1 JOHN

1 John Chapter 1

From the very beginning, we have been sharing what we have heard with our own ears, seen with our own eyes, and even touched with our own hands—we declare the Word of Life. This life was made real to us, and we have seen it and we have experienced it. Now, we are telling you about it because it is eternal life, the life that was with the Father and revealed to us.

We are sharing what we have seen and heard so that you can join us in the fellowship—that is, fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And wen are writing this so that your joy can be made complete.

Here is the message that we received from Him, and now declare to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with God but continue to live in darkness, we deceive ourselves and are not living in the truth. But if we walk in the light, just as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we don’t have sin, then we are only fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we claim that we do not sin, we are basically saying that God is a liar, and that God’s word is not relevant to our lives.

1 John Chapter 2

My dear children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, then we have someone who speaks to the Father on our behalf—Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the sacrifice that takes away our sins—and not just ours, but the sins of the whole world.

This is how we recognize that we truly know God: we keep His commandments. If someone says, “I know Him,” but doesn’t obey His commands, then they are lying, and the truth is not in them. But if someone keeps His word, God’s love is made complete in them. That is how we know we are in Christ. Anyone who claims to live in Christ should conduct themself in a manner that reflects the righteous life that Jesus lived.

Friends, I am not writing you a new command but one you have had from the beginning. This old command is the message you have already heard. But I am also writing something new, and here it is—the truth that is obvious in Christ, is also evident in you. Because now the darkness is past, and the light of truth is presently shining.

If someone says they are in the light, but they hate other people, then they are still in darkness. But whoever shows love to the people around them, then they live in the light, and there is nothing in them that may cause them to stumble. On the other hand, anyone who is selfish or indifferent toward the people in their life, then they are walking in darkness, and they do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them.

I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through the shed blood of Jesus.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one.

I am writing to you, dear children, because you know the Father.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning.

I am writing to you, young people, because you are strong, God’s word lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. Everything in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—these do not come from the Father, but these are from the world. The world and its desires will pass away, but whoever does the will of God, lives forever.

Dear children, this is the last hour. You have heard that the antichrist is coming, and even now many antichrists have come. That is how we know it is the last hour. These people left us because they never really belonged to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. Their departure shows they did not truly belong to us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know the truth. I am not writing because you don’t know the truth but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It’s the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist, denying both the Father and the Son. If you deny the Son, you don’t have the Father. But if you acknowledge the Son, you have the Father as well.

Let the truth of what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you’ll remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is His promise to us: the promise of eternal life.

I am writing these things to warn you about people who are trying to lead you astray. But the anointing you received from God remains in you. You do not need anyone to teach you, because His anointing is real, and His anointing teaches you about everything—and His anointing gives you discernment of everything that is true and everything that is not true. Just as His anointing has taught you, remain in Him.

And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when Christ appears, we can be confident and unashamed at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.

1 John Chapter 3

Look at the incredible love the Father has given us—He calls us children of God! And that’s exactly what we are. The world doesn’t understand us because the world does not understand Him.

Dear friends, we are Children of God now…but we do not fully understand what we will be when He comes. But this much we know—we know that when Jesus appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He truly is. Everyone who has this hope in Christ, purifies themselves, just as He is pure.

If someone sins, they break God’s law, because sin is lawlessness. But you know that Jesus came to take away our sins; and in Christ, there is no sin. Anyone who lives in Christ does not continue in sin. If someone continues in sin, it means they have not experienced Christ, or maybe they do not really know Him.

Dear children, do not let anyone mislead you. Whoever does what is right is righteous, just like Jesus is righteous. But anyone who continues in sin, belongs to the devil, who has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God came was to destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever is born of God, will not keep living in sin, because God’s Spirit dwells in you. You do not continue in sin because you have been born of God. This is how we can tell who the children of God are and who are the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God. Anyone who does not love their brother or sister does not belong to God.

This is the message you’ve heard from the beginning: That we should love one another. Not like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain’s actions were evil, and his brother’s actions were righteous.

Don’t be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love one another. Anyone who does not love remains in death. If you hate your brother or sister, it’s like being a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life.

This is how we understand what love is: Jesus gave His life for us, so we should devote our lives for the good of those around us. If someone has plenty but sees their brother or sister in need and does nothing to help, how can the love of God be in them? Dear children, let’s not just say we love each other—let’s show the truth of our love by what we do. This is how we know that we belong to the truth.

And when we know that we belong to the truth, we can always find the peace in the presence of God, even when our hearts condemn us. We remember that God is greater than our hearts and that He knows everything and cannot be disappointed. So our hearts cannot condemn us, but instead, we can have confidence before God and we receive from Him, anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another, just has He has shown us to do. If we obey, we know that we live in Him, and God lives in us. And we know that God lives in us because of the Spirit He gave us.

1 John Chapter 4

Dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Test every spirit to see if it’s from God, because there are many false prophets in the world. Here’s how you can recognize God’s Spirit: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is from God. But any spirit that contradicts the truth about Jesus, is not from God. In fact, this is a spirit of antichrist, which you’ve heard is coming—but in fact this spirit of antichrist is already in the world.

You, dear children, belong to God and have overcome the world. Indeed, the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Those false prophets belong to the world, so they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us. Whoever doesn’t belong to God, does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love for us: He sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we could have life through Him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sin.

Dear friends, since God loves us so much, we should love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made perfect in us. This is how we know we live in Christ, and we know Christ lives in us: He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen, and we testify, that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, then God lives in them, and they live in God. So we have come to know and we rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God lives in them.

This is how love is made perfect in us so that we can have confidence on the day of judgment—because in this world, we are like Him. There’s no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. Because fear is the product of uncertainty. Anyone who is afraid has not fully experienced the certainty of perfect love.

We love God because God first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” but there is someone in their life that they hate, then they are lying about their love for God. How can someone love God, whom they haven’t seen, if they don’t love another person, whom they have seen? And this is the command God gave us: Anyone who loves God must also love the people God puts into their life.

1 John Chapter 5

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father also loves God’s children. This is how we show love for the children of God: We love God and keep His commandments, and our obedience is not a burdensome duty; rather, it is the fruit of a grateful heart.

Everyone who is born of God has the power to overcome the world. This victory over the world is the result of our faith. Who can overcome the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus Christ came by water and blood—not just by water only, but water and blood. And the Spirit testifies to this, because the Spirit is truth. There are three who testify before heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit—and these three are one. And there are three who testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in one accord.

If we trust human testimony, God’s testimony is even greater. This is the testimony of God: He has declared the truth about His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this truth living in their heart. But whoever refuses to believe makes God out to be a liar, because they are rejecting what God has said about His Son.

And here’s the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in His Son. If you have the Son of God, you have life. If you don’t have the Son of God, you don’t have life.

I’ve written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life. And this is the confidence we have in approaching God: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, we know we will receive what we have desired from God.

If you see a fellow believer committing a sin that does not lead to death, pray for them, and God will give them life. There is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin leads to death.

We know that anyone born of God does not continue in a life of sin. The one born of God keeps themselves safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. But we also know that the Son of God has come, and God has given us understanding so that we can know Him who is true. We are in Him and we are in Truth; that is, we are in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and He is eternal life.

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Amen.