1 John

Chapter 1

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands touched, concerning the word of life

2 and the life was made manifest, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us

3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim 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 write these things so that our joy may be complete.

5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you: that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so as 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 write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

2 and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

3 And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments.

4 The one who says, "I have known him," and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

5 but whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected; by this we know that we are in him.

6 The one who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked.

7 Beloved, I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you heard.

8 Again, I write 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 he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now.

10 The one who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling block in him;

11 but the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

12 I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake.

13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

14 I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

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 all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride 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 abides forever.

18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, whence 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 this happened so that it might be made manifest that they are not all of us.

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

21 I have not written to you 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 the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This 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, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

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

26 I have written these things to you concerning those who would lead you astray.

27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness has been born of him.

Chapter 3

1 See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God—and we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

2 Beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who commits sin also commits 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 abides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who does righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

8 The one who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.

9 Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

11 For this is the message which you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another

12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slaughtered his brother. And for what reason did he slaughter him? Because his works were evil, but those of his brother were righteous.

13 And do not marvel, brothers, if the world hates you.

14 We know that we have passed from death into life, because we love the brothers; the one who does not love abides in death.

15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we have known love: that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

17 But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

18 Little children, let us not love in word or with the tongue, but in deed and truth.

19 And by this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall reassure our heart before him,

20 that if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

22 and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

23 And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us commandment.

24 And the one who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him; and by this we know that he abides in us: from the Spirit whom he has given us.

Chapter 4

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By 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, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.

4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

6 We are from God; whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us: that God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we have 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 abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us: because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 In this love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from him: that whoever loves God should also love his brother.

Chapter 5

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the one who begot loves also the one begotten of him.

2 By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and do his commandments.

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome.

4 For everything born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

5 And who is the one who overcomes the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not in the water only, but 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 that testify:

8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.

9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God, 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 These things I have written to you so that you may know that you have eternal life—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 ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and he will give him life, for those who sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should pray concerning that.

17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

18 We know that everyone born of God does not sin, but the one born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.

19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know the true one; and we are in the true one, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.