Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

The one who says "I have come to know God" and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.

But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.

I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children -- and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.

Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God's seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness -- the one who does not love his fellow Christian -- is not of God.

But whoever has the world's possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?

that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.

Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God,

And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.

The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit.

If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

If anyone says "I love God" and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

(The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.)

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

If anyone sees his fellow Christian committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that.

We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.