1 John 2–5

2My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. But suppose someone does sin. Then we have one who speaks to the Father for us. He stands up for us. He is Jesus Christ, the Blameless One. ²He gave his life to pay for our sins. But he not only paid for our sins. He also paid for the sins of the whole world.

³We know that we have come to know God if we obey his commands.

⁴Suppose someone says, “I know him.” But suppose that person does not do what God commands. Then that person is a liar and is not telling the truth. ⁵But if anyone obeys God’s word, then God’s love is truly made complete in that person. Here is how we know we belong to him. ⁶Those who claim to belong to him must live just as Jesus did.

⁷Dear friends, I’m not writing you a new command. Instead, I’m writing one you have heard before. You have had it since the beginning.

⁸But I am writing what amounts to a new command. Its truth was shown in how Jesus lived. It is also shown in how you live. The darkness is passing away. The true light is already shining.

⁹Suppose someone claims to be in the light but hates his brother or sister. Then he is still in the darkness.

¹⁰Those who love their brothers and sisters are living in the light. There is nothing in them to make them fall into sin. ¹¹But those who hate a brother or sister are in the darkness. They walk around in the darkness. They don’t know where they are going. The darkness has made them blind.

¹²Dear children, I’m writing to you

because your sins have been forgiven.

They have been forgiven because of what Jesus has done.

¹³Fathers, I’m writing to you

because you have known the One who is from the beginning.

Young people, I’m writing to you

because you have won the battle over the evil one.

Dear children, I’m writing to you

because you have known the Father.

¹⁴Fathers, I’m writing to you

because you have known the One who is from the beginning.

Young people, I’m writing to you

because you are strong.

God’s word lives in you.

You have won the battle over the evil one.

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in it. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you.

¹⁶Here is what people who belong to this world do. They try to satisfy what their sinful natures want to do. They long for what their sinful eyes look at. They brag about what they have and what they do. All of this comes from the world. It doesn’t come from the Father.

¹⁷The world and its evil longings are passing away. But those who do what God wants them to do live forever.

A Warning About the Enemies of Christ

¹⁸Dear children, we are living in the last days. You have heard that the great enemy of Christ is coming. But even now many enemies of Christ have already come. That’s how we know that these are the last days.

¹⁹The enemies left our group. They didn’t really belong to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by leaving they showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰You have received the Spirit from the Holy One. And all of you know the truth. ²¹I’m not writing to you because you don’t know the truth but because you do know it. I’m writing to you because no lie comes from the truth.

²²Who is the liar? The person who says that Jesus is not the Christ. People who say that are the enemies of Christ. They say no to the Father and the Son. ²³Those who say no to the Son don’t belong to the Father. But anyone who says yes to the Son belongs to the Father also.

²⁴Make sure that you don’t forget what you have heard from the beginning. Then you will remain joined to the Son and to the Father. ²⁵That’s what God has promised us. We have eternal life.

²⁶I’m writing these things to warn you about those who are trying to lead you down the wrong path.

²⁷But you have received the Holy Spirit from God. He continues to live in you. So you don’t need anyone to teach you. God’s Spirit teaches you about everything. What he says is true. He doesn’t lie. Remain joined to Christ, just as you have been taught by the Spirit.

Children of God

²⁸Dear children, remain joined to Christ. Then when he comes, we can be bold. We will not be ashamed to meet him when he comes.

²⁹You know that God is right and always does what is right. And you know that everyone who does what is right has been born again because of what God has done.

3How great is the love the Father has given us so freely! Now we can be called children of God. And that’s what we really are! The world doesn’t know us because it didn’t know him.

²Dear friends, now we are children of God. He still hasn’t let us know what we will be. But we know that when Christ appears, we will be like him. We will see him as he really is. ³He is pure. All who hope to be like him make themselves pure.

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, breaking the law is sin. ⁵But you know that Christ came to take our sins away. And there is no sin in him. ⁶No one who remains joined to him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has seen him or known him.

⁷Dear children, don’t let anyone lead you down the wrong path. Those who do what is right are holy, just as Christ is holy. ⁸Those who do what is sinful belong to the devil. They are just like him. He has been sinning from the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the devil’s work.

⁹Those who are born again because of what God has done will not keep on sinning. God’s very nature remains in them. They can’t go on sinning. They have been born again because of what God has done.

¹⁰Here is how you can tell the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil. Those who don’t do what is right do not belong to God. Those who don’t love their brothers and sisters do not belong to him either.

Love One Another

¹¹From the beginning we have heard that we should love one another. ¹²Don’t be like Cain. He belonged to the evil one. He murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because the things Cain had done were wrong. But the things his brother had done were right.

¹³My brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have left our old dead condition and entered into new life. We know it because we love one another. Those who do not are still living in their old condition.

¹⁵Those who hate their brothers and sisters are murderers. And you know that murderers do not have eternal life in their hearts.

¹⁶We know what love is because Jesus Christ gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

¹⁷Suppose someone sees a brother or sister in need and is able to help them. If he doesn’t take pity on them, how can the love of God be in him?

¹⁸Dear children, don’t just talk about love. Put your love into action. Then it will truly be love. ¹⁹That’s how we know that we hold to the truth. And that’s how we put our hearts at rest, knowing that God is watching. ²⁰Our hearts may judge us. But God is greater than our hearts. He knows everything.

²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not judge us, we can be bold with God. ²²And he will give us anything we ask. That’s because we obey his commands. We do what pleases him.

²³God has commanded us to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. He has also commanded us to love one another. ²⁴Those who obey his commands remain joined to him. And he remains joined to them.

How do we know that God lives in us? We know it because of the Holy Spirit he gave us.

Put the Spirits to the Test

4Dear friends, do not believe every spirit. Put the spirits to the test to see if they belong to God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²How can you recognize the Spirit of God? Every spirit that agrees that Jesus Christ came in a human body belongs to God. ³But every spirit that doesn’t agree with this does not belong to God. It is the spirit of the great enemy of Christ. You have heard that the enemy is coming. Even now he is already in the world.

⁴Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That’s because the One who is in you is more powerful than the one who is in the world.

⁵False prophets belong to the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view. The world listens to them. ⁶We belong to God. And those who know God listen to us. But those who don’t belong to God don’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of lies.

We Love Because God Loved Us

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born again because of what God has done. That person knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹How did God show his love for us? He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him.

¹⁰What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.

¹³We know that we belong to him and he belongs to us. He has given us his Holy Spirit.

¹⁴The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We have seen it. We give witness to it. ¹⁵God lives in anyone who agrees that Jesus is the Son of God. That kind of person remains joined to God. ¹⁶So we know that God loves us. We depend on it.

God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love shows that he is joined to God. And God is joined to him.

¹⁷So love is made complete among us. We will be bold on the day God judges us. That’s because in this world we love as Jesus did.

¹⁸There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives fear away. Fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love.

¹⁹We love because he loved us first. ²⁰Anyone who says he loves God but in fact hates his brother or sister is a liar. He doesn’t love his brother or sister, whom he…