1 John Chapter 2
Showing all 29 verses for 1 John Chapter 2.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: "
"John writes tenderly: I'm telling you all this so that you won't sin. But if you do sin, don't panic - we have someone on our side pleading our case before the Father: Jesus Christ, who is truly good and right."
When you slip up, I don't turn away from you - I stand right there speaking up for you, because I know you and I'm on your side. Let that steady you rather than shame you into hiding.
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. "
"And Jesus is the one who deals with the problem of sin - not just for us, but for absolutely everyone in the world."
I didn't come for one tribe, one group, one type of person who has it together - I came for everyone, no exceptions. Whoever you are, whatever you carry, that offer includes you.
"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. "
"Here's how we can tell whether we truly know God: by whether we actually keep his instructions."
You'll know your connection to me is real not by how you feel on a given day, but by whether love and honesty are actually showing up in your life. Let your actions be the evidence, gently, not a test to fail but a natural fruit that grows.
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. "
"Anyone who claims "I know God" but doesn't actually live by what he says is lying, and the truth isn't really in them."
I'd rather you were quietly honest about where you fall short than loudly claim a closeness with me your life doesn't back up. Integrity between what you say and what you do is what I actually care about.
"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. "
"But whoever actually does what God says has genuinely let God's love reach its full expression in them - that's how we know we're truly connected to him."
Every time you choose kindness or honesty over your first instinct, that's love maturing in you, not a test being passed. Notice that growth with encouragement, not judgement - it's proof something real is happening.
"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. "
"Anyone who claims to be living in close connection with God should live the same way Jesus lived."
I didn't just teach you how to live - I lived it in front of you, so you'd have something real to follow, not just words to admire. Watch how I treated people who were struggling or afraid, and let that be your compass.
"Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. "
"Friends, I'm not giving you some brand-new rule - it's actually the same old instruction you've had from the very start: the message you've already heard."
I'm not asking anything of you that you haven't already heard from the very beginning - love was always the point. When something feels heavy, it often helps to remember it's not new; you already carry it.
"Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. "
"And yet, in another sense, it is a new commandment - true in Jesus and true in you - because the darkness is fading away and the real light is already shining."
The old call to love isn't just a nice ideal anymore - I've made it genuinely possible, because light is already breaking through the dark places in you and the world. You're not straining after the impossible; you're stepping into something already dawning.
"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. "
"Anyone who claims to be living in the light but hates another person is actually still in the dark, right now."
You can say all the right things about me and still be in the dark if there's someone you refuse to forgive or genuinely resent. Check your heart towards the people who annoy or hurt you - that's where the truth about you actually shows.
"He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. "
"But whoever genuinely loves others is living in the light, and there's nothing in them that trips others up."
When you love people well, you become someone others can lean on without fear of being tripped up or let down. That's one of the quiet, practical rewards of real love - safety, for you and for everyone near you.
"But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. "
"But anyone who hates another person is in darkness, walks around in darkness, and doesn't even know where they're going - because that darkness has blinded them."
Hate doesn't just hurt the other person, it blinds you - it clouds your own judgement until you can't see where you're heading. Let go of it for your own sake as much as theirs; it's the only way to see clearly again.
"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. "
"I'm writing to you, dear children, because your sins have already been forgiven - because of who Jesus is."
Before I ask anything more of you, hear this first: you're already forgiven, not because you earned it but because of who I am. Let that settle in you before anything else - it's the foundation everything else stands on.
"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, little children, because ye have known the Father. "
"I'm writing to you, spiritually mature ones, because you know Jesus, who has existed from the very beginning. I'm writing to you, young and strong ones, because you have won the fight against the evil one. I'm writing to you, little ones, because you know the Father."
You don't need years of experience to genuinely know the Father, and I see the fights you've already won even the quiet ones nobody noticed. Whatever stage you're at, you already belong and you're already valued.
"I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. "
"I've written to you, spiritually mature ones, because you know Jesus, who has existed from the very beginning. I've written to you, young and strong ones, because you are strong, God's word lives in you, and you have won the fight against the evil one."
I don't mind repeating myself when it comes to reminding you that you're seen and valued. Your strength isn't conjured alone - it grows from truth you've let settle deep inside you, and that's what will still be there when you need it.
