The Prologue to the Letter

This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life—

and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us).

What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us (and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ).

Thus we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

God Is Light, So We Must Walk in the Light

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

But if we walk 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.

But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

(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 One,

and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard.

The one who says he is in the light but still hates his fellow Christian is still in the darkness.

The one who loves his fellow Christian resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

But the one who hates his fellow Christian is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Words of Reassurance

I am writing to you, little children, that your sins have been forgiven because of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, that you have conquered the evil one.

I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.

Warning About False Teachers

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.

Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ ? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son.