The First General Letter of John

1

What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we see with our eyes,
what we perceive,
what our hands have touched,
of the word of life—
2 and the life is revealed,
and we see and testify,
and announce to you: life eternal,
which was with the father,
and is revealed to us—
3 what we see and hear,
we announce to you,
that you too may have fellowship with us,
and our fellowship may be with the father
and his son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things we write you,
that your joy may be full.
5 And this is the message
which we have heard from him
and announce to you:
that God is light,
and in him, there is no darkness at all.
6 If we should say,
“We have fellowship with him”,
and we walk in the darkness,
we shall be liars,
and not doers of the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light,
as he himself is in the light,
we have fellowship among ourselves,
and the blood of his son Jesus Christ
washes away all our sins.
8 If we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins,
and wash us clean of all iniquity.
10 If we say we do not sin,
we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us.

2

My little children,
these things I write you,
so that you do not sin.
But if you do sin,
we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the just.
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours alone,
but also for the rest of the world.
3 And through this,
we know that we know him:
if we keep his commandments.
4 Whoever says, “I know him”,
and does not keep his commandments,
is a liar,
and there is no truth in him.
5 And whoever serves his word,
truly in this the love of God is perfected.
6 Whoever says he abides in him
ought to walk just as he walked.
7 Most beloved,
I do not write you a new commandment,
but the old commandment,
which you had from the beginning.
8 Again, I write you a new commandment,
which is true in him,
and is also true in you,
because the darkness is past,
and the true light now shines.
9 Whoever says that he is in the light,
and hates the brother,
is in the darkness, even now.
10 Whoever loves his brother
dwells in the light,
and there is no stumbling block in him.
11 But whoever hates his brother
is in darkness
and walks in darkness,
and does not know where he is going,
for darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I write you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven
because of his name.
13 I write you, fathers,
because you have known the one
who was from the beginning.
I write you, young men,
because you have conquered evil.
I have written you, children,
because you have known the father.
14 I have written you, fathers,
because you have known the one
who was from the beginning.
I have written you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have conquered the evil one.
15 Do not love the world,
nor those who are in the world.
If you love the world,
you do not have the love of the father in you.
16 And all that is in the world
is the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes;
the pride of life
if not of the father,
but is of the world.
17 And the world passes,
and its lust,
but whoever does the will of God
abides forever.
18 My little children,
it is the last time,
and as you have heard
that an anti-Christ is coming,
even now it seems
that there are many anti-Christs,
whence we know it to be the last time.
19 They went out from us,
but were not of us.
For if they had been of us,
they would have remained with us.
But they shall be revealed,
that none of them were of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One,
and you know all things.
21 I did not write you
as if you did not know the truth,
but because you do know,
and you know that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar,
except for the one
who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
This is an anti-Christ,
who denies the father and the son.
23 Whoever denies the son
does not have the father.
24 Therefore,
let what you have heard from the beginning
abide in you.
If it abides in you,
what you have heard from the beginning,
then you too abide
in the son and the father.
25 And this is the promise
which he has promised us:
eternal life.
26 These things I have written you,
about those who deceive you.
And the anointing you receive from him
remains in you.
27 And you do not need
to have anyone teach you,
but that anointing teaches you all things,
and it is true,
and it is not a lie.
And as it has taught you,
you abide in him.
28 And now, my little children,
abide in him,
so that when he appears,
we may have confidence,
and not be put to shame at his coming.
29 If you know that he is just,
know that all who do justly
are born of him.

3

Behold what love the father has given us,
that we should be called sons of God!
For this reason the world does not know you,
because it did not know him.
2 Most beloved,
now we are sons of God.
And we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
3 And everyone who has this hope within him
purifies himself,
even as he is pure.
4 Everyone who does sin
likewise does iniquity,
for sin is also iniquity.
5 And you know that he appeared
to bear away our sins;
and there is no sin in him.
6 Everyone who abides in him
does not sin.
Everyone who sins
neither sees, nor knows him.
7 My little children,
let no one deceive you.
Whoever does justly
is just
just as he is just.
8 Whoever does sin
is from the devil,
for the devil sins from the beginning.
In this appears the son of God
to destroy the works of the devil.
9 Everyone who is born from God does no sin,
for his seed abides in him,
and he cannot sin,
for he is born of God.
10 In this are revealed
the sons of God
and the sons of the devil.
Everyone who does not justly
is not from God,
nor whoever does not love his brother.
11 For this is the announcement,
which you have heard from the beginning,
that you should love one another;
12 not as Cain, who was from the evil one,
and slew his brother.
And why did he slay him?
Because his works were from the evil one,
and his brother’s were just.
13 Do not be surprised, my brothers,
that the world hates you.
14 We know that we have been borne across
from death to life,
because we love our brothers.
15 Whoever does not love his brother
abides in death.
Everyone who hates his brother
is a murderer.
And you know that no murderer
has eternal life in himself.
16 In this we know love,
because he put down his own soul for us,
and we ought for our brothers
to put down our own souls.
17 But whoever has the substance of the world,
and sees his brother in need,
and shuts his heart from him,
how can the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children,
do not love in word,
nor in tongue,
but in deed,
and in truth.
19 In this we know that we are of the truth,
and before him we should convince our heart.
20 For if our own heart condemns us,
God is greater than our heart,
and knows all things.
21 Most beloved,
if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence toward God,
22 and whatever we ask,
we receive from him,
for we keep his commandments,
and do those things
which are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment:
that we believe in the name
of his son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another,
as he gave commandment.
24 And whoever follows his commandments
dwells in him,
and he in him.
And in this we know that he abides in us,
by the spirit which he gave us.