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. "
"Don't set your heart on the world or the things in it. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love has no place in them."
I'm not asking you to reject the world's people, or its beauty, or its pleasures as such - just the hollow value system that promises fulfilment through status and stuff and never delivers. Choose carefully what you build your life around.
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. "
"Because everything the world offers - the craving for physical pleasure, the craving for what looks good, and the pride of showing off what you have or achieve - none of that comes from the Father. It all comes from the world's system."
Notice how often what pulls at you is one of these three: wanting a feeling, wanting to look a certain way, or wanting to be seen as impressive - none of them satisfy for long. Ask yourself whether it's really love or connection you're actually hungry for.
"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. "
"The world and everything it craves is passing away - but whoever does what God wants will last forever."
Everything that fades was never going to satisfy you forever anyway - build your life instead on love and honesty, the things that actually last. That's not self-denial, it's just choosing well with the time you have.
"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. "
"Children, we're in a critical time. You've heard that an "antichrist" figure is coming - and in fact, many antichrists are already here, which tells us we're in that critical time."
Watch for people who twist or deny the truth of who I really am and what love actually requires - there have always been many such voices, not just one. Trust your discernment, and don't be shaken just because opposition shows up.
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. "
"These people left our community - but they were never truly part of us. If they had really belonged, they would have stayed. Their leaving proved they were never really one of us."
When someone leaves who was never truly aligned with love in the first place, let their leaving be clarity, not a wound you have to carry forever. You're not diminished by who chooses to walk away.
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. "
"But you have received an anointing from the Holy One, and because of that, all of you have insight."
I've already given you what you need to recognise truth from lies - trust the wisdom and conscience already within you, not just the loudest outside voice. You have more discernment than you give yourself credit for.
"I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. "
"I haven't written to you because you don't know the truth - I've written because you do know it, and because no lie can come from the truth."
I'm not writing (through John) to teach you something brand new - I'm reminding you of what you already carry inside, so it doesn't get talked out of you by louder voices. Trust what you already know to be true and good.
"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. "
"Who's really lying? Anyone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah. That person is an antichrist, because they're denying both the Father and the Son."
Who I am and who the Father is are bound together - you can't really claim to know one while denying the other. Hold onto the fullness of who I actually am, not a stripped-down or convenient version.
"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. "
"Whoever denies the Son doesn't have the Father either - but whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too."
I'm not a detour on the way to the Father - knowing me is how you actually get to know him. Don't let anyone convince you that you can skip past who I am and still arrive at the same place.
"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. "
"So hold on to what you were taught from the very beginning - let it stay in you. If it does, you'll remain connected to both the Son and the Father."
You don't need a newer, flashier version of truth to keep growing close to me - what you first learned about love and honesty is still enough, if you let it stay rooted in you. Don't be talked out of the basics.
"And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. "
"And this is what he promised us: eternal life."
Everything I've promised you comes down to this: life that doesn't run out, life that death can't touch. Let that be the quiet confidence underneath everything else you're working through.
"These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. "
"I've written all this to warn you about people trying to lead you astray."
I want you protected from people who would twist truth to pull you away from love and honesty - that protection comes from knowing truth well enough to recognise a counterfeit. Stay grounded, and you'll be safe from being led astray.
"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. "
"But the anointing you received from him stays in you, so you don't need anyone else to teach you from scratch - that same anointing teaches you everything, and it's true, not a lie. So, just as it has taught you, remain in him."
You have real inner wisdom already given to you - trust it, test what you hear against it, and don't let fear of getting it wrong make you doubt what you already sense is true.
"And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. "
"And now, dear children, stay closely connected to him - so that when he appears, we'll be confident and not ashamed in front of him."
I don't want you living in dread of facing me one day - stay close to me now, in the small honest choices of each day, and that closeness itself removes the fear. Confidence isn't earned by perfection; it grows out of relationship.
"If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. "
"If you know that God is righteous, then you also know that everyone who lives righteously has been born of him."
If you want to know whether new life has really taken root in someone - including yourself - look for the fruit of a good, honest, growing life. That's the family resemblance that actually matters.