1
My children, I am writing you these things so that you won't sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Yeshua the Messiah, the Tzaddik, who pleads our cause with the Father.
2
Also, he is the kapparah for our sins - and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
3
The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying his commands.
4
Anyone who says, "I know him," but isn't obeying his commands is a liar - the truth is not in him.
5
But if someone keeps doing what he says, then truly love for God has been brought to its goal in him. This is how we are sure that we are united with him.
6
A person who claims to be continuing in union with him ought to conduct his life the way he did.
7
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command. On the contrary, it is an old command, which you have had from the beginning; the old command is the message which you have heard before.
8
Yet I am writing you a new command, and its reality is seen both in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.