What existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we observed and touched with our own hands this is the Word of life!

This life was revealed to us, and we have seen it and testify about it. We declare to you this eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.

This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness none at all!

If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

But if we keep living in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and we're not being truthful to ourselves.

If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word has no place in us.

My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus, the Messiah, one who is righteous.

This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

The person who says, "I have come to know him," but does not continually keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth has no place in that person.

Dear friends, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one.

I have written to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong and because God's word remains in you and you have overcome the evil one.

Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

You have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things.

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because lies don't come from truth.

What you have heard from the beginning must abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.

I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

Even now, little children, abide in him. Then, when he appears, we will have confidence and will not turn away from him in shame when he comes.

This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. The person who does not love remains spiritually dead.

This is how we have come to know love: the Messiah gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God.

Dear friends, stop believing every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world.

Little children, you belong to God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

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.

We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

We have come to know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him.

And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.

The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this 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.

And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us.

And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.