1 John 2:1-11

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^{[a] 16}the 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^[b] 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.

Cross References

• 1. 2:1 Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25
• 2. 2:2 ch. 4:10; Rom. 3:25; [2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Col. 1:20]
• 3. 2:2 ch. 4:14; John 1:29; 4:42; 11:51, 52; 12:32
• 4. 2:3 John 14:15; 15:10
• 5. 2:4 ch. 1:8; John 8:44
• 6. 2:4 ch. 1:8; John 8:44
• 7. 2:5 ch. 5:3; John 14:23
• 8. 2:5 ch. 4:12
• 9. 2:5 ch. 3:24; 4:13; 5:2
• 10. 2:6 John 15:4, 5, 7
• 11. 2:6 See Matt. 11:29
• 12. 2:7 2 John 5
• 13. 2:7 Lev. 19:18
• 14. 2:7 [ver. 24; ch. 3:11; 2 John 5, 6]
• 15. 2:8 See John 13:34
• 16. 2:8 Rom. 13:12; Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:4, 5
• 17. 2:8 John 1:9; 8:12
• 18. 2:9 ch. 4:20; [ch. 3:14, 15; Titus 3:3]
• 19. 2:10 John 11:10; [Prov. 4:19; 2 Pet. 1:10]
• 20. 2:11 See ch. 1:6

Footnotes

• [a] 2:8 Or 'that'
• [b] 2:10 Or 'it'