If, while we are living in darkness, we profess to have fellowship with Him, we speak falsely and are not adhering to the truth.

Dear children, I write thus to you in order that you may not sin. If any one sins, we have an Advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ the righteous;

and He is an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

He who professes to know Him, and yet does not obey His commands, is a liar, and the truth has no place in his heart.

But he who hates his brother man is in darkness and is walking in darkness; and he does not know where he is going--because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, there is no love in his heart for the Father.

For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world.

They have gone forth from our midst, but they did not really belong to us; for had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they left us that it might be manifest that professed believers do not all belong to us.

I have written to you, not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you know it, and you know that nothing false comes from the truth.

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains within you, and there is no need for any one to teach you. But since His anointing gives you instruction in all things--and is true and is no falsehood--you are continuing in union with Him even as it has taught you to do.

And now, dear children, continue in union with Him; so that, if He re-appears, we may have perfect confidence, and may not shrink away in shame from His presence at His Coming.

See what marvellous love the Father has bestowed upon us--that we should be called God's children: and that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us--because it has not known Him.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

We are not to resemble Cain, who was a child of the Evil one and killed his own brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's actions righteous.

Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.

But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?

Dear children, let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have perfect confidence towards God;

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to see whether they are from God; for many false teachers have gone out into the world.

and that no spirit is from God which does not acknowledge this about Jesus. Such is the spirit of the anti-Christ; of whose coming you have heard, and it is already in the world.

The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

If any one says that he loves God, while he hates his brother man, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother man whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Love for God means obedience to His commands; and His commands are not irksome.

Jesus Christ is He who came with water and blood; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. And it is the Spirit who gives testimony-- because the Spirit is the Truth.

He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in his own heart: he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, in that he has refused to accept the testimony which God has given about His Son.

He who has the Son has the Life: he who has not the Son of God has not the Life.

If any one sees a brother man committing a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and God shall give him life--for those who do not sin unto death. There is such a thing as sin unto death; for that I do not bid him make request.

Any kind of wrongdoing is sin; but there is sin which is not unto death.