If we confess our sins, He is to be depended on, since He is just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from every wrong.

Dearly beloved, stop believing every so-called spiritual utterance, but keep testing them to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

But if we continue to live in the light, just as He is in the light, we have unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son continues to cleanse us from every sin.

They are children of the world; this is why they speak what the world inspires, and why the world listens to them.

Dearly beloved, let us practice loving one another, because love originates with God, and everyone who practices loving is a child of God and knows God by experience.

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,

See what wonderful love the Father has bestowed on us in letting us be called God's children, and that is what we are! This is why the world does not know what we are, because it has never come to know Him.

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.

Omitted Text.

If we claim "We are already free from sin," we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in our hearts.

It is what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have beheld, what our own hands have touched, about the very message of life --

Dearly beloved, we are now God's children, but what we are going to be has not been unveiled. We know that if it is unveiled, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

Whoever does not love has never come to know God by experience, because God is love.

And He is Himself the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not for ours alone, but also for the whole world.

And this is the message that we have heard from Him and now announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him.

We know what love is from the fact that He laid down His life for us; and so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

I have written this to you who believe in the person of the Son of God, so that you may know that you already have eternal life.

And this testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is given through union with His Son.

And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask for anything that is in accordance with His will, He will listen to us.

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.

So we know by experience and trust the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love continues in union with God and God in union with him.

Whoever practices sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has practiced sin from the beginning. This is why the Son of God appeared, to undo the devil's works.

There is no fear in love, and perfect love drives out fear, because fear pertains to punishment, and no one who is subject to fear has attained perfection in love.

You are children of God, dear children, and you have conquered these men, because He who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

By this we can be sure that we know Him -- if we practice obedience to His commands.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves His child.

In this way is seen the true love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

We love, because He loved us first.

Because there are three that testify to it, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three agree.

for every child of God continues to conquer the world. Our faith is the victory that has conquered the world.

This is the way God's love for us has been shown, namely, God has sent His only Son into the world that we through Him might have life.

I repeat, it is what we have seen and heard that we now announce to you, so that you too may share this fellowship with us, for this fellowship that we have is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ;

And now, dear children, I repeat, you must continue to live in union with Him, so that if He is unveiled, we may have unshaken confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame when He comes.

For love to God means this, to practice obedience to His commands, and His commands are not burdensome,

Dear children, let us stop loving with words or lips alone, but let us love with actions and in truth.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

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.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to recognize the True One; and we are in union with the True One through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

If we say "We have fellowship with Him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son does not have life.

But if anyone has the world's means of supporting life and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can love to God remain in him?

Whoever claims, "I am always in union with Him," ought to live as He lived.

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;

No one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning, because the God-given life-principle continues to live in him, and so he cannot practice sinning, because he is born of God.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;

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.

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.

If anyone says, "I love God," and yet habitually hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Whoever does not continue to love continues still in death.

In this way you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spiritual utterance which owns that Jesus Christ has come in human form comes from God,

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask and God will grant him life; yea, He will grant it to any who do not commit a sin that leads to death. There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

You know that He appeared to take our sins away, and that there is no sin in Him.

Anyone who keeps on hating his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer can have eternal life remaining in him.

it is so because the message that you have heard from the beginning is this: We should love one another.

Whoever says, "I know Him," but does not practice obedience to His commands is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;

No one has ever seen God; yet if we practice loving one another, God remains in union with us, and our love for Him attains perfection in our hearts,

I am writing to you, dear children, because for His sake your sins have been forgiven.

and no spiritual utterance which disowns Jesus can come from God; it is the utterance of Antichrist. You have heard that it is coming, and right now it is already in the world.

We know that no one who is born of God makes a practice of sinning, but the Son who was born of God continues to keep him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

By the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit we can be sure that we remain in union with Him and He in union with us.

We have seen and now testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.

And everyone who has this hope in him tries to make himself as pure as He is.

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.

Whoever continues to love his brother is always in the light, and he is no hindrance to others.

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.

And if we know that He listens to us in whatever we ask Him for, we know that we get from Him the things that we have asked Him for.

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.

Any wrongdoing is sin; and there are sins that do not lead to death.

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.

In this way we shall know by experience that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

This is the command that we get from Him, that whoever loves God loves his brother too.

Now who is it that continues to conquer the world, if it is not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

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.

I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it.

I write you this with reference to those who are trying to lead you astray,

His command is this, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and practice loving one another, just as He commanded us to do.

Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his own heart. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has borne to His Son.

Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did.

and that life has been unveiled to us, and we have seen it and now testify to it and we now announce it to you, yea, the eternal life that was with the Father and has been unveiled to us.

Whoever practices obedience to His commands remains in union with Him and He in union with him; and in this way we know that He remains in union with us, by the Spirit that He has given us.

Dear children, once for all put yourselves beyond the reach of idols.

He is the One who came through water and blood -- Jesus Christ; not through water only but through water and blood. The Spirit also testifies to this, because the Spirit is truth.

and we obtain from Him whatever we ask for, because we practice obedience to His commands and do what pleases Him.

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:

If you know that He is upright, you must know that everyone who practices uprightness is born of Him.

We are children of God. Whoever knows God by experience listens to us; whoever is not a child of God does not listen to us. This is the way to distinguish a true spiritual utterance from one that is false.

Dear children, avoid letting anyone lead you astray. Whoever practices doing right is upright, just as He is upright.

Dearly beloved, if God has loved us so, we ought to love one another too.

This is the way to distinguish God's children from the devil's children. No one who fails to do right is God's child, and no one who fails to love his brother.

because if our consciences do condemn us, God is greater than our consciences, and He knows everything.

No one who disowns the Son can have the Father. Whoever owns the Son has the Father too.

We must not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and butchered his brother. And why did he butcher him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's upright.

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; because this is the testimony that God has borne to His Son.

Whoever owns that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in union with him and he in union with God.

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.

This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God, by continuing to love God and to obey His commands.

Whoever claims to be in the light, and yet continues to hate his brother is still in darkness.

No one who continues to live in union with Him practices sin. No one who practices sin has ever seen Him or come to know Him.

If we claim "We have not sinned," we are making Him a liar, and His message is not in our hearts.

and now we write these things to you to make our joy complete.

Dearly beloved, if our consciences do not condemn us, we come with perfect confidence to God,

And the very thing that He Himself has promised us is eternal life.

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.

You must not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.