2 My dear children,x I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocatey with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,z and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.a

Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers

3 We knowb that we have come to know himc if we keep his commands.d 4 Whoever says, “I know him,”e but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.f 5 But if anyone obeys his word,g love for Goda is truly made complete in them.h This is how we knowi we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.j

7 Dear friends,k I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.l This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command;m its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passingn and the true lighto is already shining.p

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sisterb q is still in the darkness.r 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sisterc lives in the light,s and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.t 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sisteru is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.v They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.w

Reasons for Writing

12 I am writing to you, dear children,x

because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.y

13 I am writing to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.z

I am writing to you, young men,

because you have overcomea the evil one.b

14 I write to you, dear children,c

because you know the Father.

I write to you, fathers,

because you know him who is from the beginning.d

I write to you, young men,

because you are strong,e

and the word of Godf lives in you,g

and you have overcome the evil one.h

On Not Loving the World

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world.i If anyone loves the world, love for the Fatherd is not in them.j 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,k the lust of the eyes,l and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away,m but whoever does the will of Godn lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

18 Dear children, this is the last hour;o and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,p even now many antichrists have come.q This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us,r but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.s

20 But you have an anointingt from the Holy One,u and all of you know the truth.e v 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know itw and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.x 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.y

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginningz remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.a 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.b

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.c 27 As for you, the anointingd you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all thingse and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.f

God’s Children and Sin

28 And now, dear children,g continue in him, so that when he appearsh we may be confidenti and unashamed before him at his coming.j

29 If you know that he is righteous,k you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.l