1 What was from the beginning; what we have heard; what we have seen with our eyes; what we looked at and touched with our hands, referring to the Word of life.
2 For this life was clearly seen, and we have seen, bear witness, and tell you about that eternal life, which was with the Father and was clearly seen by us.
3 That which we have seen and heard, we announce to you so that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 We write these things to you so that your joy may be full.
5 This, then, is the message, which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and are not putting the truth into practice.
7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from every sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we keep on confessing our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 My little children, I write these things to you, so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have one an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2 He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
3 And in this we can be sure that we know him, if we obey his commands.
4 He who says, "I know him," and doesn't obey his commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever obeys his word, truly has the love for God been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him.
6 He who says he remains in him is under an obligation himself to also keep on living his life as he did.
7 Brothers, I don't write a new command to you but a command that's been around a long time, which you had from the beginning. This longtime command is the message, which you have heard from the beginning.
8 However, I write a new command to you, which is true in him and you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
9 He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness to this very hour.
10 He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no danger of him stumbling.
11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness, walks in darkness, and doesn't know where he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you through his name.
13 I write to you, fathers, because you do know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you do know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, the word of God is present in you, and you do overcome the wicked 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 For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of this life is not from the Father but is from the world.
17 But the world passes away and its lust. On the other hand the one who does the will of God stands firm forever.
18 Little children, it is the final hour, and as you have heard the antichrist is coming, and now there are many antichrists, which is how we know that it is the final hour.
19 They started out with us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have continued with us, nevertheless they left us that it might be obvious that they were not really part of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One and understand all this.
21 I have not written to you, because you don't understand the truth but because you do understand it, and no lie comes out of truth.
22 Who is a liar but he who refuses to confess that Jesus is the Christ? The one who refuses to confess the Father and the Son is an antichrist.
23 Whoever refuses to confess the Son doesn't have the Father either, but the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 Therefore, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in the Father and the Son.
25 This is the promise that he has promised us--eternal life.
26 I have written these things about those who are trying to lead you astray.
27 The anointing, which you have received from him, remains in you, and you don't need anyone to teach you. Since the same anointing teaches you about all things and is truth and is no lie--just as it taught you--you will remain in him.
28 And now, little children, continue in him, that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, then know that everyone who is doing righteousness is born of him.
1 Look what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called "The Children of God"! Because of this, the world cannot know us, because it didn't know him either.
2 Beloved, we are now children of God, and it is not clear what we will be, but we know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.
3 Everyone having this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 Everyone doing sin also is doing lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
5 And you are aware that he appeared to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him.
6 Everyone remaining in him does not keep on sinning. Everyone who keeps on sinning has not seen or known him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you; he who does what is right is righteous just as he is righteous.
8 The one who keeps on sinning is of the Devil, because the devil keeps on sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason that he might destroy the works of the Devil.
9 Everyone who has been born of God doesn't keep on sinning, because his seed remains in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he is born of God.
10 God's children and the Devil's children are plainly recognized by this: whoever does not do what is right is not of God, nor he who doesn't love his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we must love one another.
12 We must not be like Cain; he was of the wicked one and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, while his brother's righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. The one who doesn't love his brother continues in death.
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life living in him.
16 By this we know [God's] love: he laid down his life for us, and we should lay our lives down for the brethren.
17 Now, whoever has this world's goods, sees his brother have need, and closes his heart to him; how can God's love live in him?
18 My little children let us love not in words and speech but in actions and truth.
19 By this we will know we are of the truth and calm our hearts in his presence,
20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart doesn't condemn us, then we have confidence in God's presence.
22 Whatever we ask for, we receive from him, because we obey his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 This is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us.
24 The one who obeys his commandments lives in him, and he in him. By the Spirit that he has given us, we know that he lives in us.
1 My beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God; every spirit that freely admits that Christ has come in flesh is from God.
3 And every spirit that does not freely admit that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of antichrist, which you have heard would come, and even now is already in the world.
4 Little children, you are of God and overcome them, because he who is in you is greater that he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world; therefore they speak the world's way, and the world listens to them.
6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us; he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 God's love towards us is clearly seen by this, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 Now this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God loved us this much, we have to love one another, too.
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.
13 We know by this that we live in him, and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father sent out the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever will freely admit that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.
16 We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who lives in love, lives in God and God in him.
17 By this our love is made complete, so we can have confidence on Judgment Day, because just as He is, we [who are] in this world are also.
18 There is no fear in love, on the contrary, perfected love throws out fear, because fear has torment, and the fearful is not perfected in love.
19 We love him, because he loved us first.
20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, is a liar, for how can he say he loves God who he can't see and doesn't love his brother who he can see?
21 And this is the commandment we have from him that the one who loves God love his brother also.
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves him who fathers also loves him who is born of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is love for God, that we obey his commandments, and his commandments are not oppressive,
4 because all who are born of God overcome the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world--our faith.
5 Who is the one who overcomes the world? [It is] the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 This is the one who came through water and blood--Jesus the Christ, not just in water only but in the water and the blood. The Spirit is bearing witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 There are three bearing witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
8 And there are three bearing witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.
9 If we accept human testimony, God's testimony is stronger, because this is God's testimony that he testified about his son.
10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one who doesn't believe God has made him a liar, because he doesn't believe the testimony that God gave about his Son.
11 This is the testimony: God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn't have the Son of God doesn't have life.
13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God.
14 This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us (whatever we ask), we know we have from him the thing we asked for.
16 If any sees his brother sin a sin that doesn't lead to death, he will ask, and [God] will give life to those who do not commit sins leading to death. There is sin [leading] to death. I do not say that he should pray for that.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin not [leading] to death.
18 We know that whoever is born of God doesn't keep on sinning, but the one born of God watches himself, so that wicked one doesn't harm him.
19 We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in wickedness.
20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Little children avoid idols. Amen.