Bible Strands
1 John 1:8
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — John writes to a community confronting a claim of sinless perfection, likely Gnostic or antinomian, and corrects it directly. He does this between two positive statements (v. 7, cleansing; v. 9, forgiveness), framing honesty as the precondition for both.
The words — πλανῶμεν (planōmen), from πλανάω, carries the sense of leading astray or setting off course, not merely telling a casual lie. The verb implies a sustained misdirection of self, a state of being lost rather than a single false utterance.
The thread — Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and James 3:2 all affirm universal sinfulness from different angles: theological, observational, and practical. 1 John 1:8 is the pastoral application of that consensus to a community tempted to deny it.
Why it lands — It removes the option of claiming moral innocence as a basis for standing before God. A reader must either own sin or admit self-deception; there is no third position the verse allows.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Cross-references
- Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
- Isaiah 53:6 We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- 1 John 2:4 If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
- 1 John 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.
- Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
- Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?
- Isaiah 64:6 Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Psalms 143:2 Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.