¹⁷Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the lawless, ye fall from your own steadfastness. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen.

[THE FIRST GENERAL LETTER OF JOHN.]

I. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we looked upon, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life; ²(and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us;) ³that which we have seen and have heard we report to you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.

⁵And this is the message which we have heard from him, and announce to you, That God is light, and in him there is no darkness.

⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; ⁷but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ^[7] his Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸If we say that we have not sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, that he may forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

II. My little children, these things I write to you, that ye may not sin. And if any one have sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ²And he is a propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

³And in this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But whoever keeps his word, of a truth in him the love of God is perfected. In this we know that we are in him. ⁶He that says he abides in him ought, as he walked, himself also so to walk.

⁷Beloved, I write not to you a new commandment, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard from the beginning^[7]. ⁸Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light now shines. ⁹He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. ¹¹But he that hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and knows not where he goes, because the darkness blinded his eyes.