The Incarnation of the Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning,^(A) which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,^(B) which we have looked at and our hands have touched^(C)—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared;^(D) we have seen it and testify to it,^(E) and we proclaim to you the eternal life,^(F) which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,^(G) so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.^{(H) 4} We write this^(I) to make our^[a] joy complete.^(J)

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

⁵ This is the message we have heard^(K) from him and declare to you: God is light;^(L) in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness,^(M) we lie and do not live out the truth.^{(N) 7} But if we walk in the light,^(O) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[b] sin.^(P)

⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.^(A)

⁷ Dear friends,^(B) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(C) This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command;^(D) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing^(E) and the true light^(F) is already shining.^(G)

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[a](H) is still in the darkness.^{(I) 10} Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[b] lives in the light,^(J) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.^{(K) 11} But anyone who hates a brother or sister^(L) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.^(M) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.^(N)