⁴ We write this^(A) to make our^[a] joy complete.^(B)

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵ This is the message we have heard^(C) from him and declare to you: God is light;^(D) in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness,^(E) we lie and do not live out the truth.^{(F) 7} But if we walk in the light,^(G) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[b] sin.^(H)

⁵ But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^(A) And in him is no sin.^{(B) 6} No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.^(C) No one who continues to sin has either seen him^(D) or known him.^(E)

⁷ Dear children,^(F) do not let anyone lead you astray.^(G) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^{(H) 8} The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(I) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(J) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(K) 9} No one who is born of God^(L) will continue to sin,^(M) because God’s seed^(N) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.