So I shall constantly remind you of these matters, even though you know and are firm in the truth that is with you. For I think it is right, as long as I am still in this tabernacle of the flesh, to keep you wakeful by reminding you, knowing as I do that the putting off of this tabernacle of mine will come soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me; and I shall try to see to it that you will always remember these things after my departure. For it is not by following artfully constructed myths that we have made known to you the power and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but because we were eyewitnesses to his greatness. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice like this came to him from the ma^nficent glory: This is my son, whom I love, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice coming to him from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. We have the prophetic word, which is certain; you do well to hold to it, as to a lamp shining in a dingy place, until the day dawns in light and the morning star rises in your hearts. But first, know this, that no prophecy in scripture is subject to personal interpretation; for prophecy did not ever come by the will of man, but men, carried along by the Holy Spirit, have spoken from God.
There were also false prophets ^ong the people, as among you also there will be false teachers, who will bring in destructive heresies, even disowning the master who bought their freedom and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. But many will follow their vicious practices, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed; and in their greed they will exploit you with made-up stories; but, long since, the judgment against them has not been inactive, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned but consigned them to the lower depths of darkness where they are kept for judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, the herald of righteousness, with seven others, while he let loose the flood on the world of the impious; and if he doomed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, making them an example of what is in store for the impious; and if he rescued the righteous Lot, who was afflicted by the vicious behavior of these lawless people (for, righteous as he was and living among them, by what he saw and heard day after day he was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless behavior); then the Lord knows how to rescue the pious from their ordeal and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the Day of Judgment; especially those who follow the flesh in lust for corruption, and who despise high authority. Daring, headstrong, they do not tremble before glorious creatures, but insult them; whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power than they, do not insult them as they demand judgment against them.
But these men, like unreasoning beasts, creatures of nature bred to be caught and slaughtered, insulting what they do not understand, will be slaughtered as such beasts are slaughtered, damaged for the damage they have done. They think of happiness as the luxury of the day, they are blots and blemishes who revel in their o^ beguile- ments as they share your feasts. They have eyes that are full of adultery, insatiable in sinning, and they seduce unstable souls since their hearts are well practiced in serving their greed. Children of the curse, they left the straight road and went astray, following the course of Balaam the son of Beor, who longed for the wages of wickedness but was reproved for this transgression; a dumb beast spoke in a human voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
These men are waterless springs, clouds before the whirlwind; the dark of hell is in store for them. For speaking loud in their lewdness they seduce, through the lusts of the flesh, through depravity, some who are barely escaping from the wrong way of life. They promise them freedom, being themselves the slaves of corruption; for anyone is the slave of one to whom he has lost. If they once escaped from the defilements of the world by recognizing the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and then once more are involved in these and overcome, what happened to them last is worse than what happened first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to t^m back from the holy commandment that was handed down to them. What has happened to them is what is in the true proverb: The dog returns to his vomit; and: The sow washed clean goes back to roll in the mud.
This, dear friends, is the second letter I have written you, to quicken the pure purpose in you by reminding you: that you should remember the words spoken of old by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and savior from your apostles. But first understand this, that in these final days mockers will come with their mockery, people who go the way of their own desires, who will say: Where is the promise of his coming? For since our fathers were laid to rest, all things remain as they have been since the original creation. But they are unaware, as they wish to be, that the skies existed from of old, and the earth formed from water and standing in the water, by the word of God; and through these waters the earth was flooded with water and perished. And by the same word the skies that are now and the earth that is now are stored away for the fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of impious people.
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends; that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow with his promise, as some think it is slowness; but he is patient with you, because he does not want any to be destroyed, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on it the heavens will disappear with a sizzling noise, and the heavenly bodies will fall apart in flames, and the earth and the things inside it will be laid open. When all these things break up, how great is the need for you to keep to the saintly and pious life, expecting and urging on the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will fall apart in fire and the heavenly bodies melt in the flames. Then, according to his promise, let us look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness resides.
So, dear friends, in this expectation, strive to be found spotless and blameless in his peace, and believe that your salvation is the patience of our Lord; as our beloved brother Paul has also written to you in the wisdom that has been granted to him, even as he speaks of these matters in all his letters; but places in them are hard to understand, and these the ignorant and unstable distort, as they do the other scriptures; but to their own destruction. But for your part, dear friends, being forew^raed, keep yourselves from being carried along in the deviation of the iniquitous, and from falling away from your own firm position; but grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be the glory now and to the day of eternity.
The First General Letter of John
WHAT WAS FROM THE BEGINNING, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have watched and our hands have felt, concerning the word of life; and the life was revealed, and we have seen and attest and announce to you the life everlasting which was with the Father and was revealed to us; what we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you also may share it with us; and our sharing is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. And we write you this so that your joy may be complete.
And this is the message which we heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there is not any darkness in him. If we say that we have a share in him, and yet walk in darkness, we are lying and not enacting the truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we share with each other, and the blood of Jesus his son washes us clean of all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is righteous and to be trusted to forgive us our sins and wash us clean of all guilt. If we say that we have not sinned, we are making him a liar and his word is not in us.
% My little children, I write you this so that you will not sin. And even if one does sin, we have a just advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ; and he himself is an exp
iation for our sins, and not for ours alone but for those of all the world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The man who says: I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if a man obeys his word, truly in that man the love of God is fulfilled. By this we know that we are with him; the man who says that he abides with him must walk in the ways in which he walks.
Dear friends, I am not writing you any new commandment, but the old one which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word to which you listened. Yet, again, I am writing you a new commandment, which is the truth in him and in you, that the darkness is passing away and the true light is now shining. The man who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the dark even now. The man who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no offense in him; but the man who hates his brother is in the dark and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven through his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who was from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I wrote to you, children, because you know the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you know him who was from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong and the word abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If one loves the world, love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life, is not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its lust are passing away, but he who does the will of God endures forever.
Children, this is the final hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even so there are now many antichrists. From this we know tha.t it is the final hour. They went forth from us, but they were not of our number (for if they had been of our number they would have remained with us); they went forth from us so that it might be made clear that they are not of our number. And you ha.ve been anointed by the holy one; and all of you have knowledge. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.
Who is the liar, if not the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Anyone who denies the Son also fails to have the Father. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Let that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you; and if that which you have heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and the Father. And this is the promise which he promised us, the life that is everlasting.
I write you this concerning those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is the truth and no lie, and as he himself taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in ^m, so that if he is revealed to us we may feel confident and not be shamed by him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, realize that every one who acts righteously is sprung from him.
See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called God's children; and we are. This is why the world does not know us; because it did not know him. Dear friends, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself pure, as God is pure.
Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was revealed to take sins away, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who abides in him does not sin; anyone who sins has not seen him and does not know him. My little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who acts righteously is righteous, as the Lord is righteous. Everyone who acts sinfully is from the devil, because the devil is a sinner from the beginning. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to undo the work of the devil.
Anyone sp^mg from God does not sin, because God's seed endures in him, and he is unable to sin, because he is sprung from God. By this it is clear which are the children of God and which the children of the devil; anyone who does not act righteously is not from God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Since this is the message we have heard from the beginning, that we should love each other. We should not be like Cain, who c^e from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions had been evil, and his brother's had been righteous.
Brothers, do not be surprised if the world hates you. We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a man- slayer, and you know that no manslayer has life everlasting lodged within him.
We know of the Lord's love by this, that he laid down his life for us; and we have a duty to lay down our lives for our brothers. But when a man has worldly means and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how can the love of God be in that man? Little children, let us love, not with talk and the tongue, but in action and truth.
By this we shall know that we are on the side of the truth, and in his presence persuade our hearts that, if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all. Dear friends, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and what we ask for we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, to believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ, and love each other, as he commanded us to do. And he who keeps his commandments abides in him and he abides in that man. And we know that he abides in us from the Spirit which he gave us.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The spirit of God is known by this: every spirit which acknowledges that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit which does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he was corning, and now he is already in the world.
But you are of God, little children, and you have overcome these false prophets, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world; they speak, therefore, from the world and the world listens to them. But we are of God; the man who knows God listens to us, the one who is not of God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Dear friends, let us love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is sprung from God and knows God. One who does not love does not know God, because God is love. The love of God was revealed among us by this, that God sent his only-begotten son into the world so that we might live through him. Love is in this, not in that we have loved God, but in that he loved us and sent his son as propitiation for our sins. Dear friends, if God so loved us we also have a duty to love each other. No one has ever seen God; if we love each other, God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us. We know that we abide in him, and he in us, by this fact, that he has given to us from his spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father sent his Son to be the savior of the world. If one acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we know and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. By this love is made perfect in us, so that we may have confidence on the Day of Judgment, because as he is in this world so also are we. There is no fear in love, but love that is perfect casts out fear; because fear involves punishment, but one who is afraid is not made perfect in
love. We love, because he loved us first. If a man says: I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And we have this commandment from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten from God; and everyone who loves the begetter loves the one begotten from him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and carry out his commandments. For this is the love of God, to keep his co^^^dments; and his commandments are not burdensome, because everythingwhichis sprungfrom God overcomes the world. And this, our faith, is the victory that overcomes the world. Who is it who overcomes the world if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in water alone but in water and blood. And the Spirit is what testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. Since there are three who testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are at one. If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger, because it is God's testimony where he testified concerning his son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony within him; one who does not believe God makes him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony of God concerning his son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us life everlasting, and that life is in his son. He who has the son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
The New Testament Page 45