1 We want to tell you about the One who was from the beginning. We have seen Him with our own eyes, heard Him with our own ears, and touched Him with our own hands. This One is the manifestation of the life-giving Voice, ² and He showed us real life, eternal life. We have seen it all, and we can’t keep what we witnessed quiet—we have to share it with you. We are inviting you to experience eternal life through the One who was with the Father and came down to us. ³ What we saw and heard we pass on to you so that you, too, will be connected with us intimately and become family. Our family is united by our connection with the Father and His Son Jesus, the Anointed One; ⁴ and we write all this because retelling this story fulfills our^[a] joy.

⁵ What we are telling you now is the very message we heard from Him: God is pure light, undimmed by darkness of any kind. ⁶ If we say we have an intimate connection with the Father but we continue stumbling around in darkness, then we are lying because we do not live according to truth. ⁷ If we walk step by step in the light, where the Father is, then we are ultimately connected to each other through the sacrifice of Jesus His Son. His blood purifies us from all our sins. ⁸ If we go around bragging, “We have no sin,” then we are fooling ourselves and are strangers to the truth. ⁹ But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. ¹⁰ If we say, “We have not sinned,” then we depict God as a liar and show that we have not let His word find its way into our hearts.