John’s Reason for Writing
1The logos of life existed from the beginning. We have heard it. We have seen it. We observed and touched it. 2This life was revealed to us. We have seen it, and we testify about it. We are reporting to you about this eternal life that was in the presence of the Father and was revealed to us. 3This is the life we have seen and heard. We are reporting about it to you also so that you, too, can have a relationship with us. Our relationship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing this so that we can be completely filled with joy.
Through Jesus We Have a Relationship with Theos
5This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: Theos is light, and there isn’t any darkness in him. 6If we say, “We have a relationship with Theos” and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful.
7But if we live in the light in the same way that Theos is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin. 8If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9Theos is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong. 10If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn Theos into a liar and his logos is not in us.
1 John 2
1My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ, who has Theos’s full approval. He speaks on our behalf when we come into the presence of the Father. 2He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Those Who Know Christ Obey His Commandments
3We are sure that we know Christ if we obey his commandments. 4The person who says, “I know him,” but doesn’t obey his commandments is a liar. The truth isn’t in that person. 5But whoever obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom Theos’s love is perfected. That’s how we know we are in Christ. 6Those who say that they live in him must live the same way he lived.
7Dear friends, it’s not as though I’m writing to give you a new commandment. Rather, I’m giving you an old commandment that you’ve had from the beginning. It’s the old commandment you’ve already heard. 8On the other hand, I’m writing to give you a new commandment. It’s a truth that exists in Christ and in you: The darkness is fading, and the true light is already shining.
9Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark. 10Those who love other believers live in the light. Nothing will destroy the faith of those who live in the light. 11Those who hate other believers are in the dark and live in the dark. They don’t know where they’re going, because they can’t see in the dark.
Don’t Love the World
12I’m writing to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ.
13I’m writing to you, fathers, because you know Christ who has existed from the beginning.
I’m writing to you, young people, because you have won the victory over the evil one.
14I’ve written to you, children, because you know the Father.
I’ve written to you, fathers, because you know Christ, who has existed from the beginning.
I’ve written to you, young people, because you are strong and Theos’s word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one.
15Don’t love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don’t have the Father’s love in them. 16Not everything that the world offers—physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles—comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and 17the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what Theos wants lives forever.
Live in Christ
18Children, it’s the end of time. You’ve heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That’s how we know it’s the end of time. 19They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.
20The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge. 21I’m writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don’t know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.
22Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23Everyone who rejects the Son doesn’t have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father. 24Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.
26I’m writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.
We Are Theos’s Children
28Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame. 29If you know that Christ has Theos’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what Theos approves of has been born from Theos.
1 John 3
1Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called Theos’s dear children. And that’s what we are. For this reason the world doesn’t recognize us, and it didn’t recognize him either. 2Dear friends, now we are Theos’s children. What we will be isn’t completely clear yet. We do know that when Christ appears we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3So all people who have this confidence in Christ keep themselves pure, as Christ is pure.
4Those who live sinful lives are disobeying Theos. Sin is disobedience. 5You know that Christ appeared in order to take away our sins. He isn’t sinful. 6Those who live in Christ don’t go on sinning. Those who go on sinning haven’t seen or known Christ.
7Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what Theos approves of has Theos’s approval as Christ has Theos’s approval. 8The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of Theos appeared was to destroy what the devil does. 9Those who have been born from Theos don’t live sinful lives. What Theos has said lives in them, and they can’t live sinful lives. They have been born from Theos. 10This is the way Theos’s children are distinguished from the devil’s children. Everyone who doesn’t do what is right or love other believers isn’t Theos’s child.
Love One Another
11The message that you have heard from the beginning is to love each other. 12Don’t be like Cain. He was a child of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain murder his brother? Because the things Cain did were evil and the things his brother did had Theos’s approval. 13Brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised if the world hates you.
14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love other believers. The person who doesn’t grow in love remains in death. 15Everyone who hates another believer is a murderer, and you know that a murderer doesn’t have eternal life.
16We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers. 17Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can Theos’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer? 18Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.
