God Is Love

“What we have seen and heard, we declare to you, so you too may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And we write these things to you so that our joy may be full.

“This is the message we heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we are lying, and we are not telling the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son makes us clean from all sin.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to make us clean from every wrong. If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

“This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. Anyone who says, ‘I know him,’ but doesn’t keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him. But God’s love has truly been made perfect in anyone who keeps his word. This is how we know that we are in him: anyone who claims to remain in him ought to walk just as he walked.

“If someone says he is in the light and yet hates his brother, he is still in the darkness, even now. Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that causes stumbling. But anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness. He walks in the darkness and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

“I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven for the sake of his name. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

“Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. That is because all that is in the world belongs not to the Father but to the world: the cravings of the flesh, the cravings of the eyes, and the pride of life. The world is passing away, and its cravings with it, but whoever does God’s will remains forever.

“You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I haven’t written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie belongs to the truth.

“Who is the liar, if not someone who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father too.

“As for you, then, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. And if what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise he made to us: eternal life.

“I have written these things to you about those who would lead you astray. As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and there is no need for anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about all things, and it is true and is no lie. Just as it taught you, you will remain in him.

“And now, little children, remain in him, so that we may have boldness when he appears, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who keeps doing what is right has been born of him.

“Dear friends, we are children of God now. It has not yet been shown what we will be. But we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is. Everyone who has this hope set on him makes himself pure, just as he is pure.

“Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him.

“Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him. Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.

“This is how the children of God are made known, and the children of the devil: anyone who doesn’t do what is righteous is not of God, and neither is anyone who doesn’t love his brother.

“My brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, since we love the brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love his brother remains in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

“This is how we know what love is: he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our own lives for the brothers and sisters. But if someone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and then closes his heart of compassion to him, how does God’s love remain in him?

“My little children, let’s not love only with words, or only with the tongue, but in what we do, and in truth. By this we know that we are of the truth, and we convince our hearts before him, because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

“Dear friends, if our own hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God, so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

“This is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded. Whoever keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in that person. This is how we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

“This is the way you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist. You have heard that it is on its way, and now it is in the world already.

“Little children, you are of God, and you have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

“They are of the world. That is why they speak of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. If someone knows God, he listens to us. If someone is not of God, he doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

“This is how God’s love was revealed in us: God has sent his only born Son into the world, so we might live through him. Here is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

“Dear friends, if God loved us like this, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been made perfect in us.

“We know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. We have seen it, and we testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

“We know the love that God has for us, and we have believed it. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

“In this, love has been made perfect among us: that we may be bold on the day of judgment, because just as he is, so we are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear carries punishment with it. Anyone who is afraid has not been made perfect in love.

“We love him, because he first loved us. If a person says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. If he doesn’t love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? This is the commandment we have from him: that whoever loves God should also love his brother.

“That is because whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who overcomes the world, if not someone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

“He is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood: not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

“For there are three who testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.

“If we accept the witness of people, the witness of God is greater, because this is God’s testimony: what he has testified about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. If someone doesn’t believe God, he has made God a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about his Son.

“And the testimony is this: God gave eternal life to us, and this life is in his Son. Anyone who has the Son has the life. Anyone who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.

“To you who believe in the name of the Son of God, I have written these things so you may know that you have eternal life, and so you may go on believing in the name of the Son of God.

“This is the boldness we have toward him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the things we have asked him for.

“If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I don’t say that he should make a request concerning this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

“We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, so that we know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

“I am very glad that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we have been commanded by the Father. Now I beg you, dear lady, that we love one another. I am not writing you a new commandment, but the one we had from the beginning. This is love: that we should walk by his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you heard from the beginning: that you should walk in it.

“Many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Take care, so that we don’t lose the things we have accomplished, but receive a full reward. Whoever goes too far and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ doesn’t have God. Whoever remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

“If anyone comes to you and doesn’t bring this teaching, don’t receive him into your house, and don’t welcome him, because whoever welcomes him shares in his evil deeds.

“I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write them with paper and ink. I hope to come to you and to speak face to face, so that our joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you. Amen.”

“I was overjoyed when brothers came and testified about your truth, just as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than this: to hear about my children walking in truth.

“Dear friend, you do faithful work in whatever you do for those who are brothers and strangers. They have told the assembly about your love. You will do well to send them forward on their journey in a way worthy of God, because they went out for the sake of the Name, taking nothing from the Gentiles. So we ought to receive people like them, so that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

“I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say. So if I come, I will point out the things he is doing, how he accuses us unjustly with wicked words. Not content with this, he doesn’t receive the brothers himself, and he stops those who want to receive them, and throws them out of the assembly.

“Dear friend, don’t copy what is evil, but what is good. Whoever does good is of God. Whoever does evil hasn’t seen God. Everyone testifies for Demetrius, and so does the truth itself. Yes, we also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.

“I had many things to write to you, but I don’t wish to write them to you with ink and pen. I hope to see you soon. Then we will speak face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.”