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.

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Footnotes

nlight Here, it is used as a symbol of God’s goodness or truth.