4

Most beloved,
do not believe every spirit,
but examine the spirits,
to determine if they are from God.
For many false prophets
have gone out into the world.
2 In this, know the spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ
to have come in the flesh
is from God.
3 And every spirit not confessing Jesus Christ
to have come in the flesh
is not from God.
And this is that anti-Christ spirit,
of which you have heard,
that it shall come,
and now it is already in the world.
4 You are from God, my little children,
and have conquered them,
for greater is he who is in you,
than they who are in the world.
5 They are of the world;
therefore they speak of the world,
and the world hears them.
6 We are of God.
Whoever knows God
know us.
In this we know the spirit of truth,
and the spirit of error.
7 Most beloved, we must love one another,
for love is from God.
And everyone who loves
is born of God,
and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love
does not know God,
for God is love.
9 In this appears the love of God,
that God sent
his only-begotten son into the world
and we have life by him.
10 In this is love:
not that we love God,
but that he loved us,
and sent his son
as a propitiation for our sins.
11 Most beloved,
if this is the way God loved us,
we too ought to love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God.
If we love one another,
God abides in us,
and his love is made perfect in us.
13 In this we know
that we abide in him
and him in us,
because he has given to us
from his Holy Spirit.
14 And we see and testify,
that the father sent his son
to be the savior of the world.
15 Whoever has confessed
that Jesus is the son of God,
God abides in him,
and he in God.
16 And we know and believe
the love which God has in us:
God is love,
and whoever abides in love
abides in God,
and God in him.
17 In this is our love made perfect,
that we have confidence
in the day of judgment.
18 There is no fear in love,
but perfect love casts out fear.
For fear has torment.
And whoever fears
is not perfect in love.
19 We love him,
because he first loved us.
20 If anyone should say,
“I love God”,
and should hate his brother,
he is a liar.
For if he does not love his brother,
whom he has seen,
how can he love God,
whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from him:
that whoever loves God
shall also love his brother.

5

Everyone who believes Jesus to be Christ
is born from God.
And everyone who loves the one who fathered
also loves whoever is born from him.
2 In this we know
that the son of God loves us,
when we love God
and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God,
that we should keep his commandments,
and his commandments
are no heavy burden,
4 for everyone who is born from God
conquers the world.
And this is the victory that conquers the world:
our faith.
5 Who is it that conquers the world,
but the one who believes
that Jesus is the son of God?
6 This is the one who came
by water and blood,
Jesus Christ:
not in water alone,
but in water and blood.
And this is the spirit that testifies,
because the spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that give witness:
8 the spirit,
and the water,
and the blood;
and these three are one in accord.
9 If we receive the witness of people,
the witness of God is greater,
for this is the witness of God,
who witnessed of his son.
10 The one who believes in the son of God
has witness in himself.
11 The one who does not believe in God
makes him a liar,
for he does not believe in the witness
which God witnessed of his son.
And this is the witness,
that God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his son.
12 The one who has the son has life;
the one who does not have the son of God
does not have life.
13 These things I have written to you
who believe in the name of the son of God,
so that you may know
that you have eternal life,
and that you may believe
in the name of the son of God.
14 And this is the confidence
that we have with him,
that if we shall ask according to his will,
he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us,
whatever we shall ask,
we know that we have the requests
which we have requested from him.
16 If anyone knows his brother
to sin a sin not to death,
he shall ask,
and he will give life
to the one who has sinned not to death.
There is a sin to death,
I do not say that you shall ask for it.
17 All iniquity is sin,
and there is a sin not to death.
18 We know that everyone who is born from God
does not sin,
but whoever is fathered by God
keeps himself,
and evil itself does not touch him.
19 We know that we are from God,
and the whole world sits in evil.
20 And we know that the son of God came
and gave us a mind
that we may know the one who is true,
and we may be in the truth,
in his son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God,
and life eternal.
21 My little children,
keep yourselves from idols. Amen.