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.
13. I write to you, fathers,because you know the One who existed from the beginning.I write to you, young men,because you have defeated the Evil One.
14. I write to you, children,because you know the Father.I write to you, fathers,because you know the One who existed from the beginning.I write to you, young men,because you are strong;the word of God lives in you,and you have defeated the Evil One.
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. These are the evil things in the world: wanting things to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, being too proud of the things we have. But none of those things comes from the Father. All of them come from the world.