1 John 2:3-11
Good News Translation
3 If we obey God's commands, then we are sure that we know him. 4 If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us. 5 But if we obey his word, we are the ones whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God: 6 if we say that we remain in union with God, we should live just as Jesus Christ did.
The New Command
7 (A)My dear friends, this command I am writing you is not new; it is the old command, the one you have had from the very beginning. The old command is the message you have already heard. 8 However, the command I now write you is new, because its truth is seen in Christ and also in you. For the darkness is passing away, and the real light is already shining.
9 If we say that we are in the light, yet hate others, we are in the darkness to this very hour. 10 If we love others, we live in the light, and so there is nothing in us that will cause someone else[a] to sin. 11 But if we hate others, we are in the darkness; we walk in it and do not know where we are going, because the darkness has made us blind.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 John 2:10 someone else; or us.
1 John 2:3-11
New International Version
Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers
3 We know(A) that we have come to know him(B) if we keep his commands.(C) 4 Whoever says, “I know him,”(D) but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.(E) 5 But if anyone obeys his word,(F) love for God[a] is truly made complete in them.(G) This is how we know(H) we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.(I)
7 Dear friends,(J) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.(K) This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command;(L) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing(M) and the true light(N) is already shining.(O)
9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister[b](P) is still in the darkness.(Q) 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister[c] lives in the light,(R) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.(S) 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister(T) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.(U) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.(V)
Footnotes
- 1 John 2:5 Or word, God’s love
- 1 John 2:9 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15, 17; 4:20; 5:16.
- 1 John 2:10 The Greek word for brother and sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in 3:10; 4:20, 21.
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