1 John Chapter 1
The word of life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—
2 the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 These things we write to you so that your joy may be complete.
God is light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John Chapter 2
Christ, our advocate
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.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we know that we are in him:
6 Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The new commandment
7 Brothers and sisters, I am not writing you a new commandment, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the message you have heard from the beginning.
8 Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever claims to be in the light but hates his brother or sister is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother or sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
11 But whoever hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
12 I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
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.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The Antichrist
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, 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.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, 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.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
26 I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
27 But the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is not a lie, just as it has taught you, remain in him.
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
1 John Chapter 3
Children of God
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love their brother or sister.
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but withholds compassion from them, how can the love of God be in that person?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and we will assure our hearts before him:
20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24 And whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
1 John Chapter 4
The Spirit of God and the spirit of the antichrist
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world.
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5 They are of the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
God is love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Beloved, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
16 And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for as he is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John Chapter 5
The faith that overcomes the world
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves his child as well.
2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
3 In fact, this is the love of God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
The testimony of the Spirit
6 This is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7 For there are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
8 And there are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.
9 If we receive human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, for it is the testimony God has given about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
The knowledge of eternal life
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life, and so that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.
16 If anyone sees his brother commit a sin not leading to death, he shall pray, and God will give him life—to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death; about that I do not say that one should pray.
17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one cannot touch him.
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.