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.

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

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.

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,

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.

Keep what you have heard from the beginning in your hearts; then you will always be in union with the Son and the Father.

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.

For the message you have heard from the beginning is this: We must love one another.

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

But if someone who is rich sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can he have any love for God in his heart?

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.

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.