1 John study section
1 John word studies
A handful of Greek words carry the theology of 1 John. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.
Key words
κοινωνία (koinōnia) — “Fellowship”
Usage: 1 John 1:3, 6-7
Meaning: Fellowship, communion, partnership, sharing in common.
Theological Significance: John writes that believers may have koinōnia with the apostles, and “with the Father and with his Son.” True fellowship with God, who is light, is shown by walking in the light; it is the shared life of God’s people cleansed by Christ’s blood (1 John 1:3, 7; 1 Corinthians 1:9).
φῶς (phōs) — “Light”
Usage: 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:8-10
Meaning: Light — a symbol of God’s holiness, truth, and purity, opposed to darkness.
Theological Significance: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” To walk in the phōs is to live in truth, holiness, and love; those who hate their brother remain in darkness. Light and darkness mark the great divide between God’s children and the world (1 John 1:5; 2:9-11; John 8:12).
ἀγάπη (agapē) — “Love”
Usage: 1 John 3:1, 16; 4:7-21
Meaning: Self-giving love that seeks the good of another, supremely shown in Christ.
Theological Significance: “God is agapē,” and He defined love by sending His Son as the propitiation for our sins. Those born of God love one another; “we love because he first loved us.” Love for others is the inescapable mark of knowing God (1 John 4:7-11, 19; John 13:34-35).
ἱλασμός (hilasmos) — “Propitiation”
Usage: 1 John 2:2; 4:10
Meaning: Propitiation, an atoning sacrifice that turns away wrath and covers sin.
Theological Significance: Jesus “is the hilasmos for our sins,” the sacrifice by which God’s just wrath against sin is satisfied and sinners are cleansed. The cross is thus the supreme demonstration of love — “he loved us and sent his Son” (1 John 2:2; 4:10; Romans 3:25).
οἶδα (oida) — “To Know (with Assurance)”
Usage: 1 John 3:14; 5:13, 18-20
Meaning: To know, to be sure of, to perceive with settled certainty.
Theological Significance: John’s repeated “we know” grounds the letter’s assurance: believers may oida — know with certainty — that they have passed from death to life and possess eternal life. Assurance is not presumption but the confident knowledge God intends His children to have (1 John 5:13; 3:14).
My notes
Private unless you specifically share them with another.