1 John 5:14

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that ¹  whenever ²  we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.

And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening.

And we are certain that if we make any request to him which is right in his eyes, he will give ear to us:

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹ tn For the third time in 5:9-14 the author uses the construction αὕτη ἐστίν ({auth estin; 5:9, 11, 14). As in the previous instance (5:11) the ὅτι (Joti) clause which follows is epexegetical (explanatory) to the pronoun αὕτη and explains what the “confidence” (παρρησία, parrhsia) consists of (technically the subject is ἡ παρρησία, the predicate nominative is the pronoun αὕτη, and the ὅτι clause explains the predicate nominative): “And the confidence which we have before him is this, namely, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

² tn A third-class condition is introduced by ἐάν (ean) + present subjunctive. Because the apodosis also contains a present tense verb (ἀκούει, akouei) this belongs in a subcategory of third-class conditional sentences known as present general. In the Koine period ἐάν can mean “when” or “whenever” and is virtually the equivalent of ὅταν (Jotan; see BDAG 268 s.v. ἐάν 2). Thus the meaning here is, “whenever (i.e., if) we ask anything according to his will, then he hears us.”