2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
2:3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
2:4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2:5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him:
2:6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
2:7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.
2:8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
2:9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
2:10 Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
2:13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.
2:14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
2:16 For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.
2:17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
2:19 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.
2:20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
2:21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
2:22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist–he denies the Father and the Son.
2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
2:24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
2:25 And this is what he promised us–even eternal life.
2:26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit–just as it has taught you, remain in him.
2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
2:29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
2:1 My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous;
2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world.
2:3 And in this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
2:4 He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this one;
2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. In this we know that we are in Him.
2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.
2:7 Beloved, 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 which you heard.
2:8 Yet again a new commandment I am writing to you, which is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
2:9 He who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him;
2:11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
2:12 I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you because of His name.
2:13 I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, young children, because you know the Father.
2:14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know 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.
2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him;
2:16 Because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
2:17 And the world is passing away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
2:18 Young children, it is the last hour; and even as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come; whereby we know that it is the last hour.
2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out that they might be manifested that they all are not of us.
2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.
2:21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth.
2:22 Who is the liar if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
2:23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.
2:24 As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
2:25 And this is the promise which He Himself promised us, the eternal life.
2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who lead you astray.
2:27 And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.
2:28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming.
2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been begotten of Him.