1 John, 2

1. My children, I am writing this to prevent you from sinning; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the upright.

2. He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only ours, but also those of the whole world.

3. In this way we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

4. Whoever says, 'I know him' without keeping his commandments, is a liar, and truth has no place in him.

5. But anyone who does keep his word, in such a one God's love truly reaches its perfection. This is the proof that we are in God.

6. Whoever claims to remain in him must act as he acted.

7. My dear friends, this is not a new commandment I am writing for you, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the message you have heard.

8. Yet in another way, I am writing a new commandment for you -- and this is true for you, just as much as for him -- for darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

9. Whoever claims to be in light but hates his brother is still in darkness.

10. Anyone who loves his brother remains in light and there is in him nothing to make him fall away.

11. But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and is walking about in darkness not knowing where he is going, because darkness has blinded him.

12. I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven through his name.

13. I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the One who has existed since 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 come to know the Father. I have written to you, parents, because you have come to know the One who has existed since the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong, and God's word remains in you, and you have overcome the Evil One.

15. Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in him,

16. because everything there is in the world -- disordered bodily desires, disordered desires of the eyes, pride in possession -- is not from the Father but is from the world.

17. And the world, with all its disordered desires, is passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains for ever.

18. Children, this is the final hour; you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many Antichrists have already come; from this we know that it is the final hour.

19. They have gone from among us, but they never really belonged to us; if they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. But this was to prove that not one of them belonged to us.

20. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and have all received knowledge.

21. I have written to you not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you are well aware of it, and because no lie can come from the truth.

22. Who is the liar, if not one who claims that Jesus is not the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son.

23. Whoever denies the Son cannot have the Father either; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too.

24. Let what you heard in the beginning remain in you; as long as what you heard in the beginning remains in you, you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

25. And the promise he made you himself is eternal life.

26. So much have I written to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.

27. But as for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; since the anointing he gave you teaches you everything, and since it is true, not false, remain in him just as he has taught you.

28. Therefore remain in him now, children, so that when he appears we may be fearless, and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

29. If you know that he is upright you must recognise that everyone whose life is upright is a child of his.