Everyone who practices sin ¹  also practices lawlessness; ²  indeed, ³  sin is lawlessness.

For ¹  this is the love of God: ²  that we keep his commandments. ³  And his commandments do not weigh us down,

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

Now ¹  by this we know that we have come to know God: ²  if we keep his commandments.

and ¹  whatever we ask we receive from him, because ²  we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.

By this ¹  we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

The one who says “I have come to know God” ¹  and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.

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

(My little children, ¹  I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. ² ) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate ³  with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, ⁴ 

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 

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

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