1 This letter is about the Word of Life which existed from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our very own eyes and gazed upon, and which our hands have touched. 2 This Life was revealed to us; we saw it and give evidence about it. We are telling you about the one who is Eternal Life, who was with the Father, and who was revealed to us. 3 What we have seen and heard we are now explaining to you, so that you may also share in this friendship together with us—this friendship that is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We're writing to tell you about this in order to make our happiness complete. 5 This is the message we received from him and that we declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him at all. 6 If we claim to share this friendship with him and yet go on living in darkness, we're lying, and not living in the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as he is in the light, then we share in this friendship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, makes us clean from every sin. 8 If we claim to be sinless we only fool ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he is trustworthy and right so that he can forgive us our sins and make us clean from all that is not right in us. 10 If we claim we haven't sinned, we turn him into a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (10)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Acts 4:20; John 20:27; 1 John 4:14; John 1:1–18; Luke 24:39
- 2 1 John 5:20; John 1:4; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 17:3; Titus 1:2
- 3 1 Corinthians 1:9; John 17:3; John 17:21; Acts 4:20; Philippians 2:1
- 4 John 15:11; John 16:24; 2 John 12; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Habakkuk 3:17–18
- 5 John 8:12; James 1:17; Isaiah 60:19; Psalm 27:1; John 1:9
- 6 1 John 2:4; 1 John 4:20; John 3:19–21; John 8:12; Proverbs 4:18–19
- 7 Ephesians 5:8; Romans 13:12; Revelation 1:5; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 2:9–10
- 8 Romans 3:23; Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2; Isaiah 53:6; 1 John 2:4
- 9 Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 28:13; Jeremiah 33:8; Psalm 51:2–5; 1 John 1:7
- 10 1 John 1:8; 1 John 5:10; 1 John 2:4; Psalm 130:3; 2 John 2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
II. 11 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, and which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us: the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
or does it remain that I deceive myself, and do not the "truth" before Thee in my heart and tongue?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… cold." They desire to persevere, because they hear that it is written, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." They grieve for sin, hearing that "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." They rejoice in good works, because they hear that "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For the words of the apostle are the confession, not of the common herd, but of the eminently pious, just, and holy men: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." When there shall be no sin in a man, then there shall be this apatheia.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)