1 John 2–5

CHAPTER 2

Jesus Christ Our Advocate

^1aMy little children, I am ^bwriting these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, ^cwe have an ^1dAdvocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

²and He Himself is ^athe ¹propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also ^bfor those of the whole world.

^3aAnd by this we know that we have come to ^bknow Him, if we ^ckeep His commandments.

⁴The one who says, “^aI have come to ^bknow Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a ^cliar, and ^dthe truth is not in him;

⁵but whoever ^akeeps His word, truly in him the ^blove of God has been perfected. ^cBy this we know that we are in Him:

⁶the one who says he ^aabides in Him ^bought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

^7aBeloved, I am ^bnot writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had ^cfrom the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

⁸¹On the other hand, I am writing ^aa new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because ^bthe darkness is passing away and ^cthe true Light is already shining.

⁹The one who says he is in the Light and yet ^ahates his ^bbrother is in the darkness until now.

^10aThe one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But the one who ^ahates his brother is in the darkness and ^bwalks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness ^cblinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, ^alittle children, because ^byour sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him ^awho has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because ^byou have overcome ^cthe evil one. I have written to you, children, because ^1dyou have known the Father.

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him ^awho has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are ^bstrong, and the ^cword of God abides in you, and ^dyou have overcome the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵Do not love ^athe world nor the things in the world. ^bIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For all that is in the world, ^athe lust of the flesh and ^bthe lust of the eyes and ^cthe boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

^17aAnd the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who ^bdoes the will of God abides forever.

¹⁸Children, ^ait is the last hour; and just as you heard that ^bantichrist is coming, ^ceven now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.

^19aThey went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, ^bso that ¹it would be manifested that they all are not of us.

²⁰¹But you have an ^aanointing from ^bthe Holy One, and ^cyou all know.

²¹I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but ^abecause you do know it, and ¹because no lie is ^bof the truth.

²²Who is the liar but ^athe one who denies that Jesus is the ¹Christ? This is ^bthe ²antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

^23aEveryone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

²⁴As for you, let that which you heard ^afrom the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also ^bwill abide in the Son and in the Father.

^25aAnd this is the promise which He Himself ¹made to us: eternal life.

²⁶These things I have written to you about those who are trying to ^adeceive you.

²⁷And as for you, the ^aanointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing ^bteaches you about all things, and is ^ctrue and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, ¹abide in Him.

²⁸And now, ^alittle children, abide in Him, so that when He ^bis manifested, we may have ^cconfidence and ^dnot ¹shrink away from Him in shame ²at His ^ecoming.

²⁹If you know that ^aHe is righteous, you know that everyone also who does righteousness ^bhas been ¹born of Him.

CHAPTER 3

Children of God, Love One Another

¹See ^1ahow great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called ^bchildren of God; and we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because ^cit did not know Him.

^2aBeloved, now we are ^bchildren of God, and ^cit has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when He ^dis manifested, we will be ^elike Him, because we will ^fsee Him just as He is.

³And everyone who has this ^ahope fixed on Him ^bpurifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; and ^asin is lawlessness.

⁵And you know that He ^awas manifested in order to ^btake away sins, and ^cin Him there is no sin.

⁶No one who abides in Him ^asins; no one who sins has seen Him or ^1bhas come to know Him.

^7aLittle children, let no one ^bdeceive you. ^cThe one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

⁸The one who does sin is ^aof the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. ^bThe Son of God ^cwas manifested for this purpose, ^dto destroy the works of the devil.

⁹Everyone who has been ^1aborn of God ^bdoes not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been ²born of God.

¹⁰By this the ^achildren of God and the ^bchildren of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who ^cdoes not love his ^dbrother.

^11aFor this is the message ^bwhich you have heard from the beginning, ^cthat we should love one another;

¹²not as ^aCain, who was of ^bthe evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because ^chis deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³Do not marvel, brothers, if ^athe world hates you.

¹⁴We know that we have ^apassed out of death into life, ^bbecause we love the brothers. The one who does not love abides in death.

¹⁵Everyone who ^ahates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^bno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶By this we have known love, that ^aHe laid down His life for us; and ^bwe ought to lay down our lives for the ^cbrothers.

¹⁷But ^awhoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and ^bcloses his ¹heart ²against him, ^chow does the love of God abide in him?

^18aLittle children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and ^btruth.

¹⁹And by this we will know that we are ^aof the truth, and will ¹assure our heart before Him

²⁰¹in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

^21aBeloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have ^bconfidence ¹before God;

²²and ^awhatever we ask we receive from Him, because we ^bkeep His commandments and do ^cthe things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³And this is His commandment, that we ^1abelieve in ^bthe name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as ^cHe gave a commandment to us.

²⁴And the one who ^akeeps His commandments ^babides in Him, and He in him. ^cWe know by this that ^dHe abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave us.

CHAPTER 4

Test the Spirits

^1aBeloved, do not believe every ^bspirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^cmany false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: ^aevery spirit that ^bconfesses that ^cJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³and every spirit that ^adoes not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the ^bantichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and ^cnow it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, ^alittle children, and ^bhave overcome them; because ^cgreater is He who is in you than ^dhe who is in the world.

^5aThey are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them.

^6aWe are from God. ^bThe one who knows God hears us; ^cthe one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know ^dthe spirit of truth and ^ethe spirit of error.

God Is Love

^7aBeloved, let us ^blove one another, for love is from God; and ^ceveryone who loves has been ^1dborn of God and ^eknows God.

⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because ^aGod is love.

⁹By this the love of God was manifested ^1ain us, that ^bGod has sent His ²only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, ^anot that we have loved God, but that ^bHe loved us and sent His Son to be ^cthe propitiation for our sins.

^11aBeloved, if God so loved us, ^bwe also ought to love one another.

^12aNo one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His ^blove is perfected in us.

^13aBy this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁴We have beheld and ^abear witness that the Father has ^bsent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

^15aWhoever confesses that ^bJesus is the Son of God, God ^cabides in him, and he in God.

^16aAnd we have come to know and have believed the love which God has ^bin us. ^cGod is love, and the one who ^dabides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

¹⁷By this, ^alove has been perfected with us, so that we may have ^bconfidence in ^cthe day of judgment, because ^das He is, so also are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but ^aperfect love casts out fear, because fear ¹involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ^bperfected in love.

^19aWe love, because He first loved us.

^20aIf someone says, “I love God,” and ^bhates his brother, he is a ^cliar; for ^dthe one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^ecannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And ^athis commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ^bshould love his brother also.

CHAPTER 5

Overcoming the World

^1aEveryone who believes that Jesus is the ¹Christ has been ^2bborn of God, and everyone who loves the ³One who gives new birth ^cloves also the one who has been ⁴born of Him.

^2aBy this we know that ^bwe love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments.

³For ^athis is the love of God, that we ^bkeep His commandments; and ^cHis commandments are not burdensome. …