2 (My little children, 1 I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. 2 ) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate 3 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, 4 2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice 5 for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world. 6 3 Now 7 by this we know that we have come to know God: 8 if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who says “I have come to know God” 9 and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 5 But whoever obeys his 10 word, truly in this person 11 the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6 The one who says he resides 12 in God 13 ought himself to walk 14 just as Jesus 15 walked.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. 16 The old commandment is the word that you have already 17 heard. 8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him 18 and in you, because 19 the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 20 9 The one who says he is in the light but still hates 21 his fellow Christian 22 is still in the darkness. 10 The one who loves his fellow Christian 23 resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 24 11 But the one who hates his fellow Christian 25 is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 26
12 I am writing to you, 27 little children, that 28 your sins have been forgiven because of his 29 name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, that 30 you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that 31 you have conquered the evil one. 32 14 I have written to you, children, that 33 you have known the Father. 34 I have written to you, fathers, that 35 you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that 36 you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) 37 is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains 38 forever.
18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists 39 have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained 40 with us. But 41 they went out from us 42 to demonstrate 43 that all of them do not belong to us. 44
20 Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 45 21 I have not written to you that 46 you do not know the truth, but that 47 you do know it, and that 48 no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ 49 ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. 50
24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain 51 in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 Now this 52 is the promise that he 53 himself made to 54 us: eternal life. 55 26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 56
27 Now as for you, the anointing 57 that you received from him 58 resides 59 in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his 60 anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as 61 it 62 has taught you, you reside 63 in him.
28 And now, little children, remain 64 in him, 65 so that when 66 he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. 67 29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know 68 that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered 69 by him.
3 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that 1 we should be called God’s children – and indeed 2 we are! 3 For this reason 4 the world does not know us: because it did not know him. 5 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be 6 has not yet been revealed. We 7 know that 8 whenever 9 it 10 is revealed 11 we will be like him, because 12 we will see him just as he is. 13 3 And everyone who has this hope focused 14 on him purifies 15 himself, just as Jesus 16 is pure). 17
4 Everyone who practices sin 18 also practices lawlessness; 19 indeed, 20 sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that Jesus 21 was revealed to take away 22 sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 Everyone who resides 23 in him does not sin; 24 everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness 25 is righteous, just as Jesus 26 is righteous. 8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, 27 because the devil has been sinning 28 from the beginning. For this purpose 29 the Son of God was revealed: to destroy 30 the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who has been fathered 31 by God does not practice sin, 32 because 33 God’s 34 seed 35 resides in him, and thus 36 he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. 10 By this 37 the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian 38 – is not of God.
11 For 39 this is the gospel 40 message 41 that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, 42 12 not like Cain 43 who was of the evil one and brutally 44 murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.
13 Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, 45 if the world hates you. 46 14 We know that 47 we have crossed over 48 from death to life 49 because 50 we love our fellow Christians. 51 The one who does not love remains in death. 52 15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian 53 is a murderer, 54 and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing 55 in him. 16 We have come to know love by this: 56 that Jesus 57 laid down 58 his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. 17 But whoever has the world’s possessions 59 and sees his fellow Christian 60 in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God 61 reside 62 in such a person? 63
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. 64 19 And by this 65 we will know that we are of the truth and will convince 66 our conscience 67 in his presence, 68 20 that 69 if our conscience condemns 70 us, that 71 God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. 21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 22 and 72 whatever we ask we receive from him, because 73 we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. 23 Now 74 this is his commandment: 75 that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave 76 us the commandment. 24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides 77 in God, 78 and God 79 in him. Now by this 80 we know that God 81 resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.
