1 John 2:1-10

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,^{(A) 2} and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.^(B)

³ Now by this we know that we have come to know him, if we obey his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not obey his commandments is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; ⁵ but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we know that we are in him:^{(C) 6} whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk in the same way as he walked.^(D)

A New Commandment

⁷ Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because^[a] the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.^{(E) 9} Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.^{(F) 10} Whoever loves a brother or sister abides in the light, and in such a person^[b] there is no cause for stumbling.