1 My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone ever sins, we have One who pleads our case with the Father, Jesus Christ, One who is righteous.
2 And He is Himself the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not for ours alone, but also for the whole world.
3 By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.
4 Whoever says, "I know Him," but does not practice obedience to His commands is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;
5 but whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. By this we can be sure that we are in union with Him:
6 Whoever claims, "I am always in union with Him," ought to live as He lived.
7 Dearly beloved, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the message that you have heard.
8 Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever claims to be in the light, and yet continues to hate his brother is still in darkness.
10 Whoever continues to love his brother is always in the light, and he is no hindrance to others.
11 But whoever continues to hate his brother is in darkness and is living in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins have been forgiven.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.
14 I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the evil one.
15 Stop loving the world, or the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, there is no love for the Father in his heart,
16 because everything that is in the world, the things that our lower nature and eyes are longing for, and the proud pretensions of life, do not come from the Father, but from the world;
17 and the world is passing away and with it the evil longings it incites, but whoever perseveres in doing God's will lives on forever.
18 Little children, it is the last hour, just as you have heard that Antichrist is Coming, and already many Antichrists have appeared; so we may be sure that it is the last hour.
19 They have gone out from our own number, but they did not really belong to us; for if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to show that none of those who went out really belonged to us.
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;
21 I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it.
22 Who is the notorious liar, if it is not the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the real Antichrist, the man who disowns the Father and the Son.
23 No one who disowns the Son can have the Father. Whoever owns the Son has the Father too.
24 Let what you have heard from the beginning continue to live in your hearts; if you do, you will always remain in union with the Son and the Father.
25 And the very thing that He Himself has promised us is eternal life.
26 I write you this with reference to those who are trying to lead you astray,
27 The anointing of the Spirit which you received still remains in your hearts, and so you have no need that anyone should teach you. But just as that anointing of His teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, and as it has taught you to do so, you must continue to live in union with Him.