Here is the message we learned from him and announce to you: 'God is light and in him there is no darkness, none.'

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

He who says, 'I know him,' but does not obey his commands, is a liar and the truth is not in him;

Beloved, I am not writing you any new command, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning: the old command is the word you have heard.

And yet it is a new command I am writing to you ??realized in him and also in yourselves, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

He who loves his brother remains in the light ??and in the light there is no pitfall;

but he who hates his brother is in darkness, he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes.

fathers, I am writing to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I am writing to you, because you have conquered the evil One. Children, I have written to you, because you know the Father:

fathers, I have written to you, because you know him who is from the very beginning: young men, I have written to you, because you are strong, and the word of God remains within you, and you have conquered the evil One.

Now, you have been anointed by the holy One, and you all possess knowledge.

I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and know that no lie has any connexion with the truth.

No one who disowns the Son can possess the Father: he who confesses the Son possesses the Father as well.

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

but the unction you received from him remains within you, and you really need no teaching from anyone; simply remain in him, for his unction teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie ??remain in him, as it has taught you to do.

Remain within him now, my dear children, so that when he appears we may have confidence, instead of shrinking from him in shame at his arrival.

As you know he is just, be sure that everyone who practises righteousness is born of him.

We are children of God now, beloved; what we are to be is not apparent yet, but we do know that when he appears, we are to be like him ??for we are to see him as he is.

and you know he appeared to take [our] sins away. In him there is no sin;

Let no one deceive you, my dear children: he who practises righteousness is just, as He is just;

Here is how the children of God and the children of the devil are recognized; anyone who does not practise righteousness does not belong to God, and neither does he who has no love for his brother.

We know we have crossed from death to life, because we love the brotherhood; he who has no love [for his brother] remains in death.

Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining within him.

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.

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 does not love, does not know God, for God is love.

God no one has ever seen; but if we love one another, then God remains within us, and love for him is complete in us.

well, we do know, we have believed, the love God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

Love has no dread in it; no, love in its fulness drives all dread away, for dread has to do with punishment ??anyone who has dread, has not reached the fulness of love.

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

and if we know he listens to whatever we ask, we know we obtain the requests we have made to him.

We know that anyone who is born of God does not sin; He who was born of God preserves him, and the evil One never catches him.

We know that we belong to God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil One.

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.