This is the message that we heard from him and announce to you: God is light; there is no darkness in him at all.

If we say, "We are without any sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and there is no truth in our hearts.

This is how we can be sure that we know him??y obeying his commands.

Whoever says, "I know him," but does not obey his commands, is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart;

Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing you, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the same as the message you have heard.

Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is newly realized in him and in yourselves, for the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Whoever loves his brother is always in the light and puts no hindrance in anyone's way.

But whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and is living in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have been victorious over the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have been victorious over the evil one.

Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone loves the world, there is no love for the Father in his heart,

But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth;

I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it, and because no lie can come from the truth.

No one who disowns the Son can have the Father. Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too.

You still retain in your hearts the anointing with the Spirit that you received from him, and you do not need to have anyone teach you. But just as that anointing of his teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, keep in union with him just as it has taught you to do.

Now, dear children, keep in union with him, so that if he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame when he comes.

If you know that he is upright, you may be sure that everyone who acts uprightly is his child.

Think what love the Father has had for us, in letting us be called God's children, for that is what we are. This is why the world does not know what we are??ecause it has never come to know him.

Dear friends, we are God's children now; it has not yet been disclosed what we are to be. We know that if he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

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

No one who keeps in union with him sins. Anyone who sins has never seen him or come to know him.

Dear children, let no one mislead you; whoever acts uprightly is upright, just as he is upright.

No one who is a child of God commits sin, for God's nature remains in his heart, and he cannot sin, because he is a child of God.

This is how the children of God and those of the devil can be distinguished: No one who does not act uprightly or who does not love his brother is a child of God.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love is still in death.

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer can have eternal life remain in his heart.

We know what love means from the fact that he laid down his life for us; so we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

All who obey his commands keep in union with him, and he does with them; and this is how we know that he keeps in union with us??y the Spirit which he has given us.

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

No one has ever seen God; yet if we love one another, God keeps in union with us and love for him attains perfection in our hearts.

This is the way we know that we keep in union with him and he does with us??ecause he has given us some of his Spirit.

So we know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love keeps in union with God, and God with him.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear suggests punishment and no one who feels fear has attained perfect love.

I have written this so that you who believe in the Son of God may know that you have eternal life.

And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him for, we know that the requests we have made of him are granted.

We know that no child of God commits sin, but the fact that he is God's child protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

We know that we are children of God, while the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us power to recognize him who is true; and we are in union with him who is true, through his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.