2
“We Have in the Presence of the Father an Advocate”
1 My dear children, these things I am writing to you in order to help you avoid sin. Yet if someone does sin, we have in the presence of the Father an advocate who appeals for help and mercy+ on our behalf: Jesus the Messiah, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice that calms God’s wrath against us and removes the guilt of our sins, and not only of our sins, but also of those of the whole world.+
3 This is the test+ that shows+ us whether we truly know God+: If we obey his commandments.+
4 If someone says, “I know God,+” but God’s+ commandments refuses to obey, he is a liar; in such a person the truth certainly does not dwell.
5 If someone does obey his teaching,+ however, truly in this person the love of God has been made blameless.+ This is the test that shows us that it is God with whom we are in fact united:+
6 If someone claims that he is from union with God drawing life in fellowship,+ his own conduct must conform more and more to that exemplified by Jesus himself.++
7 Dear friends, it isn’t a new commandment that I am writing to you, but an ancient one,+ which has been required of+ you from the start. This ancient commandment is the instruction+ you’ve already received.+
8 On the other hand, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, in that its full truth is seen in Jesus’ life and example, and in your own lives, too.+ The darkness, after all, is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
9 If someone claims that he is in the light, but hates his brother or sister, he is actually still in the darkness.
10 He who loves his brother or sister dwells in the light, and there is in him nothing that will cause him or others to stumble in sin.
11 He who hates his brother or sister, however, is, I repeat, in the darkness, and in the darkness walks about aimlessly;+ he has no idea where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I’m writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven you on account of his name.+
13 I’m writing to you, fathers,
because you’ve come to know the one who has always existed.+
I’m writing to you, young men,
because you’ve had victory over the evil one.
14 I write to you, children,
because you’ve come to know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you’ve come to know the one who has always existed.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God dwells in you,
and you have had victory over the evil one.
15 You must not love this rebellious world and its wicked ways.+ If someone does love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 Everything that is in the world, you see, such as+ the sinful cravings of the mortal nature+ and the greedy desires of the eyes+ and the arrogance bred by wealth and possessions,+ comes not from the Father, but from the world.
17 The world, indeed, is doomed to pass away,+ along with+ its evil desires. The person who does the will of God, however, will surely endure forever into the ages.
“It Is, My Dear Children, the Final Hour”
18 It is, my dear children, the final hour, and just as you have learned+ that there is going to come an imposter who will oppose the true Messiah,+ even now there have appeared many opponents of the Messiah.+ This is how we know that it is the final hour.
19 Our fellowship they left, although the truth is that they never really were a part of us. If they had been, you see, they would have remained in fellowship with us. Yet their departure has made it clear that none of them really was a part of us.
20 As for you, however, it is an anointing from the Holy One of which you are in possession, and all of you know him.+
21 I’m not writing to tell you that you don’t know the truth, but to assure you that you do know it and that no lie ever has its origin in the truth.
22 What greater liar is there than+ someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? Such a person is an opponent of the Messiah—anyone who disowns the Father and the Son.
23 If someone disowns the Son, he is rejecting, too, the Father.+ If someone professes allegiance to the Son, it is the Father, too, with whom he is in fellowship.+
24 As for you, what you have been taught+ from the start must dwell in you.+ If, in you, what you have been taught from the very start does in fact dwell, then you yourselves, too: It is both the Son and the Father in union with whom you will dwell in fellowship.+
25 And this is what he has promised+ us: The life of the coming age.+
26 These things I am writing to you in regard to those who want to deceive+ you.
27 As for you, the anointing that you received from God+ dwells inside of you, and you aren’t lacking someone to teach you.+ Yes, his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true+ and not counterfeit,+ and so just as it has taught you to do, continually live your lives in union with+ the Messiah.+
“Keep Drawing Life from Union with the Messiah”
28 And so as the situation now stands, my dear children, keep drawing life from union with the Messiah,+ so that when he appears, we may have courage and not shrink back from him in shame when he returns.+
29 If you know that the Messiah+ is righteous, you may be sure that all who are living according to his righteous example+ have by God’s power been newly conceived.+