1 John 2

₁Dear friends, I write these things to you because I do not want you to sin. But if one of you does sin, he can be sure that we have Someone with our Father who asks Him to forgive us, and that Person is Jesus Christ, the One who did not sin. ₂Jesus died, and He was the Sacrifice who took away our sins. But Jesus did not take away only our sins. He also took away the sins of all the people in the world.

₃If we do what God's laws tell us, then we can be sure that we know Him. ₄If people say they know God, but they don't do what God says they must do, then they lie and they do not accept the truth. ₅But if people do what God tells them to do, then we can see that they really love God. If we obey Him, then we know that we belong to Him. ₆If people say they belong to God, then they must live as Jesus lived.

₇Dear friends, I am not writing to give you a new law. This is an old law that you had from the beginning, a law that Jesus also gave you. ₈But there is something new about this law. Jesus showed his love for us and you show your love for each other, and that made this law new and true. The darkness is going away and the true light now shines.

₉If people say they live in the light of God but they hate other believers, then those people still live in the dark. ₁₀If people love other believers, then they live in the light and there is nothing in them that will make them do wrong. ₁₁If people hate other believers, then they live in the dark. They are like people who walk in the dark and they do not know where they are going because they can not see in the dark.

₁₅You must not love this sinful world or the things of this world. If you love this sinful world, then you do not love the Father. ₁₆The people of this sinful world love to do bad things, they want to have all the things that they see, and they are proud of all that they do and all they have. This all comes from this world. It does not come from the Father. ₁₇The world and the things that the people of this world do will disappear, but the people who do what God wants will live forever.

₁₈Friends, the end of the world is near. They told you that the antichrist is coming. There are many antichrists now and that is why we know that the end of the world is near. ₁₉The antichrists were in the church with us but they were never really Christians with us. If they had really believed, then they would have stayed with us. But now they are gone and everyone can see that they did not believe with us.

₂₀But you are not like them. Jesus, the holy One, has anointed you with the Holy_Spirit and you all know the truth. ₂₁I write this letter to you, not because you don't know the truth, but because you know the truth and you know that something that is true now can not later become a lie. ₂₂Do you know who the people are who don't speak the truth? They are the people who do not want to accept that Jesus is the Christ. They are the antichrists. They do not accept the Father and they do not accept the Son. ₂₃All who do not accept the Son do not belong to the Father but everyone who believes in the Son and confesses it belongs to the Father. ₂₄You must accept the message that they told you from the beginning. If you accept it, you are with the Son and with the Father. ₂₅And Jesus has promised that we who believe will have eternal_life.

₂₆I write this letter to warn you that there are people who want to teach you things that are wrong. ₂₇Remember that Jesus has anointed you with the Holy_Spirit and the Holy_Spirit is in you. That is why you do not need other people to teach you. Jesus has anointed you with the Holy_Spirit and the Holy_Spirit teaches you everything that you must know. He speaks the truth, and He does not lie. He teaches you to live with Jesus and you must do that.

₂₈Friends, you must live with Jesus. Then, when Jesus comes again, we will not be afraid, and we will not want to flee from Him. ₂₉You know that Jesus always does what is right and this is why you must remember: Everyone who lives as God wants is a child of God.