SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:20
¶ Y si nuestro corazn nos reprende, mayor es Dios que nuestro corazn, y conoce todas las cosas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 John 3:20
Verse 20. If our heart condemn us] If we be conscious that our love is feigned, we shall feel inwardly condemned in professing to have what we have not. And if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, for he knows every hypocritical winding and turning of the soul, he searches the heart, and tries the reins, and sees all the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart which we cannot see, and, if we could see them, could not comprehend them; and as he is the just Judge, he will condemn us more strictly and extensively than we can be by our own conscience.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 20. For if our heart condemn us , &c.] 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 16-21 - Here is the condescension, the miracle, the mystery of Divine love that God would redeem the church with his own blood. Surely we shoul love those whom God has loved, and so loved. The Holy Spirit, grieve at selfishness, will leave the selfish heart without comfort, and ful of darkness and terror. By what can it be known that a man has a tru sense of the love of Christ for perishing sinners, or that the love of God has been planted in his heart by the Holy Spirit, if the love of the world and its good overcomes the feelings of compassion to perishing brother? Every instance of this selfishness must weaken the evidences of a man's conversion; when habitual and allowed, it mus decide against him. If conscience condemn us in known sin, or the neglect of known duty, God does so too. Let conscience therefore be well-informed, be heard, and diligently attended to.
Greek Textus Receptus
οτι 3754 εαν 1437 καταγινωσκη 2607 5725 ημων 2257 η 3588 καρδια 2588 οτι 3754 μειζων 3187 εστιν 2076 5748 ο 3588 θεος 2316 της 3588 καρδιας 2588 ημων 2257 και 2532 γινωσκει 1097 5719 παντα 3956
Vincent's NT Word Studies
20. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater, etc. A very difficult passage. See critical note as above. Render, as Rev., shall assure our heart before Him whereinsoever our heart condemn us, because God is greater than our heart.
For (oti). To be rendered not as a conjunction (for, because) but as a relative, in whatsoever or whereinsoever.
Condemn (kataginwskh). The word occurs only three times in the New Testament; here, ver. 21, and Gal. ii. 11. It signifies (1.) To note accurately, usually in a bad sense. Hence to detect (Prov. xxviii. 11); compare Aristophanes: "Having observed (katagnouv) the foibles of the old man" ("Knights," 46). To form an unfavorable prejudice against. So Herodotus. Datis says to the Delians, "Why are ye fled, O holy men, having judged me (katagnontev kat emeu) in so unfriendly a way?" (vi. 97). (2.) To note judicially: to accuse: to accuse one's self. So Thucydides: "No one, when venturing on a perilous enterprise, ever yet passed a sentence of failure on himself" (katagnouv eJautou mh periesesqai; iii. 45). To give sentence, or condemn. To condemn to death. "Those who had fled they condemned to death" (qanaton katagnontev; Thucydides, 6, 60). To decide a suit against one. So Aristophanes: "You judges have no maintenance if you will not decide against (katagnwsesqe) this suit" ("Knights," 1360). In Gal. ii. 11, it is said of Peter that, because of his concessions to the Jewish ritualists, kategnwsmenov hn he stood condemned or self-condemned (not as A.V., he was to be blamed). His conduct was its own condemnation. This is the sense in this passage, the internal judgment of conscience.
Because (oti). This second oti does not appear in the A.V. It is a conjunction.
Greater (meizwn). Is this superior greatness to be regarded as related to God's judgment, or to His compassion? If to His judgment, the sense is: God who is greater than our heart and knows all things, must not only endorse but emphasize our self-accusation. If our heart condemn, how much more God, who is greater than our heart. If to His compassion, the sense is: when our heart condemns us we shall quiet it with the assurance that we are in the hands of a God who is greater than our heart - who surpasses man in love and compassion no less than in knowledge. This latter sense better suits the whole drift of the discussion. See critical note. There is a play of the words ginwskei knoweth, and kataginwskh condemneth, which is untranslatable.
