This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life --

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.

Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son.

Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God's children -- and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him.

And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure).

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness -- the one who does not love his fellow Christian -- is not of God.

For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another,

We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians.

And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in his presence,

Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment.

And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.

And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

because This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

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

The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.