My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate^s with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one. ²He himself is the atoning sacrifice^C^t for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.^u

GOD’S COMMANDS

³This is how we know^v that we know him: if we keep his commands.^w ⁴The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But whoever keeps his word,^x truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:^y

Read in Logos

1 John 2:5: but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him…

Footnotes

COr the propitiation

Cross references

s Jn 14:26
t Rm 3:25; 2Co 5:21; Heb 2:17; 1Jn 4:10
u Mt 26:13; 28:19–20; Mk 14:9; Rm 1:8
v Jn 13:35; 1Jn 2:5; 3:19,24; 4:2,6,13; 5:2
w Jn 14:15; 15:10
x Jn 14:23
y Jn 6:56; 14:20; 15:1–7; Rm 8:1; 2Co 5:17; Eph 2:10; Php 1:1

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

NIVNew International Version (2011)

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:

NLTNew Living Translation

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

My little children, I am writing these things to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says “I have come to know him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

KJV 1900King James Version

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

Public Domain