On Not Loving the World

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world.(A) If anyone loves the world, love for the Father[a] is not in them.(B) 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,(C) the lust of the eyes,(D) and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away,(E) but whoever does the will of God(F) lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

18 Dear children, this is the last hour;(G) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,(H) even now many antichrists have come.(I) This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us,(J) but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.(K)

20 But you have an anointing(L) from the Holy One,(M) and all of you know the truth.[b](N) 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it(O) and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.(P) 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.(Q)

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning(R) remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.(S) 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.(T)

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.(U) 27 As for you, the anointing(V) you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things(W) and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.(X)

God’s Children and Sin

28 And now, dear children,(Y) continue in him, so that when he appears(Z) we may be confident(AA) and unashamed before him at his coming.(AB)

29 If you know that he is righteous,(AC) you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.(AD)

See what great love(AE) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!(AF) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.(AG) Dear friends,(AH) now we are children of God,(AI) and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[c](AJ) we shall be like him,(AK) for we shall see him as he is.(AL) All who have this hope in him purify themselves,(AM) just as he is pure.(AN)

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.(AO) But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.(AP) And in him is no sin.(AQ) No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.(AR) No one who continues to sin has either seen him(AS) or known him.(AT)

Dear children,(AU) do not let anyone lead you astray.(AV) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.(AW) The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,(AX) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God(AY) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.(AZ) No one who is born of God(BA) will continue to sin,(BB) because God’s seed(BC) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God(BD) are and who the children of the devil(BE) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love(BF) their brother and sister.(BG)

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 2:15 Or world, the Father’s love
  2. 1 John 2:20 Some manuscripts and you know all things
  3. 1 John 3:2 Or when it is made known

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