1 John

1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The Light appeared; we have seen him and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

4 We write this to make your joy complete. This message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is Light, in God there is no darkness at all. If anyone claims to have the Holy Spirit but continues in sin, they are mistaken for they do not live by the Light.

7 If you live your life according to the Light, you will have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, will purify you from all sin.

8 If you claim to be without sinful thoughts you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. If you claim you have not sinned, you make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in your life.

1 John 2

2 This has been written for you so that you will overcome sin. But if anybody does sin, the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father in our defense. Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and not only for yours but also for the sins of the whole world.

4 You know that you have come to know the Light, if you obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what Christ commands is a liar, and the Light is not in him. But if anyone obeys the Holy Spirit, God’s Love is truly made complete in him.

6 This is how we know we are in Christ: Whoever claims to live in the Light must love and serve as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the unconditional love you have already heard about. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in you who have been renewed by the Holy Spirit.

9 The darkness is passing and the true Light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brothers lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

12 Children, your sins have been forgiven on account of God’s Love. Fathers, you have known him who is from the beginning. Young men, you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

15 Do not love the world or material possessions. If anyone places material wealth above humanity, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does, comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its physical desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. The religious leaders went out from the Light, but they did not really belong to the Light. For if they had belonged to the Holy Spirit, they would have remained in the Light; but their sins showed that none of them belonged to the Light.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the Light. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? The one who claims Jesus is not the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Light has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Light has the Father also. See that you remain in what you heard from the beginning, the Holy Spirit in you. If the Light remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is what he promised us-even eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, Christ remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as the Holy Spirit teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit, just as the Light has taught you remain in Christ Jesus.

28 And now, dear children, continue to follow the Light, so that when the Light is revealed, you may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that the Light is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of the Light.

1 John 3

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not understand is that they did not know the Light.

2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when the Light is revealed, we shall be like him and we will understand the Light. Everyone who has this hope in Christ purifies himself, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that Christ appeared so that he might take away our sins. In the Light their is no sin. No one who lives in the Light keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen or known the Light, Christ Jesus.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. He who continues to sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy sin. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.

13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to Light, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the Light, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the Light, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in the Light, and the Light in them.

24 And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by his Spirit that he gave us.

1 John 4

1 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who calls himself a teacher, test them to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that the Light has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Christ is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because Christ who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God follows the Light; but whoever is not from God does not obey the scriptures. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is Love.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his only Son created in his likeness into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

16 God is love. Whoever lives in Love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Christ.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 5

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ is the Light is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is Light. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

9 We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Light. He who has the Light has life; he who does not have the Light does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the Holy Spirit so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his spiritual will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever spiritual gift we ask for, we know that we have received it when we prayed. If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.

17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the Holy Spirit keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know God who is Light. And we are in the father and in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.