1 John 2:12-27

Encouragement and Assurance

12 I am writing to you, little children, because^[a] your sins have been forgiven you on account of his name.

13 I am writing to you, fathers, because^[b] you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because^[c] you have conquered the evil one.

14 I have written to you, children, because^[d] you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because^[e] you have known the [One who is] from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because^[f] you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

16 because everything [that is] in the world--the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions--is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17 And the world is passing away, and its desire,^[g] but the one who does the will of God remains {forever}^[h].

Departure of the False Teachers

18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour.

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But [they went out]^[i], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.

20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

21 I have not written to you because^[j] you do not know the truth, but because^[k] you do know it, and because every lie is not of the truth.

22 Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father [either]; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

24 [As for] you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is the promise which he himself promised us: eternal life.

26 These [things] I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you.

27 And [as for] you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all [things], and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside in him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "that"
• [b]. Or "that"
• [c]. Or "that"
• [d]. Or "that"
• [e]. Or "that"
• [f]. Or "that"
• [g]. Or "and the desire for it"
• [h]. Literally "for the age"
• [i]. *This is an understood repetition of the phrase "they went out" from the beginning of v. 19
• [j]. Or "that"
• [k]. Or "that"
• [l]. Or "that"
• [m]. *By form the verb could also be imperative: "just as it has taught you, reside in him"