1 John 3:20

20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

1 John 3:20 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
English Standard Version (ESV)
20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
New Living Translation (NLT)
20 Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.
The Message Bible (MSG)
20 It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
American Standard Version (ASV)
20 because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
20 Whenever our conscience condemns us, we will be reassured that God is greater than our conscience and knows everything.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
20 because if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
20 Our hearts may judge us. But God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything.

1 John 3:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 John 3:20

For if our heart condemn us
Of want of love to the brethren, and of hypocrisy in it, as well as of any other sin; for the conscience, which is meant by the heart here, is accuser, witness and judge; it accuses of the evil of sin, and is as good as a thousand witnesses; and upon its own testimony pronounces guilty, and condemns.

God is greater than our heart:
for he is the Maker of it, and he has the power over it, and the management of it; it is in his hands, and to be turned by him as he pleases; and he is the searcher and trier of it; and besides, is a swifter witness than conscience, and a superior Judge unto it.

And knoweth all things;
that are in the heart; the principles of actions, and all the actions of men, for which their hearts condemn them; and all the sinfulness in them, and the aggravations of them; wherefore, as he knows them more perfectly, he judges of them more exactly, and will reprove more sharply, and condemn more severely for them: hence, if the condemnation of men's hearts and consciences be so very great, as sometimes to be intolerable and insupportable, what will be the righteous judgment, and dreadful condemnation of God? how fearful a thing will it be to fall into the hands of the living God! this sense is confirmed by the Syriac version rendering it, "how much greater is God than our hearts?" there is another sense given by some, which is not by way of terror, but comfort, and that is, that if the hearts of believers accuse, reprove, and condemn for sin through unbelief, or want of clear view of pardon and righteousness by Christ, God is greater, as in power, so in knowledge, than the hearts of men; and he knows the thoughts he has towards them, which are of peace, and not of evil; the covenant he has made with his Son, of which he is ever mindful; and what his Son has done, that he has made full satisfaction for sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness: so that let sin, or Satan, or the world, or the law, or their own hearts condemn them, there is no condemnation of any avail unto them. But the former sense seems best to agree with the context.

1 John 3:20 In-Context

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:
20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
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