1. God is light
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning,a which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,b which we have looked at and our hands have touchedc —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared;d we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.e 4We write thisf to make oura joy complete.g
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5This is the message we have heard
h from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness,
i we lie and do not live out the truth.
j 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all
a sin.
k 8If we claim to be without sin,
l we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
m 9If we confess our sins,
n he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar
o and his word is not in us.
p 2 My dear children,q I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocater with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,s and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers
3We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.
t 4Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
u 5But if anyone obeys his word,
v love for God
a is truly made complete in them.
w This is how we know we are in him:
6Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
x 7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.
y 8Yet I am writing you a new command;
z its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing
a and the true light
b is already shining.
c 9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister
a is still in the darkness.
10Anyone who loves their brother and sister
b lives in the light,
d and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.
11But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
e Reasons for Writing
12I am writing to you, dear children,
12because your sins have been forgiven on account
12of his name.
13I am writing to you, fathers,
13because you know him who is from the beginning.
13I am writing to you, young men,
13because you have overcome the evil one.
f 14I write to you, dear children,
14because you know the Father.
14I write to you, fathers,
14because you know him who is from the beginning.
14I write to you, young men,
14because you are strong,
g
and the word of God lives in you,
h
and you have overcome the evil one.
i On Not Loving the World
15Do not love the world or anything in the world.
j If anyone loves the world, love for the Father
a is not in them.
k 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,
l the lust of the eyes,
m and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
17The world and its desires pass away,
n but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Warnings Against Denying the Son
18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,
o even now many antichrists have come.
p This is how we know it is the last hour.
19They went out from us,
q but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
r 20But you have an anointing
s from the Holy One,
t and all of you know the truth.
a u 21I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it
v and because no lie comes from the truth.
22Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.
w 23No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
x 24As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
y 25And this is what he promised us—eternal life.
26I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
z 27As for you, the anointing
a you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
2. God is love
God’s Children and Sin
28And now, dear children,
b continue in him, so that when he appears
c we may be confident
d and unashamed before him at his coming.
e 29If you know that he is righteous,
f you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
3 See what great loveg the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!h And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.i 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,a we shall be like him,j for we shall see him as he is.k 3All who have this hope in him purify themselves,l just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.m 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.n 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.o No one who continues to sin has either seen himp or known him.q
7Dear children,r do not let anyone lead you astray.s The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.t 8The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,u because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9No one who is born of Godv will continue to sin,w because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
More on Love and Hatred
11For this is the message you heard
x from the beginning: We should love one another.
y 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.
z And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
13Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,
a if the world hates you.
a 14We know that we have passed from death to life,
b because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
c 15Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer,
d and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
e 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
f 17If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,
g how can the love of God be in that person?
h 18Dear children,
i let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
j 19This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:
20If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God
k 22and receive from him anything we ask,
l because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
m 23And this is his command: to believe
n in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
o 24The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him,
p and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
q On Denying the Incarnation
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.r 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the fleshs is from God,t 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,u which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in youv is greater than the one who is in the world.w 5They are from the worldx and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.y This is how we recognize the Spirita of truthz and the spirit of falsehood.
God’s Love and Ours
7Dear friends, let us love one another,
a for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
b 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
c 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
d 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us
e and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
f 11Dear friends, since God so loved us,
g we also ought to love one another.
12No one has ever seen God;
h but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
i 13This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.
j 14And we have seen and testify
k that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
l 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
m God lives in them and they in God.
16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.
n Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
o 17This is how love is made complete
p among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,
q because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us.
r 20Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister
s is a liar.
t For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
21And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
u 3. God is life
Faith in the Incarnate Son of God
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christv is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.w And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6This is the one who came by water and bloodx —Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.y 7For there are threez that testify: 8thea Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept human testimony,a but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God,b which he has given about his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony.c Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar,d because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.e 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.f
Concluding Affirmations
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God
g so that you may know that you have eternal life.
h 14This is the confidence
i we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
j 15And if we know
k that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.
l I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.
17All wrongdoing is sin,
m and there is sin that does not lead to death.
n 18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
o 19We know that we are children of God,
p and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
q 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,
r so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
s 21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
