Godbey - I John

Chapter 1

1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have beheld, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of the life;

1:2  and the life was made manifest, and we have seen, and we testify, and we proclaim to you the life which is eternal, which was with the Father, and has been made manifest unto us;

1:3  that which we have seen and heard we also proclaim to you, in order that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

1:4  And we write the same things to you, in order that our joy may be full.

1:5  And the same message which we have heard from him, we also proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness.

1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1:7  but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1:8  But if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous that he may forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10  If we may say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Chapter 2

2:1  My little children, I write these things to you, in order that you may not sin. And if any one may sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2:2  he is the expiator for our sins: and not ours only, but indeed for the whole world.

2:3  And in this we know that we have known him, if we are keeping his commandments.

2:4  The one saying, I have known him, and keeping not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

2:5  but whosoever shall keep his word, truly the divine love of God has been made perfect in him. In this we know that we are in him.

2:6  The one saying that he abides in him ought himself so to walk about, as he also did walk about.

2:7  Beloved, I write no new commandment to you, but the old one which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

2:8  Again I do write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you: because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

2:9  The one saying that he is in the light, and hating his brother, is in the darkness until now.

2:10  The one loving his brother with divine love abides in the light, and there is no stumbling in him.

2:11  But the one hating his brother is in darkness, and walks about in darkness, and does not know whither he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

2:12  I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven through his name.

2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have conquered the wicked one. I have written unto you, little children, because you have known the Father.

2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

2:15  Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him:

2:16  because this is all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.

2:17  The world and its lust are indeed passing away; but the one doing the will of God abides forever.

2:18  Little children, it is the last hour: and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, from which we know that it is the last hour.

2:19  They came out from us, but they were not of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us: but in order that they might be made manifest that they are not all of us.

2:20  You have an unction from the Holy One, and you all know.

2:21  I have not written unto you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

2:22  Who is a liar except the one denying that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist, the one denying the Father and the Son.

2:23  No one denying the Son has the Father: the one confessing the Son has also the Father.

2:24  Let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning may abide in you, you also are abiding in the Son, and in the Father.

2:25  This is the message which he proclaimed unto you, eternal life.

2:26  I have written these things unto you concerning those deceiving you.

2:27  And the unction which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one may teach you: but as his unction teaches you concerning all things, and it is true, and it is no lie, and as he has taught you, abide in him.

2:28  And now, little children, abide in him; in order that, if he may appear, we may have boldness, and not shrink with embarrassment from him in his presence.

2:29  If you may know that he is righteous, know that every one doing righteousness has been born of him.

Chapter 3

3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God; and we are. And on this account the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

3:2  Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he may be made manifest, we shall be like him; because we shall see him as he is.

3:3  Indeed every one having this hope on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

3:4  Every one doing sin does also a transgression of the law: and sin is the transgression of the law.

3:5  And you know that he was manifested that he might take away sins; and in him there is no sin.

3:6  No one abiding in him is sinning: every one sinning does not see him, nor know him.

3:7  Little children, let no one deceive you. The one doing righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

3:8  The one doing sin is of the devil; because the devil sins from the beginning. Unto this the Son of God was made manifest, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

3:9  Every one having been born of God does not sin; because his seed remains in him: and he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.

3:10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: every one not doing righteousness is not of God, and the one not loving his brother with divine love.

3:11  Because this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we must love one another,

3:12  not as Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother; and on account of what did he slay him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous.

3:13  And be not astonished, brother, if the world hates you.

3:14  We know that we have passed out of the death into the life, because we love the brethren with divine love; the one loving not with divine love, abides in the death.

3:15  Every one hating his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in himself.

3:16  In this we know the divine love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

3:17  Whosoever may have the sustenance of the world, and see his brother having need, and shut up his sympathies from him, how dwells the divine love of God in him?

3:18  Little children, let us love with divine love not in word, nor in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

3:19  And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and we shall assure our hearts before him;

3:20  because if our heart may condemn us, it is because God is greater than our heart, and he knows all things.

3:21  Beloved, if our heart may not condemn us, we have boldness toward God:

3:22  and whatsoever we may ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things pleasing before him.

3:23  And this is his commandment, that we may believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and we may love one another with divine love, as he has given to us commandment.

3:24  And the one keeping his commandments abides in him, and he in him; and in this we know that he abides in us, he has given us of his Spirit.

Chapter 4

4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits if they are of God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

4:2  In this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God:

4:3  and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard that he is coming; and now he is already in the world.

4:4  You are of God, little children, and you have conquered them; because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

4:5  They are of the world: on this account they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

4:6  We are of God: the one knowing God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

4:7  Beloved, let us love one another with divine love: because divine love is of God; and the one loving with divine love has been born of God, and knows God.

4:8  The one not loving with divine love does not know God; because God is divine love.

4:9  In this the divine love of God has been made manifest in us, because God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we may live through him.

4:10  In him is divine love, not because we loved God with divine love, but because he loved us with divine love, and sent his Son an expiation for our sins.

4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us with divine love, we ought also to love one another with divine love.

4:12  No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another with divine love, God abides in us, and his divine love has been made perfect in us.

4:13  In this we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit.

4:14  And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent forth his Son the Saviour of the world.

4:15  Whosoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, in him God abides, and he in God.

4:16  And we have known and we have believed the divine love which God has in us. God is divine love; and the one abiding in divine love abides in God, and God abides in him.

4:17  In this the divine love has been made perfect in us, that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

4:18  There is no fear in divine love; but perfect divine love casts out the fear: because the fear has torment; and the one fearing has not been made perfect in the divine love.

4:19  Let us love with divine love, because he himself first loved us with divine love.

4:20  If any one may say, I love God with divine love, and may hate his brother, he is a liar: for the one not loving his brother whom he has seen, with divine love, is not able to love God, whom he has not seen, with divine love.

4:21  And we have this precept from him, that the one loving God with divine love also loves his brother with divine love.

Chapter 5

5:1  Every one believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God: and every one loving with divine love him who begat, also loves him who has been begotten of him, with divine love.

5:2  In this we know that we love the children of God with divine love, when we love God with divine love and keep his commandments.

5:3  For this is the divine love of God, that we may keep his commandments: and his commandments are not heavy:

5:4  because everything which has been born of God conquers the world: and this is the victory which has conquered the world, our faith.

5:5  Who is the one conquering the world, except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God?

5:6  He is the one having come through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood; the Spirit is the one who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.

5:7  Because there are three who are bearing witness,

5:8  the Spirit and the water, and blood: and these three are one.

5:9  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: because this is the witness of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

5:10  The one believing on the Son of God has the witness in himself: the one not believing God has made him a liar; because he has not believed in the testimony which God has testified concerning his Son.

5:11  And this is the testimony, that God has given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

5:12  The one having the Son has the life; the one not having the Son of God has not the life.

5:13  I have written these things unto you, in order that you may know that you have eternal life; to those who believe on the name of the Son of God.

5:14  And this is the assurance which we have toward him, that, if we may ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

5:15  And if we know that he hears us as to whatsoever we may ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked from him.

5:16  If any one may see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he will give him life to those sinning not unto death. There is a sin unto death; concerning this I do not say that you may ask.

5:17  All unrighteousness is sin: and there is sin not unto death.

5:18  We know that every one who has been born of God, sins not; but the one having been born of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.

5:19  We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one.

5:20  But we know that the Son of God has come and has given unto us intelligence, that we know the truth. And we are in the true one, in his Son Jesus Christ; he is the true God, and eternal life.

5:21  Little children, keep yourselves from the idols.