That which was from the beginning, which we have listened to, which we have seen with our own eyes, and our own hands have handled concerning the Word of Life--

the Life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and we declare unto you the Life of the Ages which was with the Father and was manifested to us--

that which we have seen and listened to we now announce to you also, in order that you also may have fellowship in it with us, and this fellowship with us is fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

This is the Message which we have heard from the Lord Jesus and now deliver to you--God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness.

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

But if we live in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we deny that we have sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Message has no place in our hearts.

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;

My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and God's Message still has a place in your hearts, and you have overcome the Evil one.

Dear children, the last hour has come; and as you once heard that there was to be an anti-Christ, so even now many anti-Christs have appeared. By this we may know that the last hour has come.

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.

As for you, you have an anointing from the holy One and have perfect knowledge.

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.

As for you, let the teaching which you have received from the very beginning continue in your hearts. If that teaching does continue in your hearts, you also will continue to be in union with the Son and with the Father.

I have thus written to you concerning those who are leading you astray.

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.

For this is the Message you have heard from the beginning--that we are to love one another.

As for us, we know that we have already passed out of death into Life--because we love our brother men. He who is destitute of love continues dead.

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.

As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted them; for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

God's love for us has been manifested in that He has sent His only Son into the world so that we may have Life through Him.

And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

And the command which we have from Him is that he who loves God must love his brother man also.

I write all this to you in order that you who believe in the Son of God may know for certain that you already have the Life of the Ages.

And we have an assured confidence that whenever we ask anything in accordance with His will, He listens to us.

And since we know that He listens to us, then whatever we ask, we know that we have the things which we have asked from Him.