1 John 1
Worldwide English (New Testament)
1 The Word of life always was living, even from the beginning. We heard him. We saw him with our own eyes. We looked at him, and we touched him with our own hands. We are writing to you about this Word of life.
2 This life came to earth. We saw him, and we know about him. And we tell you about this life that lives for ever. This life was with the Father and came to us.
3 We tell you also what we have seen and heard. We tell you so that you also will belong with us. And we belong with the Father and the Son.
4 We write these things to you so that we all will be very happy.
5 God is like light and he is not dark at all. That is the message we heard from him. That is the message we are telling you.
6 Do we say that we belong with him? And at the same time, do we live in the dark? Then what we say is not true, and what we do is not right.
7 Do we live in the light, as God is in the light? Then we belong with others who belong to him. And the blood of the death of Jesus Christ makes us clean from all the wrong things we have done.
8 Do we say, `We have no wrong ways'? Then we are fooling ourselves, and we do not know what is true.
9 Let us tell God about our wrong ways. God can be trusted. He does what is right. He will forgive us for the wrong things we have done. He will make us clean from all that was wrong.
10 Do we say, `We have not done anything wrong'? This is like saying that God is not true. That means we do not accept God's word.
1 John 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Jesus is God's message to people
1 We have an important message to tell you. We want to tell you about the person who was already there before the beginning of the world. We have heard him speak. We have seen him with our own eyes. We watched him and we touched him. He is the Word that gives us life with God.[a]
2 He showed himself clearly when he lived on this earth. From long ago he was together with God the Father, and he lives for ever. We saw him and we are telling you what is true. He is the one who has shown himself to us. 3 We also want you to share this new life with us. We share this life with God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son. That is why we are telling you about everything that we have seen and heard. 4 We are writing to you so that together we all may be completely happy.
God is light
5 We are telling you the good news that Jesus Christ told to us. This is the message: God is completely good and clean. He is like light. There is nothing dark about him. 6 Do you say that you share in the life that God gives? If you say that, but if you still live in the dark, you are telling a lie. You are not living in God's true way. 7 But when we live in a right way, it is like living in the light. God is always in the light. So, if we live in the light, we share together in the life which God gives. And when Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross, he saved us from all our sins. The blood of his sacrifice makes us clean.
8 If we say that we never do any wrong thing, we are deceiving ourselves. Even though we may think it is true, it is a lie. 9 Instead, we should agree that we have done wrong things and tell that to God. Then God will forgive us for our sins. He always does what he has promised to do. He always does what is right. He will forgive us and he will make us clean again, whatever bad things we may have done. 10 God says that all people have done wrong things. So, if we say that we have not done any wrong thing, we are saying that God tells lies. It shows that we have not accepted his message at all.
Footnotes
- 1:1 John is writing with authority. He is saying that he was with Jesus, the Word of God. He knows Jesus, and he knows what Jesus taught.
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