1 John 2:3–11

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.