This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

He who says, "I know him," but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him:

he who says he abides in him ought to walk as he walked.

Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I wrote to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does right is born of him.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God! And so we are! The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

And you know that he appeared to take away our sins, and in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him sins. No one who sins has either seen him or known him.

No one who is of God practices sin, for God's seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

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

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him

and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

Now those who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

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

He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given of his Son.

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

And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.

We know that anyone born of God does not sin; but he who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

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