1 John 1-5

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Prologue: Our Declaration

Fellowship with God

⁵ Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light,^(H) and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.^{(I) 6} If we say, “We have fellowship^(J) with Him,” yet we walk in darkness,^(K) we are lying and are not practicing^[c] the truth.^{(L) 7} But if we walk in the light^(M) as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus^(N) His Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say, “We have no sin,”^(O) we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive^(P) us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word^(Q) is not in us.^(R)

2 My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate^(S) with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. ² He Himself is the propitiation^(T) for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.^(U)

God’s Commands

³ This is how we are sure^(V) that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands.^{(W) 4} The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” yet doesn't keep His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word,^(X) truly in him the love of God is perfected.^[d] This is how we know we are in Him:^{(Y) 6} The one who says he remains in Him^(Z) should walk just as He walked.

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command^(AA) but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message^(AB) you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away^(AC) and the true light^(AD) is already shining.^(AE)

⁹ The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother^(AF) is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother^(AG) remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.^{[e] 11} But the one who hates his brother^(AH) is in the darkness, walks in the darkness,^(AI) and doesn’t know where he’s going,^(AJ) because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Reasons for Writing

A Warning about the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world^(AO) or the things that belong to^[f] the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that belongs to^[g] the world—the lust of the flesh,^(AP) the lust of the eyes,^(AQ) and the pride^(AR) in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world with its lust is passing away,^(AS) but the one who does God’s will^(AT) remains forever.^(AU)

The Last Hour

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour.^(AV) And as you have heard, “Antichrist^(AW) is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing^(AX) from the Holy One,^(AY) and all of you have knowledge.^{[h] 21} I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah?^(AZ) This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son can have the Father;^(BA) he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.^(BB)

Remaining with God

²⁴ What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son^(BC) and in the Father.^{(BD) 25} And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.^{(BE) 26} I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷ The anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, His anointing teaches you about all things^(BF) and is true and is not a lie; just as He has taught you, remain in Him.^(BG)

God’s Children

²⁸ So now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears^(BH) we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.^{(BI) 29} If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right^(BJ) has been born of Him.^(BK) 3 ¹ Look at how great a love^[i] the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him. ² Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.^(BL) We know that when He appears, we will be like Him^(BM) because we will see Him as He is.^{(BN) 3} And everyone who has this hope^(BO) in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.^(BP)

⁴ Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law;^[j] sin is the breaking of law. ⁵ You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins,^[k](BQ) and there is no sin in Him.^{(BR) 6} Everyone who remains in Him^(BS) does not sin;^[l](BT) everyone who^[m] sins has not seen Him or known Him.

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸ The one who commits^[n] sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God^(BU) was revealed^(BV) for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works. ⁹ Everyone who has been born of God^(BW) does not sin,^[o] because His^[p] seed^(BX) remains in him; he is not able to sin,^[q] because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how God’s children—and the Devil’s children—are made evident.

The Command to Love

Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.^{(BY) 11} For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, ¹² unlike Cain,^(BZ) who was of the evil one^(CA) and murdered^[r] his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates^(CB) you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.^{(CC) 15} Everyone who hates his brother^(CD) is a murderer,^(CE) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Love in Action

¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life^(CF) for us.^(CG) We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.^{(CH) 17} If anyone has this world’s goods^(CI) and sees his brother in need^(CJ) but closes his eyes^(CK) to his need—how can God’s love reside in him?^(CL)

¹⁸ Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.^{(CM) 19} This is how we will know we belong to the truth^(CN) and will convince our conscience in His presence, ²⁰ even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things.^(CO)

²¹ Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands^(CP) and do what is pleasing in His sight. ²³ Now this is His command: that we believe in the name^(CQ) of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps His commands remains in Him,^(CR) and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us^(CS) is from the Spirit^(CT) He has given us.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits^(CU) to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has^[s] come in the flesh^(CV) is from God.^{(CW) 3} But every spirit who does not confess Jesus^[t] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist;^(CX) you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

⁴ You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you^(CY) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(CZ) 5} They are from the world.^(DA) Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us;^(DB) anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.^(DC)

Knowing God through Love

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God^(DD) and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way:^[u] God sent^(DE) His One and Only Son^(DF) into the world so that we might live^(DG) through Him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us^(DH) and sent His Son to be the^[v] propitiation^(DI) for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.^{(DJ) 12} No one has ever seen God.^[w](DK) If we love one another, God remains in^[x] us and His love is perfected in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we remain in Him^(DL) and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit.^{(DM) 14} And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son^(DN) as the world’s Savior. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses^[y](DO) that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷ In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,^(DP) for we are as He is in this world.^{(DQ) 18} There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear,^(DR) because fear involves punishment.^[z] So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.^{(DS) 19} We love^[aa] because He first loved us.^(DT)

Keeping God’s Commands

²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother,^(DU) he is a liar.^(DV) For the person who does not love his brother^(DW) he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.^{[ab] 21} And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God,^(DX) and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. ² This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey^[ac] His commands. ³ For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden,^{(DY) 4} because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. ⁵ And who is the one who conquers the world^(DZ) but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?^(EA)

The Certainty of God’s Testimony

⁶ Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water^(EB) and by blood.^(EC) And the Spirit is the One who testifies,^(ED) because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three that testify:^{[ad](EE) 8} the Spirit,^(EF) the water, and the blood^(EG)—and these three are in agreement. ⁹ If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony^(EH) is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. ¹⁰ (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,^(EI) because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹² The one who has the Son has life.^(EJ) The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ I have written these things to you who believe in the name^(EK) of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Effective Prayer

¹⁴ Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask^(EL) anything according to His will, He hears us.^{(EM) 15} And if we know that He hears whatever we ask,^(EN) we know that we have what we have asked Him for.^(EO)

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God^[ae] will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin^[af] that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death.

Conclusion

¹⁸ We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the One^[ag] who is born of God keeps him,^[ah][ai](EP) and the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come^(EQ) and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One.^[aj] We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ.^(ER) He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹ Little children, guard yourselves from idols.