Fellowship Maintained by the Advocacy of Christ

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Acknowledgement of God’s Holiness

3 We can be sure 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 that person.
5 But whoever keeps his word—truly, in that person the love of God has been made complete. This is how we know that we are in him:
6 whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus walked.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new commandment but an old one that you have had from the beginning; this old commandment is the word that you heard.
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 a brother or sister is still in the darkness.
10 Whoever loves their brother or sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.
11 But whoever hates their brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes.

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

Do Not Love the World

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 them.
16 For everything in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.
17 And the world and its desires are passing away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Warning Against Apostates

18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. From this we know that 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 been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.
21 I write to you not 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 both the Father and the Son.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

The Promise of Eternal Life

25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
27 But the anointing that you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things—and is true and not a lie. So, just as it has taught you, remain in him.

Purity Encouraged

28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.