It is what existed from the beginning, that we announce; what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have beheld, and touched with our hands; it is the very message of life??2 for life has been revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and announce to you that eternal life that was with the Father and has been revealed to us??3 it is what we have seen and heard that we announce to you also, so that you may share our fellowship, for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,

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

My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone does sin, we have in Jesus Christ one who is upright and will intercede for us with the Father.

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

but whoever obeys his message really has the love of God in perfection in his heart. This is the way we can be sure that we are in union with him;

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.

for all that there is in the world, the things that our physical nature and our eyes crave, and the proud display of life??hese do not come from the Father, but from the world;

Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that Antichrist is coming, and many Antichrists have indeed appeared. So we may be sure that it is the last hour.

They have gone out from our number, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to make it clear that none of them really belonged to us that they withdrew.

Who is such a liar as the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the real Antichrist??he man who disowns the Father and the Son.

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.

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.

From that we can be sure that we are on the side of the truth, and satisfy our consciences in God's sight,

and we obtain from him whatever we ask for, because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.

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.

You can tell the Spirit of God in this way: all inspiration that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in human form comes from God,

and any inspired utterance that does not acknowledge Jesus does not come from God; it is the inspiration of the Antichrist. You have heard that it was coming, and here it is already in the world.

They are children of the world; that is why they speak as the world directs, and the world listens to them.

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.

We have seen and can testify that the Father has sent the Son to be Savior of the world.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God keeps in union with him and he with God.

This is the command that we get from him, that whoever loves God must love his brother also.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves those who are his children.

This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: it is by loving God and obeying his commands.

for every child of God is victorious over the world. Our faith is the victory that has triumphed over the world.

For who is there that is victorious over the world except the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

For there are three that testify to it,

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; for the value of God's testimony lies in this, that he has testified to his Son.

Whoever believes in the Son of God possesses that testimony in his heart. Anyone who will not believe God has made him a liar, for he has refused to believe the testimony that God has borne to his Son.

And that testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is found in his Son.

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

And we have confidence in him, that if we ask him for anything that is in accordance with his will, he will listen to us.

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.

If anyone sees his brother committing any sin except a deadly one, he will ask and obtain life for him??rovided the sin is not a deadly one. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not say that a man should pray about that.

Any wrongdoing is sin, but there are sins that are not deadly.

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.