1 John 3:19

Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

In this verse, "heart" is used with the meaning of "conscience." "The heart in St. John's language is conscience; the word conscience is not found in his writings."[42]

"Opinion is much divided on whether these verses are meant to inspire awe, or afford consolation."[43] There does not seem to be any way of arriving at an absolute certainty on this point, so both viewpoints (and translations) will be presented.

AS AFFORDING CONSOLATION

Westcott's paraphrase is: "We shall then still our heart in whatsoever it may condemn us, because we are in fellowship with God, and that fact assures us of his sovereign mercy."[44]

David Smith explained the meaning thus:

The foregoing exhortation may have awakened a misgiving in our minds: "Am I loving as I ought?" Our failures in duty and service rise up before us, and "our heart condemns us." So the apostle furnishes a grand reassurance. The assurance is: (1) the worst that is in us is known to God, and (2) God sees the deepest things, and these are the real things. If our intention is to do his will, he takes account of that.[45]

The translation in the New Catholic Bible also follows this pattern of thought:

A probable rendering of the Greek is: "And in his sight we shall reassure our hearts, whatever our heart may accuse us of, because God is greater."[46]

Orr wrote:

When conscience brings its accusations, we may appeal to the higher and final tribunal of Omniscience. "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love, etc." (John 21:17).[47]

Plummer in his comment on "God knoweth all things ..." has this:

This is an awful thought for the impenitent, a blessed and encouraging thought for the penitent. God knows our sins, but he also knows our temptations, our struggles, our sorrow, and our love."[48]

Despite the above, however, there is another viewpoint that must be considered.

AS INSPIRING AWE

It could mean: since our hearts condemn us and God is infinitely greater than our hearts, God must condemn us even more. If we take it that way, it leaves us only with the fear of God and with nothing to say but, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."[49]

Our conscience is but the faint echo of His voice who knoweth all things: if it condemns us, how much more He?[50]

The main objection to this interpretation was stated by Stott who thought that the emphatic purpose of the paragraph was that of healing wounded hearts and not that of "opening the wounds wider ... and striking terror into their hearts."[51] Despite this, we cannot rule out the possibility of this second meaning, for in so doing we might be guilty of presumption. Nevertheless, we dare to hope that the first meaning is correct. It could be that the blessed Spirit who inspired these precious words intended a certain ambiguity.

[42] Ibid., p. 912.

[43] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1057. [44] Ibid.

[45] David Smith, op. cit., p. 187.

[46] The New Catholic Bible, op. cit., p. 317.

[47] R. W. Orr, op. cit., p. 616.

[48] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 75.

[49] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 86.

[50] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 148.

[51] Ibid.