That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness [of sin], we lie and do not practice the truth;

If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us. [His word does not live in our hearts.]

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye should sin not: if, though, any man sin, yet we have an Advocate with the father, even Jesus Christ, which is righteous.

whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought [as a moral obligation] to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

because this is all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Children, it is the last hour [the end of this age]; and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming [the one who will oppose Christ and attempt to replace Him], even now many antichrists (false teachers) have appeared, which confirms our belief that it is the last hour.

I have not sent you this letter because you have no knowledge of what is true, but because you have knowledge, and because that which is false has nothing in common with that which is true.

Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

And this is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal.

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

For this is the message which ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another:

and not be as Cain, which was of the devil and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? For his own deeds were evil, and his brother's righteous.

and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight.

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God;

and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God: and this is that power of the antichrist, of which ye have heard that it comes, and now it is already in the world.

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us.

And his Spirit which he has given us is the witness that we are in him and he is in us.

And we have seen and do testify that the father hath sent his son, which is the saviour of the world.

And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

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

All that believe that Jesus is Christ, are born of God. And all that loveth him which begat, loveth him also which was begotten of him.

For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith.

Who is it that overcometh the world: but he which believeth that Jesus is the son of God?

This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus, the Christ; not by water only, but by water and by blood; and the Spirit is that which testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

And there are three which bear witness upon earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are for the same one object.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself; he that does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning his Son.

And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:

and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death [one can repent of it and be forgiven].

Little children, watch yourselves from idols. Amen.