Chapter 2

¹My dear children, I am writing you this so that you may not sin; yet if anyone does sin, we have in Jesus Christ one who is upright and will intercede for us with the Father. ²He is himself an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world. ³This is how we can be sure that we know him—by obeying his commands. ⁴Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not obey his commands, is a liar, and there is no truth in his heart; ⁵but whoever obeys his message really has the love of God in perfection in his heart. This is the way we can be sure that we are in union with him; ⁶whoever says, “I am always in union with him” must live just as he lived.

⁷Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing you, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the same as the message you have heard. ⁸Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is newly realized in him and in yourselves, for the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

⁹Whoever says, “I am in the light,” and yet hates his brother, is still in darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother is always in the light and puts no hindrance in anyone’s way. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in darkness, and is living in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven for his sake. ¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have been victorious over the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. ¹⁴I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and God’s message is always in your hearts, and you have been victorious over the evil one. ¹⁵Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone loves the world, there is no love for the Father in his heart, ¹⁶for all that there is in the world, the things that our physical nature and our eyes crave, and the proud display of life—these do not come from the Father, but from the world; ¹⁷and the world with its cravings is passing away, but whoever does God’s will will endure forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that Antichrist is coming, and many Antichrists have indeed appeared. So we may be sure that it is the last hour. ¹⁹They have gone out from our number, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had, they would have stayed with us. It was to make it clear that none of them really belonged to us that they withdrew. ²⁰But you have been anointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth; ²¹I do not write to you because you do not know it, but because you do know it, and because no lie can come from the truth.

²²Who is such a liar as the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the real Antichrist—the man who disowns the Father and the Son. ²³No one who disowns the Son can have the Father. Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too. ²⁴Keep what you have heard from the beginning in your hearts; then you will always be in union with the Son and the Father. ²⁵And what he himself has promised us is eternal life.

²⁶I write you this with reference to those who are trying to mislead you. ²⁷You still retain in your hearts the anointing with the Spirit that you received from him, and you do not need to have anyone teach you. But just as that anointing of his teaches you about everything, and as it is true and no falsehood, keep in union with him just as it has taught you to do. ²⁸Now, dear children, keep in union with him, so that if he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame when he comes. ²⁹If you know that he is upright, you may be sure that everyone who acts uprightly is his child.