My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an Advocate1 with the Father, ‘ISA2 AL-MASIH3, the righteous one. 2And he is the atoning sacrifice4 for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 3This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. 4One who says, “I know him,” and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him. 5But whoever keeps his word, the love of God5 has most assuredly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in him: 6he who says he resides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked.
7Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. 8Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you; because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines. 9He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in the darkness even until now. 10He who loves his brother resides in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. 11But he who 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.
12I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
13I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.
14I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
15Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father isn’t in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does the will of God remains forever.
18Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that Dajjal6 is coming, even now many dajjals have arisen. By this we know that it is the end times. 19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us. 20You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know the truth. 21I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22Who is a liar but he who denies that ‘ISA IS AL-MASIH? This is dajjal, he who denies the Father and the Son7. 23Whoever denies the Son, the same does not have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father. 25This is the promise which he promised us, eternal life. 26These things I have written to you concerning those who would lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing which you received from him resides in you, and you do not need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him. 28Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him.
- 2:1 Advocate, in Greek Parakleton: Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, and Comforter. ↩︎
- 2:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 2:1 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 2:2 atoning sacrifice is from the Greek hilasmos, an appeasing, propitiating, or the means of appeasement or propitiation—the sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath because of our sin. ↩︎
- 2:5 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 2:18 Dajjal, or Antichrist. ↩︎
- 2:22 SON, a title of the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed through Prophet Dawud in the Zabur 2:7-9, which says: I will tell of the decree. YAHWEH said to me, “You are my SON. Today I have become your FATHER. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, The ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” ↩︎