1(My 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 One, 2and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

Keeping God’s Commandments

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

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

Words of Reassurance

12I am writing to you, little children, that your sins have been forgiven because of his name. 13I am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one. 14I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

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

Warning About False Teachers

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

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

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

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

Children of God

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