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.

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

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.

The one who says that he abides in him must live the same way he himself lived.

On the other hand, I am writing to you a new commandment that is truly in him and in you. For the darkness is fading away, and the true light is already shining.

The person who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no reason for him to stumble.

Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father's love is not in him.

The anointing you received from God abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you this. Instead, because God's anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in him, as he taught you to do.

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.

See what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God's children and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as the Messiah is pure.

You know that the Messiah was revealed to take away sins, and there is not any sin in him.

No one who remains in union with him keeps on sinning. The one who keeps on sinning hasn't seen him or known him.

No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

Do not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because what he was doing was evil and his brother's actions were righteous.

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

Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God be present in him?

Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

The person who keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.

This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him.

This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.

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 believes in the Son of God believes this testimony personally. The person who does not believe God has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that he has given about his Son.

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.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that.