Christ Our Advocate
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin,
1we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2
2He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but
3also for the sins of the whole world.
3
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we
4keep his commandments.
4
Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments
5is a liar, and
6the truth is not in him,
5
but whoever
7keeps his word, in him truly
8the love of God is perfected.
9By this we may know that we are in him:
6
whoever says he
10abides in him
11ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The New Commandment
7 Beloved, I am writing you
12no new commandment, but
13an old commandment
14that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
8
At the same time, it is
15a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because
16the darkness is passing away and
17the true light is already shining.
9
Whoever says he is in the light and
18hates his brother is still in darkness.
10
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no
19cause for stumbling.
11
But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and
20walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12
I am writing to you, little children, because
21your sins are forgiven for his name's sake.
13
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know
22him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because
23you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because
24you know the Father.
14
I write to you, fathers, because you know
25him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because
26you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15 27Do not love the world or the things in the world.
28If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16
For all that is in the world--
29the desires of the flesh and
30the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
17
And
31the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Warning Concerning Antichrists
18 Children,
32it is the last hour, and as you have heard that
33antichrist is coming, so now
34many antichrists have come.
35Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
19
36They went out from us, but they were not of us; for
37if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out,
38that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
20
But you have been
39anointed by
40the Holy One, and
41you all have knowledge.
21
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
22
Who is the liar but
42he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is
43the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
23
44No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
24
Let
45what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then
46you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25
And this is the promise that he made to us--
47eternal life.
26
I write these things to you about
48those who are trying to deceive you.
27
But
49the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and
50you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and
51is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him.