1 John 2:1–9

Christ Our Advocate

²My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,^{* 2}and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.^*

³Now by this we know that we have come to know him, if we obey his commandments. ⁴Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; ⁵but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we know that we are in him:^{* 6}whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk in the same way as he walked.^*

A New Commandment

⁷Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. ⁸Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because^b the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.^{* 9}Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.^*