1 You who are very dear to me, I am writing this to you to say, “Do not sin!” But if any of you believers sins, God can forgive you because we have Jesus Christ, who is the righteous one, who speaks to the Father on our behalf and asks him to forgive us. 2  Remember that Jesus Christ voluntarily sacrificed his own life for us, so that as a result God forgives our sins. Yes, God is able to forgive our sins, but not only ours! He is also able to forgive the sins of people everywhere!

3  I will tell you how we can be sure that we ◄know/have a close relationship with► God. If we obey what he commands us to do, that shows us that we have a close relationship with him. So we must always obey what he commands us to do. 4 Those who say, “We ◄know/have a close relationship with► God,” and do not obey what God commands us to do, are liars. They are not conducting their lives according to God’s true message. 5 But those who obey what God commands them to do are the people who love God in the manner in which he wants us to. I will tell you how we can be sure that we have a close relationship with God: 6 If we say that we are living as God wants us to, we should conduct our lives as Christ did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing a new additional command to you. Instead, I am writing to you a command which was given to you when you first [MTY] believed in Christ. That command is part of the message that you have always heard. 8 Nevertheless, I can say that the command I am writing to you is a new command. It is new because what Christ did was new, and what you are doing is new, because you have been ceasing to conduct your lives in a morally impure manner and are now truly conducting your lives in a pure manner. That is like [MET] no longer living in darkness. Instead, it is like living where a brilliant light is already shining. 9 Those who claim that they are pure in every way, like people [MET] living in the light, but hate any of their fellow believers, are still behaving in an impure manner, like [MET] people who are continually living in darkness. 10 But those who love their fellow believers are continuing to conduct their lives like people who are living in the light. They are people who please God [LIT]. So you should love your fellow believers. 11 But those who hate any of their fellow believers are still conducting their lives in an impure way, like [MET] people who are living in darkness. They do not know that they will eventually destroy themselves eternally. They have become spiritually blind [PRS, MET], unaware of spiritual truth.

12-13 I am writing this to you whom I love as though [MET] you were my little children, to you who are spiritually mature people who are like [MET] fathers, and to you spiritually vigorous/strong people who are like [MET] young men. Remember that your sins have been forgiven {God has forgiven your sins} on account of what Christ [MTY] has done. You now know Christ, the one who always existed. You have defeated the evil one, Satan. 14  I will say it again: I have written this to you because you have come to know the Father, because you now know Christ, the one who always existed, because you are spiritually strong, because you continue to obey God’s word, and because you have defeated the evil one, Satan.

15 Do not desire to conduct you lives in the evil manner in which godless people in the world [MTY] conduct their lives, and do not love anything that the evil people in the world [MTY] consider to be good. Those who desire to conduct their lives in the evil manner in which other people of the world [MTY] conduct their lives do not really love God, their Father, at all. 16 Keep in mind that all the evil human desires in the world are actions/things such as these: People desire to do what their self-directed nature strongly desires. People desire to possess whatever ◄appeals to their senses/they see or hear about►. People boast about the material things that they possess. Such evil ways of living do not originate/come from the Father! Instead they originate/come from the ◄godless people in the world/people in the world who conduct their lives in a manner that displeases God► [MTY]! 17 The godless people in the world [MTY], along with what they desire, will disappear, but those who do what God wants them to do will live forever! You know that it is now the final period of this age when there are liars who deny that Jesus is God’s Chosen One. But you have the power of God’s Spirit and you know what is true and what is false. So continue to live according to the true message that you heard when you began to believe in Christ, in order that you may continue to live united both to God’s Son and to the Father.

18  You who are very dear to me, it is now ◄the final part [MTY] of this age/the final period of time before Jesus returns►. Just like you heard from us apostles that a person who opposes Christ will come/appear, even now there are many people who oppose Christ. That is why we know that it is the final part of this age (OR, before Jesus returns) [MTY]. 19 The people who oppose Christ refused to remain in our congregations, but they never really ◄belonged with us/were fellow believers►. If they had ◄belonged with us/been fellow believers►, they would have remained with us. But because they left, everyone can clearly know that none of them ◄belongs with us/is a fellow believer►. 20 But as for you, you have been given the power of God’s Spirit, which comes from Christ (OR, God), the Holy One. As a result, you all know how to ◄distinguish false teaching from/recognize what is false teaching and what is► the true message. 21 I am writing this letter to you, not because you do not know what is God’s true message, but because you do know what it is. You also know that no false message originates/comes from God, who is the source of all truth. 22 The worst liars are the ones who deny that Jesus is ◄the Messiah/the one whom God chose to rescue us►. They are the ones that we told you about, the ones who oppose Christ. They refuse to acknowledge/admit that God is the Father and that Jesus is his Son (OR, the one who is also God). 23 Those who refuse to acknowledge/admit that Jesus is God’s Son do not have a relationship with the Father. But those who acknowledge/admit that Jesus is God’s Son not only have a relationship with God’s Son, but they have a relationship with the Father also. 24  So, as for you, you must continue to conduct your lives according to the true message that you heard when you began [MTY] to believe in Christ. If you continue to do that, you will continue to have a close relationship with both God’s Son and the Father. 25 And what God told us is that he will cause us to live forever!

26 I have written this to you to ◄warn you about/tell you to beware of► those who want to deceive you concerning the truth about Christ. 27 As for you, God’s Spirit, whom you received from Christ, remains in you. So you do not need anyone to teach you anything else that they claim/say is the truth. God’s Spirit is teaching you all of God’s truth that you need to know. God’s Spirit is truthful and never says anything that is false. So continue to conduct your lives in the way that he has taught you.

28 Now, while some people are trying to persuade you to accept their false teaching, I urge you, who are all very dear to me, to continue to have a close relationship with Christ. We need to do that in order that we may be confident that he will accept us when he comes back again. If we do that, we will not be ashamed when we stand before him when he comes. 29 Since you know that Christ always does what is right, you know that all those who continue doing what is right are the ones who have become children of God.