Book of Common Prayer

If We Are Loving One Another, We Are Abiding In The Light

⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old^[a] commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard. ⁸ Yet-again I am writing a new^[b] commandment to you, which^[c] is true^[d] in Him and in you, because^[e] the darkness is passing-away and the true Light^[f] is already shining. ⁹ The one claiming to be in the light and hating his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one loving his brother is abiding in the light, and there is no cause-of-falling in him. ¹¹ But the one hating his brother is in the darkness, and is walking in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness blinded his eyes.

I Am Writing To You Because of What Has Already Happened In Your Life

¹² I am writing to you, little-children^[g], because your sins have been forgiven you for-the-sake-of His name. ¹³ I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the One from the beginning. I am writing to you, young-men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I Wrote To You Because of Who And What You Already Know

¹⁴ I wrote^[h] to you, children, because you have known the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known the One from the beginning. I wrote to you, young-men, because you are strong ones, and the word of God is abiding in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

So Don’t Love The World Or Pursue Its Desires. The One Doing God’s Will Abides Forever

¹⁵ Do not be loving the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone is loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ Because everything in the world— the desire of ^[i] the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the boastful-pride of life^[j]— is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing-away, and its desire. But the one doing the will of God abides forever.

Jesus Appears To Mary, Then To Two In The Country, Then To The Eleven

⁹ And [Jesus] having risen-up early-in-the-morning on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary the Magdalene, from whom He had cast-out seven demons. ¹⁰ That one, having gone, reported it to the ones having been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ And-those-ones, having heard that He was alive and was seen by her, did not-believe^[a] her. ¹² And after these things, He appeared in a different form to two of them walking, while they were proceeding into the country. ¹³ And those ones, having gone, reported it to the rest. They did not even believe those ones. ¹⁴ And later He appeared to the eleven themselves while they were reclining-back [to eat]. And He reproached^[b] their unbelief and hardness-of-heart because they did not believe the ones having seen Him arisen.

Jesus Commissions His Followers To Proclaim The Gospel To All Creation

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Having gone into all the world, proclaim the good-news to^[c] all creation. ¹⁶ The one having believed and having been baptized will be saved. But the one having not-believed will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany^[d] the ones having believed: in My name they will cast-out demons, they will speak in^[e] new tongues^[f], ¹⁸ and they will pick up snakes^[g] with their hands. And if they drink any deadly thing, it will by-no-means^[h] hurt^[i] them. They will lay hands on sick ones, and they will be well”.

Jesus Is Taken Up Into Heaven

¹⁹ So indeed the Lord Jesus, after He spoke to them, was taken-up into heaven and sat-down on the right side of God. ²⁰ And those ones, having gone-forth, proclaimed it everywhere, the Lord working-with them and confirming^[j] the word by the signs following-after^[k] them.

[A few Greek manuscripts have this “Short^[l] Ending” after verse 8, followed by the “long ending” above]

And they promptly reported all the things having been commanded them to the ones around Peter. And after these things, Jesus Himself also sent-forth the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation through them, from the east and as-far-as the west. Amen.