1 My dear children, I'm writing this to you so you shouldn't sin. But if anybody should happen to sin, we have someone who defends us before the Father—Jesus Christ, who is truly good and right. 2 Through him our sins are forgiven—and not only our sins, but those of the whole world. 3 We can be sure that we do know him if we follow his commands. 4 Anyone who says, “I know him,” but doesn't do what he says, is a liar. They don't have the truth. 5 But those who follow God's word have his love totally fill their minds. This is how we know that we live in him. 6 Whoever claims to be living in him should behave like Jesus. 7 My friends, I'm not writing to you giving some new commandment, but an old commandment you've had from the beginning. This old commandment is one you have already heard. 8 But in a sense I am giving you a new commandment. Its truth is revealed in Jesus and in you, for the darkness is coming to an end and the true light is already shining. 9 Those who say they live in the light but hate a fellow Christian still have the darkness inside them. 10 Those who love their fellow Christians live in the light, and don't cause others to sin. 11 Those who hate a fellow Christian are in darkness. They stumble around in the dark, not knowing where they're going because the darkness has blinded them. 12 Dear friends, I'm writing to you children, for your sins have been forgiven through the name of Jesus. 13 I'm writing to you fathers, for you know him who has existed from the beginning. I'm writing to you young people, for you have defeated the evil one. 14 I write to you little children, for you know the Father. I write to you fathers, for you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you young people, for you are strong. The word of God lives in you, and you have defeated the evil one. 15 Don't be in love with the world, and don't long for the things of this world. If you love the world, you won't have the Father's love in you. 16 For all the things of this world—our sinful desires, wanting everything we see, boasting about what we've accomplished in life— these things don't come from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its evil desires are coming to an end, but those who do the will of God will live forever. 18 Dear friends, this is the last hour. As you've heard, the antichrist is coming. Many antichrists have already come. This is how we know this is the last hour. 19 They left us, but they didn't belong with us, for if they did, they would have remained with us. When they left they showed that none of them belonged with us. 20 But you have been anointed with the Holy Spirit's blessing, and all of you know what's true. 21 I'm not writing because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar?—anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ. The antichrist is anyone who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Anyone that denies the Son does not have the Father; anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father too. 24 As for you, make sure what you heard from the beginning continues to live in you. If what you heard from the beginning lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father. 25 Eternal life—this is what he has promised us! 26 I'm writing this to warn you against those who want to lead you astray. 27 But the anointing you received from him means the Spirit lives in you, and you don't need to be taught by anyone. The Spirit's anointing teaches you about everything. It is the truth and not a lie. So live in Christ, just as you've been taught! 28 Now, my dear friends, continue to live in Christ, so that when he appears, we can be confident and not feel ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know he is good and right, then you also know that everyone who does what is right has been born of God.
1 John 2 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Timothy 2:5; Romans 8:34; John 14:6; 1 John 1:8–10; Hebrews 7:24–26
- 2 1 John 4:14; 1 Peter 3:18; John 1:29; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 2:24
- 3 John 14:15; John 15:10; 1 John 5:3; Luke 6:46; 1 John 4:13
- 4 1 John 1:6; Titus 1:16; James 2:14–16; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 4:20
- 5 John 14:23; John 14:21; 1 John 4:12–13; Luke 11:28; 1 John 3:24
- 6 1 Peter 2:21; John 13:15; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 John 3:6; John 15:4–6
- 7 1 John 3:11; Leviticus 19:18; Mark 12:29–34; 2 John 5–6; Romans 13:8–10
- 8 Ephesians 5:8; Romans 13:12; John 13:34; John 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:4–6
- 9 1 John 4:20; 1 John 2:11; 1 John 3:13–17; Psalm 82:5; 1 Corinthians 13:1–3
- 10 1 John 3:14; Romans 9:32–33; Romans 14:13; Hosea 6:3; Matthew 18:7
- 11 John 12:35; Titus 3:3; Revelation 3:17; 1 John 1:6; 1 John 2:9
- 12 Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38; Ephesians 1:7; Psalm 106:8; Acts 4:12
- 13 John 14:7; 1 John 2:14; Luke 10:22; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 1:1
- 14 Psalm 119:11; 1 John 2:13; Colossians 3:16; John 15:7; Ephesians 6:10
- 15 James 4:4; Romans 12:2; Matthew 6:24; Colossians 3:1–2; Luke 16:13
- 16 Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:17; Psalm 119:36–37; Genesis 3:6; Proverbs 27:20
- 17 Matthew 24:35; 1 Corinthians 7:31; Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 4:2; Hebrews 10:36
- 18 1 John 4:3; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:22; Matthew 24:24; Matthew 24:5
- 19 Acts 20:30; 1 Corinthians 11:19; Jude 19; Luke 8:13; 2 Peter 2:20–21
- 20 1 John 2:27; John 14:26; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 23:5
- 21 2 Peter 1:12; Jude 5; Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 9:8–9; Romans 15:14–15
- 22 2 John 7; 1 John 4:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 4; 1 John 2:23
- 23 1 John 4:15; John 8:19; John 5:23; John 10:30; John 15:23–24
- 24 John 14:23; John 15:9–10; 1 John 4:13; 1 John 4:16; 2 John 5–6
- 25 John 10:28; Titus 3:7; Jude 21; John 17:2–3; Titus 1:2
- 26 2 Peter 2:1–3; 2 John 7; 1 John 3:7; Acts 20:29–30; Mark 13:22
- 27 John 14:26; 1 John 2:20–21; 1 Corinthians 2:13; John 16:13; Jeremiah 31:33–34
- 28 1 John 4:17; Mark 8:38; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 John 3:2; 1 John 3:21
- 29 John 3:3–5; 1 John 3:7; John 1:13; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 4:7
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).
"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven through His name. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, children, because ye have known the Father.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Verily, Thou commandest that I should be continent from the "lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Thou hast commanded me to abstain from concubinage; and as to marriage itself, Thou hast advised something better than Thou hast allowed.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation: and, We bow our knees unto the Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named: glorifying Him with the Only-begotten: for he that denieth the Father, denieth the Son also: and again, He that confesseth the Son, hath the Father also; knowing that Jesus …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… wear the Body which He assumed, until He make me God by the power of His Incarnation; although He is no longer known after the flesh --I mean, the passions of the flesh, the same, except sin, as ours. Thus too, we have an Advocate, Jesus Christ, not indeed prostrating Himself for us before the Father, and falling down before …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
There remain the delights of these eyes of my flesh, concerning which to make my confessions in the hearing of the ears of Thy temple, those fraternal and devout ears; and so to conclude the temptations of "the lust of the flesh" which still assail me, groaning and desiring to be clothed upon with my house from heaven.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)