1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

4Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

5but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

7Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.

8At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

9Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

10Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.