ISV - I John

Chapter 1

1:1  The Letter Called First JohnJesus, the Word of LifeWhat existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we observed and touched with our own hands—this is theLit. about the Word of life!

1:2  This life was revealed to us, and we have seen it and testify about it. We declare to you this eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

1:3  What we have seen and heard we declare to you so that you, too, can have fellowship with us. Now this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1:4  We are writing these thingsOther mss. read these things to you so that ourOther mss. read your joy may be full.

1:5  Living in the LightThis is the message that we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness—none at all!

1:6  If we claim that we have fellowship with him but keep living in the darkness, we are lying and the truth is not in us.

1:7  But if we keep living 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.

1:8  If we say that we do not have any sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9  If we make it our habit to confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us those sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10  If we say that we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Chapter 2

2:1  Christ Is Our AdvocateMy little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, one who is righteous.

2:2  It is he who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world's.

2:3  This is how we can be sure that we have come to know him: if we continually keep his commandments.

2:4  The person who says, “I have come to know him,” but does not continually keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

2:5  But whoever continually keeps his word is the kind of person in whom God's love has truly been perfected. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with him:

2:6  The one who says that he abides in him must live the same way he himself lived.

2:7  We Must Obey God's CommandmentsDear friends, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

2:8  On the other hand, I am writing to you a new commandment that is true in him and in you. For the darkness is fading away, and the true light is already shining.

2:9  The person who says that he is in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.

2:10  The person who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no reason for him to stumble.

2:11  But the person who hates his brother is in the darkness and lives in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

2:12  I am writing to you, little children,because your sins have been forgivenon account of his name.

2:13  I am writing to you, fathers,because you have known the one whohas existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people,because you have overcome the evil one.

2:14  I have written to you, little children,because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers,because you have known the one whohas existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young people,because you are strongand because God's word remains in youand you have overcome the evil one.

2:15  Stop lovingOr Don't love the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father's love is not in him.

2:16  For everything that is in the world—the desire for fleshly gratification,Lit. for the flesh the desire for possessions,Lit. of the eyes and worldly arrogance—is not from the Father but is from the world.

2:17  And the world and its desires are fading away, but the person who does God's will remains forever.

2:18  Live in ChristLittle children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that an antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

2:19  They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. They simply made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

2:20  You have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things.Other mss. read and all of you know

2:21  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

2:22  Who is a liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ?I.e. the Messiah The person who denies the Father and the Son is the antichrist.

2:23  No one who denies the Son has the Father. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.

2:24  What you have heard from the beginning must abide in you. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.

2:25  The message that he himself declared to us is eternal life.

2:26  I have writtenLit. written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

2:27  The anointing you received from him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. Instead, because his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not a lie, abide in him, as he taught you to do.The Gk. lacks to do

2:28  Abide in HimEven now, little children, abide in him. Then, when he appears, we will have confidence and will not turn away from him in shame at his coming.

2:29  If you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born from God.Lit. from him

Chapter 3

3:1  We Are God's ChildrenSee what kind of love the Father has given us in letting us be called God's children! Yet that is what we are.Other mss. lack Yet that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him either.

3:2  Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when ChristLit. he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

3:3  And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure.

3:4  Everyone who keeps living in sin also practices disobedience. In fact, sin is disobedience.

3:5  You know that he was revealed to take away sins,Other mss. read our sins and there is not any sin in him.

3:6  No one who remains in him goes on sinning. The one who goes on sinning hasn't seen him or known him.

3:7  Little children, don't let anyone deceive you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

3:8  The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy the works of the devil.

3:9  No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God'sLit. his seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

3:10  This is how God's children and the devil's children are distinguished.Lit. are revealed No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.

3:11  Love One AnotherThis is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

3:12  Do not be like Cain,Lit. Not like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous.

3:13  So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.

3:14  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. The person who does not loveOther mss. read doesn't love his brother remains in death.

3:15  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

3:16  This is how we have come to know love: ChristLit. he gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.

3:17  Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in him?

3:18  Little children, we must stop loving in word and in tongue, but instead loveThe Gk. lacks love in actionOr work and in truth.

3:19  And this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to establish our hearts in his presence.

3:20  If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.

3:21  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God.

3:22  Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

3:23  And this is his commandment: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

3:24  The person who keeps his commandments abides in God,Lit. in him and God abides in him.Lit. and he in him This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.

Chapter 4

4:1  Test What People SayDear friends, stop believingOr do not believe every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

4:2  This is how you can recognize God's Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

4:3  But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world.

4:4  Little children, you belong to God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

4:5  These people belong to the world. That is why they speak from the world's perspective,Lit. from the world and the world listens to them.

4:6  We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

4:7  God's Love Lives in UsDear friends, let us continually love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God.

4:8  The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

4:9  This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him.

4:10  This is love: not that we have lovedOther mss. read we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

4:11  Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another.

4:12  No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

4:13  This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit.

4:14  We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

4:15  God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God.

4:16  We have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

4:17  This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, while we are in this world, we are just like him.

4:18  There is no fear where love exists.Lit. in love Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.

4:19  We loveOther mss. read love him; still other mss. read love God because he first loved us.

4:20  Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love the brother whom he has seen cannot love a God whom he has not seen.

4:21  And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.

Chapter 5

5:1  Faith Overcomes the WorldEveryone who believes that Jesus is the ChristI.e. the Messiah has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child.

5:2  This is how we know that we love God's children: we love God and keep his commandments.

5:3  For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not difficult,

5:4  because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

5:5  Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

5:6  This man, Jesus Christ, is the one who came by water and blood—not with water only, but with water and with blood. The Spirit is the one who verifies this, because the Spirit is the truth.

5:7  For there are three witnessesOther mss. read witnesses in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8And there are three witnesses on earth——

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

5:9  If we accept human testimony, God's testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God and because he has testified about his Son.

5:10  The person who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself. The person who does not believe GodOther mss. read the Son has made him a liar by not believing the testimony that God has given about his Son.

5:11  This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son.

5:12  The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.Conclusion

5:13  I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him: if we ask for anything according to his will, he listens to us.

5:15  And if we know that he listens to our requests, we can be sure that we have what we ask him for.

5:16  If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that GodLit. he would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that.

5:17  Every kind of wrongdoing is sin, yet there are sins that do not lead to death.

5:18  We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the SonLit. the one who has been born of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them.

5:19  We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.

5:20  We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God.Other mss. read the true one We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

5:21  Little children, guard yourselves from idols.Other mss. read idols. Amen