1 John 1
New Living Translation
Introduction
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning,[a] whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.[b]
Living in the Light
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus[c] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
1 John 1
International Standard Version
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.
Footnotes
- 1 John 1:1 Lit. about the
- 1 John 1:3 Or Christ
- 1 John 1:4 Other mss. read these things to you
- 1 John 1:4 Other mss. read your
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