Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
5
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
6
If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true;
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but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
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If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
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If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
2
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;
2
and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
3
Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments.
4
Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist;
5
but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him:
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whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.
7
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard.
8
Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because
*
the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
9
Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister,
*
is still in the darkness.
10
Whoever loves a brother or sister
*
lives in the light, and in such a person
*
there is no cause for stumbling.
11
But whoever hates another believer
*
is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.
12
I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are 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 people,
because you have conquered the evil one.
14
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the
beginning.
I write to you, young people,
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. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world;
16
for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.
17
And the world and its desire
*
are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.
18
Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so 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 belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs 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 know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth.
22
Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
*
This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23
No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.
25
And this is what he has promised us,
*
eternal life.
26
I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.
27
As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.
*
28
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.
29
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who does right has been born of him.
1
3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he
*
is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
3
And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4
Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5
You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6
No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.
7
Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8
Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
9
Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them;
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they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.
10
The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.
*
11
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12
We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13
Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters,
*
that the world hates you.
14
We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15
All who hate a brother or sister
*
are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.
16
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
17
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister
*
in need and yet refuses help?
18
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
19
And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him
20
whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God;
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and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24
All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
4
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 Jesus
*
is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.
4
Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5
They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
6
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
7
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9
God’s love was revealed among us in this way: 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 to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11
Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.
12
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.