<p class="bodytext">Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters.<n id="1" /> He who speaks against a fellow believer<n id="2" /> or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now<n id="1" /> this is the gospel<n id="2" /> message<n id="3" /> we have heard from him<n id="4" /> and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning.<n id="1" /> The old commandment is the word that you have already<n id="2" /> heard.

But the one who hates his fellow Christian<n id="1" /> is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.<n id="2" />p>

because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions)<n id="1" /> is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Who is the liar but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ<n id="1" />? This one is the antichrist: the person who denies the Father and the Son.

<p class="bodytext">(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that<n id="1" /> we should be called God&#8217;s children &#8211; and indeed<n id="2" /> we are!<n id="3" /> For this reason<n id="4" /> the world does not know us: because it did not know him.<n id="5" />

By this<n id="1" /> the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness &#8211; the one who does not love his fellow Christian<n id="2" /> &#8211; is not of God.p>

but<n id="1" /> every spirit that does not confess<n id="2" /> Jesus<n id="3" /> is not from God, and this is the spirit<n id="4" /> of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.p>

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.<n id="1" /> The<n id="2" /> one who fears punishment<n id="3" /> has not been perfected in love.

<t /><p class="bodytext">From<n id="1" /> the elder,<n id="2" /> to an elect lady<n id="3" /> and her children, whom I love in truth<n id="4" /> (and not I alone, but also all those<n id="5" /> who know the truth),

<p class="bodytext">Everyone<n id="1" /> who goes on ahead and does not remain<n id="2" /> in the teaching of Christ<n id="3" /> does not have God.<n id="4" /> The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Though I have many other<n id="1" /> things to write to you, I do not want to do so with<n id="2" /> paper and ink,<n id="3" /> but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face,<n id="4" /> so that our joy may be complete.<n id="5" />p>

But even<n id="1" /> when Michael the archangel<n id="2" /> was arguing with the devil and debating with him<n id="3" /> concerning Moses&#8217; body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, &#8220;May the Lord rebuke you!&#8221;

&#8216;I know your works as well as your<n id="1" /> labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate<n id="2" /> evil. You have even put to the test<n id="3" /> those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

&#8216;I know the distress you are suffering<n id="1" /> and your poverty (but you are rich). I also know<n id="2" /> the slander against you<n id="3" /> by those who call themselves Jews and really are not, but are a synagogue<n id="4" /> of Satan.

Because you say, &#8220;I am rich and have acquired great wealth,<n id="1" /> and need nothing,&#8221; but<n id="2" /> do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful,<n id="3" /> poor, blind, and naked,

They<n id="1" /> were told<n id="2" /> not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people<n id="3" /> who did not have the seal of God on their<n id="4" /> forehead.

For three and a half days those from every<n id="1" /> people, tribe,<n id="2" /> nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">But<n id="1" /> they overcame himp> <p class="poetry">by the blood of the Lambp> <p class="poetry">and by the word of their testimony,p> <p class="poetry">and they did not love their lives<n id="2" /> so much that they were afraid to die.p>