37

shall: 1 John 3:21, Isaiah 32:17, Hebrews 6:10, Hebrews 6:11, Hebrews 10:22

assure: Gr. persuade, Romans 4:21, Romans 8:38, 2 Timothy 1:12, Hebrews 11:13

Reciprocal: Job 8:6 - thou wert Job 11:15 - lift up Job 31:37 - as a Psalms 119:56 - because Proverbs 20:27 - spirit Daniel 6:22 - forasmuch Matthew 28:20 - them Luke 7:5 - and John 19:27 - took Romans 2:15 - accusing Romans 8:16 - with our Romans 9:1 - my conscience Romans 14:5 - persuaded 2 Corinthians 1:12 - our rejoicing 2 Corinthians 5:1 - we know Galatians 6:4 - rejoicing Colossians 2:2 - of the full Hebrews 10:19 - Having 1 Peter 3:8 - love as brethren 2 Peter 1:10 - to make 1 John 2:3 - hereby 1 John 4:17 - we may

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.
Genesis 3:13
And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.
Genesis 3:16
To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.
Genesis 3:21
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.
Genesis 3:22
And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.
Genesis 18:27
And Abraham answering said, Truly, I who am only dust, have undertaken to put my thoughts before the Lord:
Genesis 23:4
I am living among you as one from a strange country: give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest.
Job 1:21
With nothing I came out of my mother's body, and with nothing I will go back there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; let the Lord's name be praised.
Job 19:26
And Three dots are used where it is no longer possible to be certain of the true sense of the Hebrew words, and for this reason no attempt has been made to put them into Basic English. without my flesh I will see God;
Job 21:26
Together they go down to the dust, and are covered by the worm.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And hereby we know that we are of the truth,.... By the saints loving one another in deed and in truth, they know, as the cause is known by the effect, that they are of God, who is the true God, the God of truth, and cannot lie, and is truth itself; that they are the children of God, and are born of him, since they love those that are, and every like loves its like; and that they are of Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life; that they belong to him, are his, since they have his Spirit, as appears by his fruits in them, and this, among the rest, love to the brethren; and that they are his disciples, which others, even all men know, as well as themselves, by their mutual brotherly love; and that they are of the Gospel, which is truth, and the word of truth; that they are begotten, and born again, according to the will and grace of God by it, and are on the side of it, and can do nothing against, but all for it; and that they are true, sincere, and upright persons, true believers in Christ, whose faith works by love, and are real lovers of him, and his, since they love not in word only, but in deed and in truth.

And shall assure our hearts before him; or "persuade our hearts": arrive to a full assurance of faith, hope, and understanding, that we are of the truth, do belong to God, are loved by him with an everlasting love, are chosen by him unto salvation, and are his adopted and regenerated ones, having passed from death to life, of which brotherly love is a sure evidence, 1 John 3:14. Some render the words "shall pacify", or "make our hearts tranquil": or "quiet"; this only the blood of Christ can do, and does, being sprinkled on the conscience: he only has a quiet mind, or true peace of conscience, that looks to the righteousness of Christ for justification, and deals with his blood for the full and free remission of his sins: it is true indeed, that one that loves his brother heartily and sincerely, has peace of mind in it, though not for it; when, on the other hand, there is no peace to the wicked man, that hates his brother; for where there is envying, malice, hatred, and strife, there is no true peace, pleasure, and comfort, but confusion, uneasiness, distraction, and every evil work. Or this passage may refer to that holy confidence before God, which true believers in Christ, and cordial lovers of the brethren, have; both now at the throne of grace, where they can come with boldness, intrepidity, and freedom, to ask for what they want, and confidently believe they shall receive what is proper and needful for them; and also hereafter, at the throne of judgment, and in the day of judgment, when they shall have boldness, and not be ashamed before the Judge at his coming; who will particularly take notice of their love in feeding, clothing, and visiting the least of his brethren, which he takes as done to himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And hereby - Greek, “by this;” that is, by the fact that we have true love to others, and that we manifest it by a readiness to make sacrifices to do them good.

We know that we are of the truth - That we are not deceived in what we profess to be; that is, that we are true Christians. To be of the truth stands opposed to cherishing false and delusive hopes.

And shall assure our hearts before him - Before God, or before the Saviour. In the margin, as in the Greek, the word rendered “shall assure,” is “persuade.” The Greek word is used as meaning to “persuade,” e. g., to the reception and belief of truth; then to persuade anyone who has unkind or prejudiced feelings toward us, or to bring over to kind feelings, “to conciliate,” and thus to pacify or quiet. The meaning here seems to be, that we shall in this way allay the doubts and trouble of our minds, and produce a state of quiet and peace, to wit, by the evidence that we are of the truth. Our consciences are often restless and troubled in view of past guilt; but, in thus furnishing the evidence of true piety by love to others, we shall pacify an accusing mind, and conciliate our own hearts, and persuade or convince ourselves that we are truly the children of God. See Robinson, Lexicon, sub voce πείθω peithō, I. b. In other words, though a person’s heart may condemn him as guilty, and though he knows that God sees and condemns the sins of his past life, yet the agitations and alarms of his mind may be calmed down and soothed by evidence that he is a child of God, and that he will not be finally condemned. A true Christian does not attempt to conceal the fact that there is much for which his own heart and conscience might justly accuse him but he finds, notwithstanding all this, evidence that he is a child of God, and he is persuaded that all will be well.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 19. Hereby we know that we are of the truth — That we have the true religion of the Lord Jesus, and shall assure our hearts-be persuaded in our consciences, that we have the truth as it is in Jesus; as no man can impose upon himself by imagining he loves when he does not: he may make empty professions to others, but if he loves either God or man, he knows it because he feels it; and love unfelt is not love, it is word or tongue. This the apostle lays down as a test of a man's Christianity, and it is the strongest and most infallible test that can be given. He that loves feels that he does love; and he who feels that he loves God and man has true religion; and he who is careful to show the fruits of this love, in obedience to God and humane acts to man, gives others the fullest proof that he has the loving mind that was in Jesus.


 
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