For if after they have escaped the filthy things<n id="1" /> of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,<n id="2" /> they<n id="3" /> again get entangled in them and succumb to them,<n id="4" /> their last state has become worse for them than their first.

speaking of these things in all his letters.<n id="1" /> Some things in these letters<n id="2" /> are hard to understand, things<n id="3" /> the ignorant and unstable twist<n id="4" /> to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures.<n id="5" />

<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" />

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" />

The one who practices sin is of the devil,<n id="1" /> because the devil has been sinning<n id="2" /> from the beginning. For this purpose<n id="3" /> the Son of God was revealed: to destroy<n id="4" /> the works of the devil.

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 whoever has the world&#8217;s possessions<n id="1" /> and sees his fellow Christian<n id="2" /> in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God<n id="3" /> reside<n id="4" /> in such a person?<n id="5" />p>

Now<n id="1" /> this is his commandment:<n id="2" /> that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave<n id="3" /> us the commandment.

And the person who keeps his commandments resides<n id="1" /> in God,<n id="2" /> and God<n id="3" /> in him. Now by this<n id="4" /> we know that God<n id="5" /> resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.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>

By this<n id="1" /> the love of God<n id="2" /> is revealed in us:<n id="3" /> that God has sent his one and only<n id="4" /> Son into the world so that we may live through him.

In this<n id="1" /> is love: not that<n id="2" /> we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice<n id="3" /> for our sins.p>

because<n id="1" /> everyone<n id="2" /> who has been fathered by God<n id="3" /> conquers<n id="4" /> the world.<n id="5" />p><t /><p class="bodytext">This<n id="6" /> is the conquering power<n id="7" /> that has conquered<n id="8" /> the world: our faith.

<p class="bodytext">If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because<n id="1" /> this<n id="2" /> is the testimony of God that<n id="3" /> he has testified concerning his Son.

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

<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.

For certain men<n id="1" /> have secretly slipped in among you<n id="2" /> &#8211; men who long ago<n id="3" /> were marked out<n id="4" /> for the condemnation I am about to describe<n id="5" /> &#8211; ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil<n id="6" /> and who deny our only Master<n id="7" /> and Lord,<n id="8" /> Jesus Christ.p>

So also<n id="1" /> Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns,<n id="2" /> since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire<n id="3" /> in a way similar to<n id="4" /> these angels,<n id="5" /> are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.p>

These men are<n id="1" /> dangerous reefs<n id="2" /> at your love feasts,<n id="3" /> feasting without reverence,<n id="4" /> feeding only themselves.<n id="5" /> They are<n id="6" /> waterless<n id="7" /> clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit<n id="8" /> &#8211; twice dead,<n id="9" /> uprooted;