1 John 2:3–17

³We can be sure that we know God if we obey his commands. ⁴Anyone who says, “I know God,” but does not obey God’s commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then in that person God’s love has truly reached its goal. This is how we can be sure we are living in God: ⁶Whoever says that he lives in God must live as Jesus lived.

The Command to Love Others

⁷My dear friends, I am not writing a new command to you but an old command you have had from the beginning. It is the teaching you have already heard. ⁸But also I am writing a new command to you, and you can see its truth in Jesus and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

⁹Anyone who says, “I am in the light,” ⁿ but hates a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light and will not cause anyone to stumble in his faith. ¹¹But whoever hates a brother or sister is in darkness, lives in darkness, and does not know where to go, because the darkness has made that person blind.

¹²I write to you, dear children,

because your sins are forgiven through Christ.

¹³I write to you, fathers,

because you know the One who existed from the beginning.

I write to you, young people,

because you have defeated the Evil One.

¹⁴I write to you, children,

because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

because you know the One who existed from the beginning.

I write to you, young people,

because you are strong;

the teaching of God lives in you,

and you have defeated the Evil One.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. ¹⁶These are the ways of the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. None of these come from the Father, but all of them come from the world. ¹⁷The world and everything that people want in it are passing away, but the person who does what God wants lives forever.