1 John 1
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Prologue: Our Declaration
1 What was from the beginning,(A)
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have observed
and have touched with our hands,
concerning the Word(B) of life—
2 that life was revealed,(C)
and we have seen it
and we testify and declare to you
the eternal life that was with the Father
and was revealed to us(D)—
3 what we have seen and heard
we also declare to you,
so that you may have fellowship(E) along with us;
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father(F)
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing these things[a]
so that our[b] joy(G) may be complete.
Fellowship with God
5 Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light,(H) and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.(I) 6 If we say, “We have fellowship(J) with Him,” yet we walk in darkness,(K) we are lying and are not practicing[c] the truth.(L) 7 But if we walk in the light(M) as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus(N) His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,”(O) we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive(P) us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word(Q) is not in us.(R)
Footnotes
- 1 John 1:4 Other mss add to you
- 1 John 1:4 Other mss read your
- 1 John 1:6 Or not living according to
1 John 1
Modern English Version
The Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and announce to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 we declare to you that which we have seen and heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things to you so that our joy may be complete.
God Is Light
5 This then is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
1 John 1
The Message
1 1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.
3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
Walk in the Light
5 This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.
6-7 If we claim that we experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark, we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim. But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.
8-10 If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson