Keeping the New Commandment
2 My little children, I am writing these things to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, 2 and he[a] is the propitiation[b] for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 The one who says “I have come to know him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. 5 But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. 6 The one who says that he resides in him ought also to walk[c] just as that one walked.
7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message which you have heard. 8 Again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because[d] the darkness is passing away and the true light already is shining. 9 The one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. 10 The one who loves his brother resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Encouragement and Assurance
12 I am writing to you, little children, because[e] your sins have been forgiven you on account of his name. 13 I am writing to you, fathers, because[f] you have known the One who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because[g] you have conquered the evil one. 14 I have written to you, children, because[h] you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because[i] you have known the One who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because[j] you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
Do Not Love the World
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and its desire,[k] but the one who does the will of God remains forever[l].
Departure of the False Teachers
18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out[m], in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us.
20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because[n] you do not know the truth, but because[o] you do know it, and because[p] every lie is not of the truth. 22 Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which he himself promised us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you.
27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside[q] in him.
God’s Children
28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that whenever he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone[r] who practices righteousness has been fathered by him.
Footnotes
- 1 John 2:2 Or “he himself” (emphatic)
- 1 John 2:2 Or “expiation”; or “atoning sacrifice”
- 1 John 2:6 Some manuscripts have “to walk in this way”
- 1 John 2:8 Or perhaps “that”
- 1 John 2:12 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:13 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:13 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:14 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:14 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:14 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:17 Or “and the desire for it”
- 1 John 2:17 Literally “for the age”
- 1 John 2:19 This is an understood repetition of the phrase “they went out” from the beginning of v. 19
- 1 John 2:21 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:21 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:21 Or “that”
- 1 John 2:27 By form the verb could also be imperative: “just as it has taught you, reside in him”
- 1 John 2:29 Some manuscripts have “everyone also”