1 John 2
1 My children, I am writing to you to keep you from sinning. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the righteous.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you won’t sin. If anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, the righteous Jesus Christ.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but the sins of the whole world.
He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
3 It is by keeping God’s commands that we can be sure we know him.
This is how we know that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
4 Whoever says ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commands, is a liar. The truth has no place in them.
The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and doesn’t keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.
5 But the person who keeps God’s word, in them the love of God has indeed reached its perfection. This is how we can be sure we are in him:
But whoever keeps His word has the sincere love of God truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:
6 whoever claims to live in him should live just as Jesus did.
whoever claims to live in Jesus ought to walk in the same way He walked.
7 Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing to you, but an old command, which you have had from the beginning. That old command is the message you have already heard.
Brothers and sisters, I’m not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard.
8 Yet, in a way, it is a new command that I am writing to you – which is shown true in Christ’s life and in yours – for the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Yet, I am writing 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.
9 The person who says that they are in the light, and yet hates others, is still in the darkness.
Whoever claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister, is still in darkness.
10 The person who loves others is always in the light, and there is nothing within them to cause them to stumble.
Whoever sincerely loves his brothers and sisters lives in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
11 The person who hates is in the dark. They stumble along in the darkness; they do not know where they are going because the darkness blinds them.
But whoever hates a brother or sister is in darkness and walks in darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 Little children, I am writing to you because your sins have been forgiven for Christ’s sake.
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake.
13 Parents, I am writing to you because you have come to know him who has been from the beginning. Young people, I am writing to you because you have conquered the evil one. Children, I write to you because you have come to know the Father.
I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father.
14 Parents, I write to you because you have learned to know him who has been from the beginning. Young people, I write to you because you are strong, and God’s message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the evil one.
I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
15 Do not love the world or what the world can offer. When anyone loves the world, there is no love for the Father in them.
Don’t sincerely love the world or the things in the world. If anyone sincerely loves the world, the sincere love of the Father isn’t in him.
16 For all that the world can offer – the desires for physical pleasure, the enticements to the eye, the arrogance of wealth – belongs, not to the Father, but to the world.
For everything that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
17 And the world, and all that it gratifies, is passing away, but they who do God’s will remain for ever. (aiōn g165)
The world and its lusts are passing away, but whoever does the will of God stays forever. (aiōn g165)
18 My children, it is the last hour. You were told that an antichrist was coming; and many antichrists have already arisen. This is why we know that this is the last hour.
Little children, we are in the end times. As you have heard the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that we are in the end times.
19 These people come from our ranks, but they were never truly part of us – if they had been then they would have stayed with us. They left so it would be clear that none of them really belonged to us.
They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. Instead, they went out so that it might be revealed that none of them belonged to us.
20 You, however, have been annointed by the Holy One. You all know the truth.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know the truth.
21 I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie can come from the truth.
I write to you, not because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because you know that no lie belongs to the truth.
22 Who is a liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? That person is the antichrist – one who rejects the Father and the Son.
Who is a liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist.
23 No one who rejects the Son has the Father; to acknowledge the Son is to have the Father also.
Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father either. Whoever acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
24 As for you, you must let what you have heard from the beginning continue to live in you. If what you heard from the beginning dwells in you, you will remain both in the Son and the Father.
Therefore, let that which you heard from the beginning live in you. If what you heard from the beginning lives in you, you also will live in the Son and in the Father.
This is the promise that He has promised to us - eternal life. (aiōnios g166)
26 In writing this to you, I have in mind those who are trying to mislead you.
I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains with you. You do not need anyone to teach you. His anointing teaches you about everything. What it teaches you is true, it is not a lie. Do what it has taught you: abide in him.
As for you, the anointing that you received from Him lives in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. Yet as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and not a lie; just as it has taught you, you live in Him.
28 Yes, my children, remain in him, so that when he appears our confidence doesn’t fail us, and we are not ashamed to meet him at his coming.
Now, little children, live in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
29 Since you know he is righteous, you realise that everyone who does what is right is his child.
If you know that He is righteous, then know that everyone who also practices righteousness is born of Him.
