2:1 | (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,* |
2:2 | and he himself is the atoning sacrifice* for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.* |
2:3 | Now* by this we know that we have come to know God:* if we keep his commandments. |
2:4 | The 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. |
2:5 | But whoever obeys his* word, truly in this person* the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. |
2:6 | The one who says he resides* in God* ought himself to walk* just as Jesus* 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.* The old commandment is the word that you have already* heard. |
2:8 | On 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.* |
2:9 | The one who says he is in the light but still hates* his fellow Christian* is still in the darkness. |
2:10 | The one who loves his fellow Christian* resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.* |
2:11 | But 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.* |
2:12 | I am writing to you,* little children, that* your sins have been forgiven because of his* name. |
2:13 | I 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.* |
2:14 | I 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. |
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)* 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* forever. |
2:18 | Children, 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. |
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* with us. But* they went out from us* to demonstrate* that all of them do not belong to us.* |
2:20 | Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.* |
2:21 | I 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. |
2:22 | Who 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. |
2:23 | Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also.* |
2:24 | As 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. |
2:25 | Now this* is the promise that he* himself made to* us: eternal life.* |
2:26 | These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.* |
2:27 | Now 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. |
2:28 | And 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.* |
2:29 | If you know that he is righteous, you also know* that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered* by him. |