1 John 1-5

New International Reader's Version

The Word of Life Became a Human Being

1 Here is what we announce to everyone about the Word of life. The Word was already here from the beginning. We have heard him. We have seen him with our eyes. We have looked at him. Our hands have touched him. ² This life has appeared. We have seen him. We are witnesses about him. And we announce to you this same eternal life. He was already with the Father. He has appeared to us. ³ We announce to you what we have seen and heard. We do it so you can share life together with us. And we share life with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing this to make our joy complete.

Walking in the Light

⁵ Here is the message we have heard from him and announce to you. God is light. There is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ Suppose we say that we share life with God but still walk in the darkness. Then we are lying. We are not living out the truth. ⁷ But suppose we walk in the light, just as he is in the light. Then we share life with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, makes us pure from all sin.

⁸ Suppose we claim we are without sin. Then we are fooling ourselves. The truth is not in us. ⁹ But God is faithful and fair. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar. His word is not in us.

2 My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. But suppose someone does sin. Then we have a friend who speaks to the Father for us. He is Jesus Christ, the Blameless One. ² He gave his life to pay for our sins. But he not only paid for our sins. He also paid for the sins of the whole world.

Instructions About Loving and Hating Other Believers

³ We know that we have come to know God if we obey his commands. ⁴ Suppose someone says, “I know him.” But suppose this person does not do what God commands. Then this person is a liar and is not telling the truth. ⁵ But if anyone obeys God’s word, then that person truly loves God. Here is how we know we belong to him. ⁶ Those who claim to belong to him must live just as Jesus did.

⁷ Dear friends, I’m not writing you a new command. Instead, I’m writing one you have heard before. You have had it since the beginning. ⁸ But I am writing what amounts to a new command. Its truth was shown in how Jesus lived. It is also shown in how you live. That’s because the darkness is passing away. And the true light is already shining.

⁹ Suppose someone claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister. Then they are still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light. There is nothing in them to make them fall into sin. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness. They walk around in the darkness. They don’t know where they are going. The darkness has made them blind.

Reasons for Writing

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in it. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ Here is what people who belong to this world do. They try to satisfy what their sinful desires want to do. They long for what their sinful eyes look at. They take pride in what they have and what they do. All of this comes from the world. None of it comes from the Father. ¹⁷ The world and its evil desires are passing away. But whoever does what God wants them to do lives forever.

Warnings About Saying No to the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, we are living in the last days. You have heard that the great enemy of Christ is coming. But even now many enemies of Christ have already come. That’s how we know that these are the last days. ¹⁹ These enemies left our community of believers. They didn’t really belong to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by leaving they showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰ You have received the Spirit from the Holy One. And all of you know the truth. ²¹ I’m not writing to you because you don’t know the truth. I’m writing because you do know it. I’m writing to you because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. The person who says this is the great enemy of Christ. They say no to the Father and the Son. ²³ The person who says no to the Son doesn’t belong to the Father. But anyone who says yes to the Son belongs to the Father also.

²⁴ Make sure that you don’t forget what you have heard from the beginning. Then you will remain joined to the Son and to the Father. ²⁵ And here is what God has promised us. He has promised us eternal life.

²⁶ I’m writing these things to warn you. I am warning you about people trying to lead you astray. ²⁷ But you have received the Holy Spirit from God. He continues to live in you. So you don’t need anyone to teach you. God’s Spirit teaches you about everything. What he says is true. He doesn’t lie. Remain joined to Christ, just as you have been taught by the Spirit.

God’s Children and Sin

²⁸ Dear children, remain joined to Christ. Then when he comes, we can be bold. We will not be ashamed to meet him when he comes.

²⁹ You know that God is right and always does what is right. And you know that everyone who does what is right is God’s child.

3 See what amazing love the Father has given us! Because of it, we are called children of God. And that’s what we really are! The world doesn’t know us because it didn’t know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God. He still hasn’t let us know what we will be. But we know that when Christ appears, we will be like him. That’s because we will see him as he really is. ³ Christ is pure. All who hope to be like him make themselves pure.

⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law. In fact, breaking the law is sin. ⁵ But you know that Christ came to take our sins away. And there is no sin in him. ⁶ No one who remains joined to him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has seen him or known him.

⁷ Dear children, don’t let anyone lead you astray. The person who does what is right is holy, just as Christ is holy. ⁸ The person who does what is sinful belongs to the devil. That’s because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ Those who are God’s children will not keep on sinning. God’s very nature remains in them. They can’t go on sinning. That’s because they are God’s children. ¹⁰ Here is how you can tell the difference between God’s children and the devil’s children. Anyone who doesn’t do what is right isn’t God’s child. And anyone who doesn’t love their brother or sister isn’t God’s child either.

