{We know} (oidamen). As in  3:2,14  5:15,19,20 . He has
"ye know" in  2:20  3:5,15 . {Sinneth not} (ouch hamartanei).
Lineal present active indicative, "does not keep on sinning," as
he has already shown in  3:4-10 . {He that was begotten of God}
(ho genn(8874)heis ek tou theou). First aorist passive articular
participle referring to Christ, if the reading of A B is correct
(	(8872)ei auton, not 	(8872)ei heauton). It is Christ who keeps the
one begotten of God (gegenn(886d)enos ek tou theou as in  3:9  and
so different from ho genn(8874)heis here). It is a difficult
phrase, but this is probably the idea. Jesus ( Joh 18:37 ) uses
gegenn(886d)ai of himself and uses also 	(8872)e(935c) of keeping the
disciples ( Joh 17:12,15  Re 3:10 ). {The evil one} (ho
pon(8872)os). Masculine and personal as in  2:13 , not neuter, and
probably Satan as in  Mt 6:13 , not just any evil man. {Touchest
him not} (ouch haptetai autou). Present middle indicative of
hapt(935c), elsewhere in John only  Joh 20:17 . It means to lay hold
of or to grasp rather than a mere superficial touch (	higgan(935c),
both in  Col 2:21 ). Here the idea is to touch to harm. The devil
cannot snatch such a man from Christ ( Joh 6:38f. ).