Jesus, the Word of Life

1 What existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we observed and touched with our own hands—this is the^[a] Word of life! ² This life was revealed to us, and we have seen it and testify about it. We declare to you this eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. ³ What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus, the Messiah.^{[b] 4} We are writing these things^[c] so that our^[d] joy may be full.

Living in the Light

⁵ This is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness—none at all! ⁶ If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we keep living in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and we’re not being truthful to ourselves. ⁹ If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word has no place in us.