More Instructions About Loving and Hating One Another

¹¹ From the beginning we have heard that we should love one another. ¹² Don’t be like Cain. He belonged to the evil one. He murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because the things Cain had done were wrong. But the things his brother had done were right. ¹³ My brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have left our old dead way of life. And we have entered into new life. We know this because we love one another. Anyone who doesn’t love still lives in their old condition. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates their brother or sister is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life.

¹⁶ We know what love is because Jesus Christ gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Suppose someone sees a brother or sister in need and is able to help them. And suppose that person doesn’t take pity on these needy people. Then how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, don’t just talk about love. Put your love into action. Then it will truly be love.

¹⁹ Here’s how we know that we hold to the truth. And here’s how we put our hearts at rest, knowing that God is watching. ²⁰ If our hearts judge us, we know that God is greater than our hearts. And he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not judge us, we can be bold with God. ²² And he will give us anything we ask. That’s because we obey his commands. We do what pleases him. ²³ God has commanded us to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. He has also commanded us to love one another. ²⁴ The one who obeys God’s commands remains joined to him. And he remains joined to them. Here is how we know that God lives in us. We know it because of the Holy Spirit he gave us.

Jesus Came as a Human Being

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they belong to God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² Here is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit agreeing that Jesus Christ came in a human body belongs to God. ³ But every spirit that doesn’t agree with this does not belong to God. You have heard that the spirit of the great enemy of Christ is coming. Even now it is already in the world.

⁴ Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That’s because the one who is in you is powerful. He is more powerful than the one who is in the world. ⁵ False prophets belong to the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view. And the world listens to them. ⁶ We belong to God. And those who know God listen to us. But those who don’t belong to God don’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of lies.

We Love Because God Loved Us

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become a child of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ Here is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him. ¹⁰ Here is what love is. It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we should also love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.

¹³ Here’s how we know that we are joined to him and he to us. He has given us his Holy Spirit. ¹⁴ The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We have seen it and are witnesses to it. ¹⁵ God lives in anyone who agrees that Jesus is the Son of God. This kind of person remains joined to God. ¹⁶ So we know that God loves us. We depend on it.

God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love is joined to God. And God is joined to them. ¹⁷ Suppose love is fulfilled among us. Then we can be without fear on the day God judges the world. Love is fulfilled among us when in this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives away fear. That’s because fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love.

¹⁹ We love because he loved us first. ²⁰ Suppose someone claims to love God but hates a brother or sister. Then they are a liar. They don’t love their brother or sister, whom they have seen. So they can’t love God, whom they haven’t seen. ²¹ Here is the command God has given us. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

Faith in God’s Son Who Became a Human Being

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children as well. ² Here is how we know that we love God’s children. We know it when we love God and obey his commands. ³ In fact, here is what it means to love God. We love him by obeying his commands. And his commands are not hard to obey. ⁴ That’s because everyone who is a child of God has won the battle over the world. Our faith has won the battle for us. ⁵ Who is it that has won the battle over the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶ Jesus Christ was born as we are, and he died on the cross. He wasn’t just born as we are. He also died on the cross. The Holy Spirit is a truthful witness about him. That’s because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ There are three that are witnesses about Jesus. ⁸ They are the Holy Spirit, the birth of Jesus, and the death of Jesus. And the three of them agree. ⁹ We accept what people say when they are witnesses. But it’s more important when God is a witness. That’s because it is what God says about his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts what God says about him. Whoever does not believe God is calling him a liar. That’s because they have not believed what God said about his Son. ¹¹ Here is what God says about the Son. God has given us eternal life. And this life is found in his Son. ¹² Whoever belongs to the Son has life. Whoever doesn’t belong to the Son of God doesn’t have life.

Final Words

¹³ I’m writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. I’m writing so you will know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴ Here is what we can be sure of when we come to God in prayer. If we ask anything in keeping with what he wants, he hears us. ¹⁵ If we know that God hears what we ask for, we know that we have it.

¹⁶ Suppose you see any brother or sister commit a sin. But this sin is not the kind that leads to death. Then you should pray, and God will give them life. I’m talking about someone whose sin does not lead to death. But there is a sin that does lead to death. I’m not saying you should pray about that sin. ¹⁷ Every wrong thing we do is sin. But there are sins that do not lead to death.

¹⁸ We know that those who are children of God do not keep on sinning. The Son of God keeps them safe. The evil one can’t harm them. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God. We know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. ²⁰ We also know that the Son of God has come. He has given us understanding. So we can know the God who is true. And we belong to the true God by belonging to his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹ Dear children, keep away from statues of gods.