We are writing this to you that our own joy may be complete.

My dear children, I am writing this to you that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ the just;

This is how we may be sure we know him, by obeying his commands.

but whoever obeys his word, in him love to God is really complete. This is how we may be sure we are in him:

Who is the real liar? who but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is 'antichrist,' he who disowns the Father and the Son.

Now this is what he has promised you, eternal life.

I am writing to you in this way about those who would deceive you,

And everyone who rests this hope on him, purifies himself as he is pure.

he who commits sin belongs to the devil, for the devil is a sinner from the very beginning. (This is why the Son of God appeared, to destroy the deeds of the devil.)

For this is the message you have learned from the very beginning, that we are to love one another:

We know what love is by this, that He laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for the brotherhood.

But whoever possesses this world's goods, and notices his brother in need, and shuts his heart against him, how can love to God remain in him?

Now this is what he commands, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has commanded us to do;

he who obeys his commands remains within him ??and He remains within him. And this is how we may be sure he remains within us, by means of the Spirit he has given us.

You can recognize the Spirit of God by this: every spirit which confesses Jesus as the Christ incarnate comes from God,

and every spirit which does not confess Jesus [incarnate] does not come from God. This latter is the spirit of antichrist; you were told it was coming, and here it is already in the world.

we belong to God ??he who knows God listens to us, he who does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

This is how the love of God has appeared for us, by God sending his only Son into the world, so that by him we might live.

Love lies in this, not in our love for him but in his love for us ??in the sending of his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This is how we may be sure we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us a share in his own Spirit;

Love is complete with us when we have absolute confidence about the day of judgment, since in this world we are living as He lives.

And we get this command from him, that he who loves God is to love his brother as well.

This is how we are sure that we love God's children, by loving God and obeying his commands

The Spirit is the witness to this, for the Spirit is truth.

And the testimony is, that God gave us life eternal and this life is in his Son.

I have written in this way to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may be sure you have life eternal.

Now the confidence we have in him is this, that he listens to us whenever we ask anything in accordance with his will;

We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to know Him who is the Real God; and we are in Him who is real, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the real God, this is life eternal.