1 My little children, these things I am writing to you so that you may not sin. And should anyone sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world's.
3 And this is how we know that we have come to know him: if we keep his commandments.
4 The one who says, "I have come to know him," but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and in him the truth is not.
5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in that one the love of God has been brought to completion. By this we know that we are in him.
6 The one who says he abides in him is himself bound to walk in the same way that he walked.
7 Brothers, it is no new commandment I am writing to you, but an old commandment that you have had from the start; the old commandment is the word you heard from the start.
8 And yet it is a new commandment I am writing to you, a thing that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in the darkness right up to now.
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and there is nothing in him to make anyone stumble.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks about in the darkness, and he does not know where he is heading, because the darkness has made his eyes blind.
12 I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of his name.
13 I write to you, fathers, because you have come to know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, little ones, because you have come to know the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to 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 conquered the evil one.
15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love is not in him.
16 because all that is in the world, the craving of the flesh and the craving of the eyes and the arrogance of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 The world and its desire are passing away, but whoever does God's will abides forever.
18 Children, it is the last hour. You heard that the antichrist is coming, and even now many antichrists have appeared; that is how we know it is the last hour.
19 They went out from among us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have stayed on with us. But they went out so that it might be shown that not all are of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know everything.
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, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father too.
24 As for you, let what you heard from the start abide in you. If what you heard from the start abides in you, you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he himself made to us: the eternal life.
26 I have written these things to you about those who are leading you astray.
27 As for you, the anointing you received from him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie, so, just as it has taught you, you will abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have boldness and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know also that everyone who does righteousness has been born of him.