It is what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have beheld, what our own hands have touched, about the very message of life --

And this is the message we heard from Him, and [now want to] announce to you: God is light [i.e. righteousness] and in His [very nature] there is no trace of darkness [i.e., evil].

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.

My dearly-loved friends, it is no new command that I am now giving you, but an old command which you have had from the very beginning. By the old command I mean the teaching which you have already received.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the very beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the Evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

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.

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.

And the very thing that He Himself has promised us is eternal life.

But the unction, which ye have received from Him, abideth in you; and therefore ye have no need that any should teach you: since this very unction teacheth you concerning all things, and is truth and not falshood; even as that hath taught you, abide in Him.

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 has received the new Life from God lives sinfully, because the very nature of God dwells within him; and he cannot live in sin, because he has received the new Life from God.

For this is the message you have learned from the very beginning, that we are to love one another:

Loved ones, we should have love for one another, because love comes from [the very nature of] God, and every person who [continually] loves [others] has been [spiritually] conceived by God [See 2:29; 3:9], and knows [he is in fellowship with] God.

The person who does not love [others] does not know God [as Savior], for [the very nature of] God is love.

Beloved, if God so loved us [in this incredible way], we also ought to love one another.

And we have known [with certainty] and have believed [with assurance] that God has truly loved us. God's [very nature] is love and the person who [continually] loves [Him and others] lives in [fellowship with] God [continually], and God [continually] lives in that person's heart.

We know that the son of God is come, and hath given us understanding, to know him that is true: and we be in the truth through his son Jesus Christ. He is very God, and eternal life.