Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, ¹  but test ²  the spirits ³  to determine ⁴  if they are from God, because many false prophets ⁵  have gone out into the world.

For ¹  this is the gospel ²  message ³  that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, ⁴ 

Now ¹  this is the gospel ²  message ³  we have heard from him ⁴  and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. ⁵ 

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him ¹  and in you, because ²  the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ³ 

but ¹  every spirit that does not confess ²  Jesus ³  is not from God, and this is the spirit ⁴  of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, ¹  we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

And you know that Jesus ¹  was revealed to take away ²  sins, and in him there is no sin.

Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness ¹  is righteous, just as Jesus ²  is righteous.

The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ¹ 

If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking ¹  in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing ²  the truth.

But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, ¹  forgiving ²  us our sins and cleansing ³  us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

Everyone who hates his fellow Christian ¹  is a murderer, ²  and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing ³  in him.

We have come to know love by this: ¹  that Jesus ²  laid down ³  his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians.

This is what we proclaim to you: ¹  what was from the beginning, ²  what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched (concerning the word of life –

and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce ¹  to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us). ² 

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained ¹  with us. But ²  they went out from us ³  to demonstrate ⁴  that all of them do not belong to us. ⁵ 

If ¹  anyone sees his fellow Christian ²  committing a sin not resulting in death, ³  he should ask, and God ⁴  will grant ⁵  life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. ⁶  There is a sin resulting in death. ⁷  I do not say that he should ask about that.

If anyone says ¹  “I love God” and yet ²  hates his fellow Christian, ³  he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian ⁴  whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ⁵