1 JohnChapter 2

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¹My little children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have someone who speaks for us to the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ²He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. ³Here is how we can be sure we have come to know him: if we keep his commands. ⁴Someone may say, "I know him." But if he does not keep his commands, he is a liar. The truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone keeps his word, God's love has truly been made complete in him. Here is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever says he lives in him must live the way Jesus lived. ⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command. It is an old one. You have had it from the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸And yet I am writing you a new command too. It is true in him, and it is true in you. For the darkness is fading. The true light is already shining. ⁹Someone may say he is in the light. But if he hates his brother or sister, he is still in the dark. ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother or sister stays in the light. There is nothing in him to make anyone trip and fall. ¹¹But whoever hates his brother or sister is in the dark. He walks around in the dark. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has made him blind. ¹²I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through his name. ¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has been there from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have won over the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. ¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who has been there from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong. The word of God lives in you, and you have won over the evil one. ¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in it. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love is not in him. ¹⁶Here is what is in the world: the wants of our sinful nature, the wants of our eyes, and pride in what we have. None of this comes from the Father. It comes from the world. ¹⁷The world is passing away, and so are its wants. But whoever does what God wants will live forever. ¹⁸Children, it is the last hour. You have heard that the antichrist is coming. And just as you heard, many antichrists have now come. That is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹They left us, but they never really belonged to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. But they left. That made it clear that none of them belonged to us. ²⁰But you have been anointed by the Holy One. All of you know the truth. ²¹I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth. I am writing because you do know it. And no lie comes from the truth. ²²Who is the liar? It is the one who says Jesus is not the Christ. That person is the antichrist. He denies the Father and the Son. ²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. But whoever says yes to the Son has the Father too. ²⁴As for you, keep what you heard from the beginning in your hearts. If you do, you will also stay in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵And here is what he himself promised us: eternal life. ²⁶I have written these things to you about people who are trying to fool you. ²⁷But as for you, he anointed you, and that anointing stays in you. So you do not need anyone to teach you. His anointing is true and real, and it teaches you about all things. So stay in him, just as you were taught. ²⁸And now, little children, stay in Christ. Then when he appears, we can be bold. We will not shrink back from him in shame when he comes. ²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you also know this: everyone who does what is right has been born of him.