2:1 (My little children, ¹  I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. ² ) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate ³  with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, ⁴  2:2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice ⁵  for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world. ⁶ 

2:3 Now ⁷  by this we know that we have come to know God: ⁸  if we keep his commandments. 2:4 The one who says “I have come to know God” ⁹  and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. 2:5 But whoever obeys his ¹⁰  word, truly in this person ¹¹  the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 2:6 The one who says he resides ¹²  in God ¹³  ought himself to walk ¹⁴  just as Jesus ¹⁵  walked.

2:7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹⁶  The old commandment is the word that you have already ¹⁷  heard. 2:8 On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him ¹⁸  and in you, because ¹⁹  the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ²⁰  2:9 The one who says he is in the light but still hates ²¹  his fellow Christian ²²  is still in the darkness. 2:10 The one who loves his fellow Christian ²³  resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ²⁴  2:11 But the one who hates his fellow Christian ²⁵  is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. ²⁶ 

2:12 I am writing to you, ²⁷  little children, that ²⁸  your sins have been forgiven because of his ²⁹  name. 2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, that ³⁰  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that ³¹  you have conquered the evil one. ³²  2:14 I have written to you, children, that ³³  you have known the Father. ³⁴  I have written to you, fathers, that ³⁵  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ³⁶  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 2:16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) ³⁷  is not from the Father, but is from the world. 2:17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains ³⁸  forever.

2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists ³⁹  have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour. 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained ⁴⁰  with us. But ⁴¹  they went out from us ⁴²  to demonstrate ⁴³  that all of them do not belong to us. ⁴⁴ 

2:20 Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. ⁴⁵  2:21 I have not written to you that ⁴⁶  you do not know the truth, but that ⁴⁷  you do know it, and that ⁴⁸  no lie is of the truth. 2:22 Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ ⁴⁹ ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son. 2:23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. ⁵⁰ 

2:24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain ⁵¹  in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 2:25 Now this ⁵²  is the promise that he ⁵³  himself made to ⁵⁴  us: eternal life. ⁵⁵  2:26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ⁵⁶ 

2:27 Now as for you, the anointing ⁵⁷  that you received from him ⁵⁸  resides ⁵⁹  in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his ⁶⁰  anointing teaches you about all things, it is true and is not a lie. Just as ⁶¹  it ⁶²  has taught you, you reside ⁶³  in him.

2:28 And now, little children, remain ⁶⁴  in him, ⁶⁵  so that when ⁶⁶  he appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. ⁶⁷  2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you also know ⁶⁸  that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered ⁶⁹  by him.

3:1 (See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that ⁷⁰  we should be called God’s children – and indeed ⁷¹  we are! ⁷²  For this reason ⁷³  the world does not know us: because it did not know him. ⁷⁴  3:2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be ⁷⁵  has not yet been revealed. We ⁷⁶  know that ⁷⁷  whenever ⁷⁸  it ⁷⁹  is revealed ⁸⁰  we will be like him, because ⁸¹  we will see him just as he is. ⁸²  3:3 And everyone who has this hope focused ⁸³  on him purifies ⁸⁴  himself, just as Jesus ⁸⁵  is pure). ⁸⁶ 

3:4 Everyone who practices sin ⁸⁷  also practices lawlessness; ⁸⁸  indeed, ⁸⁹  sin is lawlessness. 3:5 And you know that Jesus ⁹⁰  was revealed to take away ⁹¹  sins, and in him there is no sin. 3:6 Everyone who resides ⁹²  in him does not sin; ⁹³  everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness ⁹⁴  is righteous, just as Jesus ⁹⁵  is righteous. 3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, ⁹⁶  because the devil has been sinning ⁹⁷  from the beginning. For this purpose ⁹⁸  the Son of God was revealed: to destroy ⁹⁹  the works of the devil. 3:9 Everyone who has been fathered ¹⁰⁰  by God does not practice sin, ¹⁰¹  because ¹⁰²  God’s ¹⁰³  seed ¹⁰⁴  resides in him, and thus ¹⁰⁵  he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. 3:10 By this ¹⁰⁶  the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian ¹⁰⁷  – is not of God.

