1 John 2

⁵For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

³⁴Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.

⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

²⁴But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood.

²⁵Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

²¹God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

⁴²They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

¹⁵If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

⁴⁶Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you.

⁶If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

¹⁶They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

⁹If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.

²³Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

²¹Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.

²⁸But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

²⁴Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

²Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.

²¹For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

¹⁵I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.

¹You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

⁶No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.

⁴Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

⁵I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

²and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.

¹¹This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

¹⁸Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

²⁹Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

⁵And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

⁶And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.

⁸Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

⁹The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹³For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

¹⁴The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

¹²The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

³⁴A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

¹²Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

⁵For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

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

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

⁵They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

⁹But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.

³²Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,

³³as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

¹³Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

³So let us know—let us press on to know the Lord. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

⁷Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

²¹But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

⁶If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

⁹If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

⁴³All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

⁸Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.

¹²Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁷If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

¹⁴I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

²²All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

⁴You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands—this is the Word of life.

⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

¹¹I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

⁷If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

³¹So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.

⁴You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²⁴No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

¹Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

¹³No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

¹⁴Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

¹⁷For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

³⁶Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.

³⁷Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

³All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

³¹and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

³⁶You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

³⁵For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

²²Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

²⁴For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

⁵For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

³⁰Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.

¹⁹And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.

¹⁹These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.

¹³The seeds on rocky ground are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but they have no root. They believe for a season, but in the time of testing, they fall away.

²⁰If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

²⁰The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.

²¹But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

²⁷And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

²¹Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us,

²²placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

⁵Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord comprehend fully.

¹²Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.

⁵Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

⁵let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel

⁸Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

¹⁵However, I have written you a bold reminder on some points, because of the grace God has given me

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

⁴For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

²³Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

¹⁵If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

¹⁹“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”

²³so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

³⁰I and the Father are one.”

²³Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

⁹Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him.

²³Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

⁹As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.

¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

⁵And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

⁶And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.

⁷Beloved, I am not writing to you a new commandment, but an old one, which you have had from the beginning. This commandment is the message you have heard.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

⁷so that, having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

²¹keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

²For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.

³Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

²in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

²Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.

²⁹I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

³⁰Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.

²²For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.

²⁰You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

²¹I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

¹³And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

¹³However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

³³“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

³⁴No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

¹⁰For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

¹¹No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.

³⁸If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

¹³so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.

²Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

²¹Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

³Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

⁴“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.

¹³children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁹Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

¹⁰By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.