1 My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin: and if anyone may sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, [the] Righteous One, 2 and He is [the] propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the whole world, 3 and in this we know that we have known Him, if we may keep His commands; 4 he who is saying, “I have known Him,” and is not keeping His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 and whoever may keep His word, truly the love of God has been perfected in him; in this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who is saying he remains in Him, himself ought to also walk according as He walked. 7 Beloved, I do not write a new command to you, but an old command, that you had from the beginning—the old command is the word that you heard from the beginning; 8 again, a new command I write to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light now shines; 9 he who is saying he is in the light, and is hating his brother, he is in the darkness until now; 10 he who is loving his brother, he remains in the light, and there is not a stumbling-block in him; 11 but he who is hating his brother, he is in the darkness, and he walks in the darkness, and he has not known where he goes, because the darkness blinded his eyes. 12 I write to you, little children, because sins have been forgiven you through His Name; 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from the beginning; I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil [one]; I write to you, little youths, because you have known the Father; 14 I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known Him who [is] from the beginning; I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil [one]. 15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world; if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that [is] in the world—the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ostentation of [one’s] life—is not of the Father, but of the world, 17 and the world is passing away, and the desire of it, but he who is doing the will of God, he remains—throughout the age. 18 Little youths, it is the last hour; and even as you heard that the antichrist comes, even now antichrists have become many—whereby we know that it is [the] last hour; 19 they went forth out of us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but [they went out] so that they might be revealed that they are not all of us. 20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and have known all things; 21 I did not write to you because you have not known the truth, but because you have known it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar, except he who is denying that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist who is denying the Father and the Son; 23 everyone who is denying the Son, neither has the Father; he who is confessing the Son has the Father also. 24 You, then, that which you heard from the beginning, let it remain in you; if that which you heard from the beginning may remain in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father, 25 and this is the promise that He promised us—the continuous life. 26 These things I wrote to you concerning those leading you astray; 27 and you, the anointing that you received from Him, it remains in you, and you have no need that anyone may teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all, and is true, and is not a lie, and even as was taught you, you will remain in Him. 28 And now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He may have appeared, we may have boldness, and may not be ashamed before Him, at His coming; 29 if you know that He is righteous, know that everyone doing righteousness, has been begotten of Him.
1 John · Literal Standard Version
1 John 2 Literal Standard 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)