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.

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 claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.

And yet I *am* giving you a new command, for such it really is, so far as both He and you are concerned: because the darkness is now passing away and the light, the true light, is already beginning to shine.

Any one who professes to be in the light and yet hates his brother man is still in darkness.

He who loves his brother man continues in the light, and his life puts no stumbling-block in the way of others.

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.

Dear children, let no one lead you astray. The man who acts righteously is righteous, just as He is righteous.

We know what love is--through Christ's having laid down His life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men.

Dear children, let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.

Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.