It is of what has been in existence from the Beginning, of what we have heard, of what we have seen with our eyes, of what we watched reverently and touched with our hands--it is about the Word who is the Life that we are now writing.

That Life was made visible, and we have seen it, and now bear our testimony to it, and tell you of that Immortal Life, which was with the Father and was made visible to us.

It is of what we have seen and heard that we now tell you, so that you may have communion with us. And our communion is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

These, then, are the Tidings that we have heard from him and now tell you-- 'God is Light, and Darkness has no place at all in him.'

If we say that there is no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth has no place in us.

If we say that we have not sinned, we are making God a liar, and his Message has no place in us.

And by this we know that we have learned to know him--by our laying his commands to heart.

The man who says 'I know Jesus,' but does not lay his commands to heart, is a liar, and the Truth has no place in him;

but, whenever a man lays his Message to heart, in that man the love of God has indeed reached its perfection. By this we know that we are in union with God--

Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing to you, but an old command, which you have had from the first. That old command is the Message to which you listened.

Yet, again, it is a new Command that I am writing to you-- manifest in Christ's life and in your own--for the Darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.

He who says that he is in the Light, and yet hates his Brother, is in the Darkness even now.

while he who hates his Brother is in the Darkness, and is living in the Darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the Darkness prevents his seeing.

I am writing, Fathers, to you, because you have learned to know him who has been from the Beginning. I am writing, Young Men, to you, because you have conquered the Evil One. I write, Children, to you, because you have learned to know the Father.

I write, Fathers, to you, because you have learned to know him who has been from the Beginning. I write, Young Men, to you, because you are strong, and God's Message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the Evil One.

Do not love the world or what the world can offer. When any one loves the world, there is no love for the Father in him;

My Children, these are the last days. You were told that an Anti-Christ was coming; and many Anti-Christ's have already arisen. By that we know that these are the last days.

You all know--But I am not writing to you because you do not know the Truth, but because you do know it, and because nothing false can come from the Truth.

No one who rejects the Son has found the Father; he who acknowledges the Son has found the Father also.

But you--you still retain in your hears that consecration which you received from the Christ, and are not in need of any one to teach you; but, since his consecration of you teaches you about everything, and since it is a real consecration, and no lie, then, as it has taught you, maintain your union with him.

Knowing him to be righteous, you realize that every one who lives righteously has received the new Life from him.

Think what love the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called 'Children of God'; as indeed we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it has not learned to know him.

Dear friends, we are God's Children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is that, when it is revealed, we shall be like Christ; because we shall see him as he is.

And you know that Christ appeared to take away our sins; and in him Sin has no place.

No one who maintains union with him lives in sin; no one who lives in sin has ever really seen him or learned to know him.

No one who has received the new Life from God lives sinfully, because the very nature of God dwells within him; and he cannot live in sin, because he has received the new Life from God.

By this the Children of God are distinguished from the Children of the Devil--No one who lives unrighteously comes from God, and especially the man who does not love his Brother.

We know that we have passed out of Death into Life, because we love our Brothers. The man who does not love remains in a state of Death.

Every one who hates his Brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has Immortal Life within him.

We have learned to know what love is from this--that Christ laid down his life on our behalf. Therefore we also ought to lay down our lives on behalf of our Brothers.

By that we shall know that we are on the side of the Truth; and we shall satisfy ourselves in God's sight,

And he who lays his commands to heart maintains union with Christ, and Christ with him. And by this we know that Christ maintains union with us--by our possession of the Spirit which he gave us.

This is the way by which to know the inspiration of God--All inspiration that acknowledges Jesus Christ as come in our human nature is from God;

while all inspiration that does not acknowledge Jesus is not inspiration from God. It is the inspiration of the Anti-Christ; you have heard that it was to come, and it is now already in the world.

We come from God. He who knows God listens to us; the man who does not come from God does not listen to us. By that we may know the true inspiration from the false.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because Love comes from God; and every one who loves has received the new Life from God and knows God.

He who does not love has not learned to know God; for God is Love.

No human eyes have ever seen God, yet, if we love one another, God remains in union with us, and his love attains its perfection in us.

We know that we remain in union with him, and he with us, by this--by his having given us some measure of his Spirit.

And, moreover, we have learned to know, and have accepted as a fact, the love which God has for us. God is Love; and he who lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

There is no fear in love. No! Love, when perfect, drives out fear, for fear implies punishment, and the man who feels fear has not attained to perfect love.

Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ has received the new Life from God; and every one who loves him who gave that Life loves him who has received it.

By this we know that we love God's Children--when we love God and carry out his commands.

because all that has received the new Life from God conquers the world. And this is the power that has conquered the world--our faith!

We know that no one who has received the new Life from God lives in sin. No, he who has received the new Life from God keeps the thought of God in his heart, and then the Evil One does not touch him.

We realize, too, that the Son of God has come among us, and has given us the discernment to know the True God; and we are in union with the True God by our union with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the True God and he is Immortal Life.