18 We know that everyone having been born of God does not continually sin, but the one having been born of God, He keeps him and the evil one does not touch him. (1 John 5:18 translated from the NA28 Greek text to English)
In the 1 John 5:18 (above), in the best manuscripts, the word I translated as “him” after the word “keeps” is the Greek noun αὐτὸν(auton), a personal pronoun, which is the Accusative, Singular, Masculine case of αὐτός(autos), “he, she, it, self, same.”
However, in the Textus Receptus, 1 John 5:18 reads as follows:
18 οιδαμεν οτι πας ο γεγεννημενος εκ του θεου ουχ αμαρτανει αλλ ο γεννηθεις εκ του θεου τηρει εαυτον και ο πονηρος ουχ απτεται αυτου 1 John 5:18 (Greek NT: Scrivener 1894 TR)
The King James Bible translates this as. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.”
The best Greek manuscripts do not render v18 as the TR does. Did you see the difference between the two texts? The TR has the Greek reflexive pronoun ἐαυτὸν, “himself, herself, itself,” in place of αὐτὸν. This confuses the reading of the text. Is God protecting or keeping the Christian or is the Christian doing it” himself?” No, God is keeping or protecting those born of Christ, to keep them from the evil one, that he may not touch them, what can we do?
This is a repost from December, 2016: BY KNOWING THE TRUTH WE CAN REJECT WHAT IS FALSE