1 John

Chapter 1

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, concerning the Word of Life— ² and the life was made known, and we have seen and testify and are announcing to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has been made known to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare also to you, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ And we are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete. ^[1]

⁵ And this is the message that we have heard from him and are announcing to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not doing the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin. ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Chapter 2

¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. ² And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. ³ And in this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in him: ⁶ the one who says that he remains in God, he also ought to walk just as he walked.

⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you heard. ⁸ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says that he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother remains in the light and there is no snare in him. ¹¹ But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹² I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through his name. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. ^{[1] 14} I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one. ^{[2] 15} Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the arrogance of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and its desire. But the one who does the will of God will remain forever.

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not from us. For if they had been from us they would have remained with us, but so that it might be made know that they all are not from us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. ^{[3] 21} I did not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because evey lie is not from the truth. ²² Who is the liar if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son also has the Father. ²⁴ As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he promised to us—eternal life. ²⁶ I have written these things to you about those who are leading you astray. ²⁷ And as for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone would teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²⁸ And now, little children, remain in him, so that whenever he appears, we will have boldness and may not be put to shame from him at his coming. ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you know also that everyone who does righteousness has been born from him.

Chapter 3

¹ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and we are. Because of this, the world does not know us, because it did not know him. ^{[1] 2} Beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is. ³ And everyone who has this hope on him purifies himself just as he is pure. ⁴ Everyone who is doing sin also is doing lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that he was revealed in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶ Everyone who remains in him does not sin. Everyone who sins has not seen him, nor has known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one lead you astray. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. ⁸ The one who does sin is from the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God has been revealed, so that he would destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Everyone who has been born from God does not sin because his seed remains in him and he is not able to sin because he has been born from God. ¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not do righteousness is not from God, and the one who does not love his brother. ¹¹ For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; ¹² not as Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he kill him? Because his works were evil but those of his brother were righteous.

¹³ Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that every murderer does not have eternal life residing in him. ¹⁶ In this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But the one who may have the goods of the world, and may see his brother having need, and may shut up his inward parts from him, how does the love of God remain in him? ¹⁸ Little children, may we not love with word nor with tongue, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹ In this we know that we are from the truth, and we assure our hearts before him ²⁰ that if our hearts condemn us, that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence toward God, ²² And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do pleasing things before him. ²³ And this is his commandment: that we may believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and may love one another, just as he gave us a commandment. ²⁴ And the one who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him, and in this we know that he remains in us, from the Spirit whom he gave to us.

Chapter 4

¹ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² In this you know the Spirit of God—every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, whom you have heard that he is coming, and now is already in the world. ^{[1] 4} You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is the one in you than the one in the world. ⁵ They are from the world; because of this they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷ Beloved, may we love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was revealed among us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹³ In this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us some of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and have testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who remains in this love remains in God, and God remains in him. ¹⁷ In this, love has been made perfect with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of the judgment, because just as he is, also we are in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws out fear, because fear has punishment, but the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone may say, “I love God” but may hate his brother, he is a liar. For the one not loving his brother, whom he has seen, is not able to love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this is the commandment we have from him, that the one loving God also should love his brother.

Chapter 5

¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born from God, and everyone who loves a father also loves the child born from him. ² In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For everyone who is born from God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. ⁵ But who is the one who overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. ⁶ This is the one who came through water and blood: Jesus Christ—not in the water only, but also in the water and in the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three who testify: ⁸ the Spirit, and the water, and the blood. And these three are to the one thing. ^{[1] 9} If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For the testimony of God is this, that he has testified concerning his Son. ¹⁰ The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³ I have written to you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life—to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. ¹⁴ And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we may ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we may ask—we know that we have the requests which we have asked from him. ¹⁶ If anyone may see his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will pray, and will give him life—to those who are sinning not to death. There is a sin to death; I am not saying that he may pray about that. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not to death.

¹⁸ We know that everyone who is born from God does not sin. But the one who has been born from God keeps himself, and the evil one does not harm him. ¹⁹ We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the evil one. ²⁰ But we know that the Son of God is come and has given us understanding, so that we may know the one who is true, and we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life. ²¹ Little children, guard yourselves from the idols.