1 John 5:18

We know (oidamen). As in John 3:2 John 3:14 ; John 5:15 John 5:19 John 5:20 . He has "ye know" in John 2:20 ; John 3:5 John 3:15 . Sinneth not (ouc amartanei). Lineal present active indicative, "does not keep on sinning," as he has already shown in John 3:4-10 . He that was begotten of God (o gennhqei ek tou qeou). First aorist passive articular participle referring to Christ, if the reading of A B is correct (threi auton, not threi eauton). It is Christ who keeps the one begotten of God (gegennhmeno ek tou qeou as in John 3:9 and so different from o gennhqei here). It is a difficult phrase, but this is probably the idea. Jesus ( John 18:37 ) uses gegennhmai of himself and uses also threw of keeping the disciples ( John 17:12 John 17:15 ; Revelation 3:10 ). The evil one (o ponhro). Masculine and personal as in 1 John 2:13 , not neuter, and probably Satan as in Matthew 6:13 , not just any evil man. Touchest him not (ouc aptetai autou). Present middle indicative of aptw, elsewhere in John only John 20:17 . It means to lay hold of or to grasp rather than a mere superficial touch (qigganw, both in Colossians 2:21 ). Here the idea is to touch to harm. The devil cannot snatch such a man from Christ ( John 6:38 ).