19This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be reassured in his presence. 20Whenever our conscience condemns us, we will be reassured that Theos is greater than our conscience and knows everything. 21Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we can boldly look to Theos 22and receive from him anything we ask. We receive it because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. 23This is his commandment: to believe in his Son, the one named Jesus Christ, and to love each other as he commanded us. 24Those who obey Christ’s commandments live in Theos, and Theos lives in them. We know that he lives in us because he has given us the Spirit (pneuma).
1 John 4
Test People Who Say They Have Theos’s Spirit (pneuma)
1Dear friends, don’t believe all people who say that they have the Spirit (pneuma). Instead, test them. See whether the spirit (pneuma) they have is from Theos, because there are many false prophets in the world. 2This is how you can recognize Theos’s Spirit (pneuma): Every person who declares that Jesus Christ has come as a human has the Spirit (pneuma) that is from Theos. 3But every person who doesn’t declare that Jesus Christ has come as a human has a spirit (pneuma) that isn’t from Theos. This is the spirit (pneuma) of the antichrist that you have heard is coming. That spirit (pneuma) is already in the world.
4Dear children, you belong to Theos. So you have won the victory over these people, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5These people belong to the world. That’s why they speak the thoughts of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We belong to Theos. The person who knows Theos listens to us. Whoever doesn’t belong to Theos doesn’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the Spirit (pneuma) of truth from the spirit (pneuma) of lies.
Theos’s Love Lives in His People
7Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from Theos. Everyone who loves has been born from Theos and knows Theos. 8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know Theos, because Theos is love. 9Theos has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. 10This is love: not that we have loved Theos, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. 11Dear friends, if this is the way Theos loved us, we must also love each other. 12No one has ever seen Theos. If we love each other, Theos lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit (pneuma).
14We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15Theos lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of Theos, and they live in Theos. 16We have known and believed that Theos loves us. Theos is love. Those who live in Theos’s love live in Theos, and Theos lives in them.
17Theos’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him ⌞with regard to love⌟. 18No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.
19We love because Theos loved us first. 20Whoever says, “I love Theos,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love Theos, whom they have not seen. 21Christ has given us this commandment: The person who loves Theos must also love other believers.
1 John 5
Those Who Believe in Jesus Are Theos’s Children
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born from Theos. Everyone who loves the Father also loves his children. 2We know that we love Theos’s children when we love Theos by obeying his commandments. 3To love Theos means that we obey his commandments. Obeying his commandments isn’t difficult 4because everyone who has been born from Theos has won the victory over the world. Our faith is what wins the victory over the world. 5Who wins the victory over the world? Isn’t it the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of Theos?
6This Son of Theos is Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood. He didn’t come with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit (pneuma) is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit (pneuma) is the truth. 7There are three witnesses: (Four very late manuscripts add verses 7b–8a: “in heaven: the Father, the logos, and the Holy Spirit (pneuma). These three witnesses agree. And there are three witnesses on earth:”) 8the Spirit (pneuma), the water, and the blood. These three witnesses agree.
9We accept human testimony. Theos’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony that he has given about his Son. 10Those who believe in the Son of Theos have the testimony of Theos in them. Those who don’t believe Theos have made Theos a liar. They haven’t believed the testimony that Theos has given about his Son.
11This is the testimony: Theos has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. 12The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn’t have the Son of Theos doesn’t have this life.
Conclusion
13I’ve written this to those who believe in the Son of Theos so that they will know that they have eternal life.
14We are confident that Theos listens to us if we ask for anything that has his approval. 15We know that he listens to our requests. So we know that we already have what we ask him for.
16If you see another believer committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death, you should pray that Theos would give that person life. This is true for those who commit sins that don’t lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I’m not telling you to pray about that. 17Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that don’t lead to death.
18We know that those who have been born from Theos don’t go on sinning. Rather, the Son of Theos protects them, and the evil one can’t harm them.
19We know that we are from Theos, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20We know that the Son of Theos has come and has given us understanding so that we know the real Theos. We are in the one who is real, his Son Jesus Christ. This Jesus Christ is the real Theos and eternal life.
21Dear children, guard yourselves from false gods.