3:11 For ¹⁰⁸  this is the gospel ¹⁰⁹  message ¹¹⁰  that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, ¹¹¹  3:12 not like Cain ¹¹²  who was of the evil one and brutally ¹¹³  murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

3:13 Therefore do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, ¹¹⁴  if the world hates you. ¹¹⁵  3:14 We know that ¹¹⁶  we have crossed over ¹¹⁷  from death to life ¹¹⁸  because ¹¹⁹  we love our fellow Christians. ¹²⁰  The one who does not love remains in death. ¹²¹  3:15 Everyone who hates his fellow Christian ¹²²  is a murderer, ¹²³  and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing ¹²⁴  in him. 3:16 We have come to know love by this: ¹²⁵  that Jesus ¹²⁶  laid down ¹²⁷  his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. 3:17 But whoever has the world’s possessions ¹²⁸  and sees his fellow Christian ¹²⁹  in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God ¹³⁰  reside ¹³¹  in such a person? ¹³² 

3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth. ¹³³  3:19 And by this ¹³⁴  we will know that we are of the truth and will convince ¹³⁵  our conscience ¹³⁶  in his presence, ¹³⁷  3:20 that ¹³⁸  if our conscience condemns ¹³⁹  us, that ¹⁴⁰  God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. 3:21 Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God, 3:22 and ¹⁴¹  whatever we ask we receive from him, because ¹⁴²  we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him. 3:23 Now ¹⁴³  this is his commandment: ¹⁴⁴  that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave ¹⁴⁵  us the commandment. 3:24 And the person who keeps his commandments resides ¹⁴⁶  in God, ¹⁴⁷  and God ¹⁴⁸  in him. Now by this ¹⁴⁹  we know that God ¹⁵⁰  resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.

4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, ¹⁵¹  but test ¹⁵²  the spirits ¹⁵³  to determine ¹⁵⁴  if they are from God, because many false prophets ¹⁵⁵  have gone out into the world. 4:2 By this ¹⁵⁶  you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses ¹⁵⁷  Jesus as the Christ ¹⁵⁸  who has come in the flesh is from God, 4:3 but ¹⁵⁹  every spirit that does not confess ¹⁶⁰  Jesus ¹⁶¹  is not from God, and this is the spirit ¹⁶²  of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

4:4 You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, ¹⁶³  because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them. 4:6 We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but ¹⁶⁴  whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this ¹⁶⁵  we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. ¹⁶⁶ 

4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because ¹⁶⁷  love is from God, and everyone who loves ¹⁶⁸  has been fathered ¹⁶⁹  by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ¹⁷⁰  4:9 By this ¹⁷¹  the love of God ¹⁷²  is revealed in us: ¹⁷³  that God has sent his one and only ¹⁷⁴  Son into the world so that we may live through him. 4:10 In this ¹⁷⁵  is love: not that ¹⁷⁶  we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice ¹⁷⁷  for our sins.

4:11 Dear friends, if God so loved us, then ¹⁷⁸  we also ought to love one another. ¹⁷⁹  4:12 No one has seen God at any time. ¹⁸⁰  If we love one another, God resides ¹⁸¹  in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹⁸²  4:13 By this ¹⁸³  we know that we reside in God ¹⁸⁴  and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁸⁵  4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior ¹⁸⁶  of the world.

4:15 If anyone ¹⁸⁷  confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides ¹⁸⁸  in him and he in God. 4:16 And we have come to know and to believe ¹⁸⁹  the love that God has in us. ¹⁹⁰  God is love, and the one who resides ¹⁹¹  in love resides in God, and God resides in him. 4:17 By this ¹⁹²  love is perfected with ¹⁹³  us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus ¹⁹⁴  is, so also are we in this world. 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. ¹⁹⁵  The ¹⁹⁶  one who fears punishment ¹⁹⁷  has not been perfected in love. 4:19 We love ¹⁹⁸  because he loved us first.

4:20 If anyone says ¹⁹⁹  “I love God” and yet ²⁰⁰  hates his fellow Christian, ²⁰¹  he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian ²⁰²  whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ²⁰³  4:21 And the commandment we have from him is this: that ²⁰⁴  the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian ²⁰⁵  too.