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 whoever obeys His Message, in him love for God has in very deed reached perfection. By this we can know that we are in Him.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and God's Message still has a place in your hearts, and you have overcome the Evil one.

And the world, with its cravings, is passing away, but he who does God's will continues for ever.

See what marvellous love the Father has bestowed upon us--that we should be called God's children: and that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us--because it has not known Him.

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

He who is habitually guilty of sin is a child of the Devil, because the Devil has been a sinner from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for the purpose of undoing the work of the Devil.

No one who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin--because he is a child of God.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?

in whatever matters our hearts condemn us--because God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have perfect confidence towards God;

The man who obeys His commands continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him; and through His Spirit whom He has given us we can know that He continues in union with us.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to see whether they are from God; for many false teachers have gone out into the world.

The test by which you may recognize the Spirit of God is that every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come as man is from God,

and that no spirit is from God which does not acknowledge this about Jesus. Such is the spirit of the anti-Christ; of whose coming you have heard, and it is already in the world.

As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted them; for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.

The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

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.

He who is destitute of love has never had any knowledge of God; because God is love.

God's love for us has been manifested in that He has sent His only Son into the world so that we may have Life through Him.

This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever yet seen God. If we love one another, God continues in union with us, and His love in all its perfection is in our hearts.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God--God continues in union with him, and he continues in union with God.

And, as for us, we know the love which God has for us, and we confide in it. God is love, and he who continues to love continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him.

We love because God first loved us.

If any one says that he loves God, while he hates his brother man, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother man whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And the command which we have from Him is that he who loves God must love his brother man also.

Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God; and every one who loves the Father loves also Him who is the Father's Child.

The fact that we love God Himself, and obey His commands, is a proof that we love God's children.

Love for God means obedience to His commands; and His commands are not irksome.

For every child of God overcomes the world; and the victorious principle which has overcome the world is our faith.

Who but the man that believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world?

If we accept the testimony of men, God's testimony is greater: for God's testimony consists of the things which He has testified about His Son.

He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in his own heart: he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, in that he has refused to accept the testimony which God has given about His Son.

And that testimony is to the effect that God has given us the Life of the Ages, and that this Life is in His Son.

He who has the Son has the Life: he who has not the Son of God has not the Life.

I write all this to you in order that you who believe in the Son of God may know for certain that you already have the Life of the Ages.

If any one sees a brother man committing a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and God shall give him life--for those who do not sin unto death. There is such a thing as sin unto death; for that I do not bid him make request.

We know that no one who is a child of God lives in sin, but He who is God's Child keeps him, and the Evil one cannot touch him.

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we know the true One, and are in union with the true One--that is, we are in union with His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and the Life of the Ages.