1. My dear children, I write this letter to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He is the Righteous One. He defends us before God the Father.
2. Jesus died in our place to take away our sins. And Jesus is the way that all people can have their sins taken away, too.
3. If we obey what God has told us to do, then we are sure that we truly know God.
4. If someone says, “I know God!” but does not obey God’s commands, then he is a liar. The truth is not in him.
5. But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then God’s love has truly arrived at its goal in him. This is how we know that we are following God:
6. Whoever says that God lives in him must live as Jesus lived.
7. My dear friends, I am not writing a new command to you. It is the same command you have had since the beginning. It is the teaching you have already heard.
8. But I am writing a new command to you. This command is true; you can see its truth in Jesus and in yourselves. The darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
9. Someone says, “I am in the light.” But if he hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.
10. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him that will cause him to do wrong.
11. But whoever hates his brother is in darkness. He lives in darkness and does not know where he is going. The darkness has made him blind.
12. I write to you, dear children,because your sins are forgiven through Christ.