If we say, "We have fellowship with him," and yet live in darkness, we are lying and not living the truth.

If we say, "We are without any sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and there is no truth in our hearts.

If we say, "We have not sinned," we are making him a liar, and his message is not in our hearts.

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;

I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God's message is always in your hearts, and you have been victorious over the evil one.

I write you this with reference to those who are trying to mislead you.

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.

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.

His command is this??hat we are to believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he has commanded us to do.

You are children of God, dear children, and you have been victorious over these men, for he who is in our hearts is greater than he who is in the world.

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

We are God's children. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not a child of God will not listen to us. In this way we can tell what is inspired by truth from what is inspired by error.

Love attains perfection in us, when we have perfect confidence about the Day of Judgment, because here in this world we are living as he lives.

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.

For loving God means obeying his commands, and his commands are not burdensome,

For there are three that testify to it,

the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are at one.

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.

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

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.