2 My dear children,^(A) I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate^(B) with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,^(C) and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.^(D)

Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers

³ We know^(E) that we have come to know him^(F) if we keep his commands.^{(G) 4} Whoever says, “I know him,”^(H) but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.^{(I) 5} But if anyone obeys his word,^(J) love for God^[a] is truly made complete in them.^(K) This is how we know^(L) we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.^(M)

⁷ Dear friends,^(N) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(O) This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command;^(P) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing^(Q) and the true light^(R) is already shining.^(S)

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[b](T) is still in the darkness.^{(U) 10} Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[c] lives in the light,^(V) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.^{(W) 11} But anyone who hates a brother or sister^(X) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.^(Y) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.^(Z)

Reasons for Writing

On Not Loving the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world.^(AL) If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[d] is not in them.^{(AM) 16} For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,^(AN) the lust of the eyes,^(AO) and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away,^(AP) but whoever does the will of God^(AQ) lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour;^(AR) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,^(AS) even now many antichrists have come.^(AT) This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us,^(AU) but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.^(AV)

²⁰ But you have an anointing^(AW) from the Holy One,^(AX) and all of you know the truth.^{[e](AY) 21} I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it^(AZ) and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.^{(BA) 23} No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.^(BB)

²⁴ As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning^(BC) remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.^{(BD) 25} And this is what he promised us—eternal life.^(BE)

²⁶ I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.^{(BF) 27} As for you, the anointing^(BG) you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things^(BH) and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.^(BI)

God’s Children and Sin

²⁸ And now, dear children,^(BJ) continue in him, so that when he appears^(BK) we may be confident^(BL) and unashamed before him at his coming.^(BM)

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous,^(BN) you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.^(BO)