The document was marked with 58 Deletions, 63 Insertions, 0 Moves.
1 John Contemporary English Version (CEV)
chapter 1
1The Word that gives life
was from the beginning,
and this is the one
our message is about.
Our ears have heard,
our own eyes have seen,
and our hands touched
this Word.
2The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we
are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. 3We are telling you what
we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing to tell you these things, because this makes us truly happy.
God Is Light
5Jesus told us that God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.
6If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the
truth. 7But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son
Jesus washes all our sins away. 8If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth
isn't in our hearts. 9But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our
sins away.
10If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn't in our hearts.
chapter 2
Christ Helps Us
1My children, I am writing this so that you won't sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right
thing, and he will speak to the Father for us. 2Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of
all the world's people.
3When we obey God, we are sure that we know him. 4But if we claim to know him and don't obey him, we are
lying and the truth isn't in our hearts. 5We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we
know that we belong to him. 6If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ.
The New Commandment
7My dear friends, I am not writing to give you a new commandment. It is the same one that you were first
given, and it is the message you heard. 8But it really is a new commandment, and you know its true meaning,
just as Christ does. You can see the darkness fading away and the true light already shining.
9If we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark. 10But if we love others, we are in
the light, and we don't cause problems for them. 11If we hate others, we are living and walking in the dark.
We don't know where we are going, because we can't see in the dark. 12Children, I am writing you,
because your sins
have been forgiven
in the name of Christ.
13Parents, I am writing you,
because you have known
the one who was there
from the beginning.
Young people, I am writing you,
because you have defeated
the evil one.
14Children, I am writing you,
because you have known
the Father.
Parents, I am writing you,
because you have known
the one who was there
from the beginning.
Young people, I am writing you,
because you are strong.
God's message is firm
in your hearts,
and you have defeated
the evil one.
15Don't love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you cannot love the
Father. 16Our foolish pride comes from this world, and so do our selfish desires and our desire to have
everything we see. None of this comes from the Father. 17The world and the desires it causes are
disappearing. But if we obey God, we will live forever.
The Enemy of Christ
18Children, this is the last hour. You heard that the enemy of Christ would appear at this time, and many of
Christ's enemies have already appeared. So we know that the last hour is here. 19These people came from
our own group, yet they were not part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us.
But they left, which proves that they did not belong to our group.
20Christ, the Holy One, has blessed you, and now all of you understand. 21I did not need to write you about
the truth, since you already know it. You also know that liars do not belong to the truth. 22And a liar is
anyone who says that Jesus isn't truly Christ. Anyone who says this is an enemy of Christ and rejects both
the Father and the Son. 23If we reject the Son, we reject the Father. But if we say that we accept the Son,
we have the Father. 24Keep thinking about the message you first heard, and you will always be one in your
heart with the Son and with the Father. 25The Son has promised us eternal life. 26I am writing to warn you
about those people who are misleading you. 27But Christ has blessed you with the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit
stays in you, and you don't need any teachers. The Spirit is truthful and teaches you everything. So stay one
in your heart with Christ, just as the Spirit has taught you to do.
Children of God
28Children, stay one in your hearts with Christ. Then when he returns, we will have confidence and won't
have to hide in shame. 29You know that Christ always does right and that everyone who does right is a child
of God.
chapter 3
1Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly
are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don't know who we are. 2My dear
friends, we are already God's children, though what we will be hasn't yet been seen. But we do know that
when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. 3This hope makes us keep
ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy. 4Everyone who sins breaks God's law, because sin is the same as
breaking God's law. 5You know that Christ came to take away sins. He isn't sinful, 6and people who stay one
in their hearts with him won't keep on sinning. If they do keep on sinning, they don't know Christ, and they
have never seen him.
7Children, don't be fooled. Anyone who does right is good, just like Christ himself. 8Anyone who keeps on
sinning belongs to the devil. He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he
has done. 9God's children cannot keep on being sinful. His life-giving power lives in them and makes them his
children, so that they cannot keep on sinning. 10You can tell God's children from the devil's children, because
those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.
Love Each Other
11From the beginning you were told that we must love each other. 12Don't be like Cain, who belonged to the
devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he
was evil. 13My friends, don't be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14Our love for each other
proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don't love each other, you are still under the power of
death.
15If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life. 16We
know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That's why we must give our lives for each other. 17If
we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we
cannot say we love God. 18Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by
talking about it.
19When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God.
20But even if we don't feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 21Dear
friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near him. 22He will give
us whatever we ask, because we obey him and do what pleases him. 23God wants us to have faith in his Son
Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. 24If we obey God's
commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with him, and he will stay one with us. The Spirit that he has
given us is proof that we are one with him.
chapter 4
God Is Love
1Dear friends, don't believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they
really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, 2and you can know
which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. 3But when someone
doesn't say this about Jesus, you know that person has a spirit that doesn't come from God and is the enemy
of Christ. You knew that this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.
4Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God's Spirit is in you and is more
powerful than the one that is in the world. 5These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to
them, because they speak its language. 6We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us.
But the people who don't know God won't listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the
truth from the one that tells lies. 7My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when
we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God's children, and we know him.
8God is love, and anyone who doesn't love others has never known him. 9God showed his love for us when he
sent his only Son into the world to give us life. 10Real love isn't our love for God, but his love for us. God sent
his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. 11Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we
must love each other.
12No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts.
13God has given us his Spirit. That is how we know that we are one with him, just as he is one with us.
14God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We saw his Son and are now telling others about him.
15God stays one with everyone who openly says that Jesus is the Son of God. That's how we stay one with
God 16and are sure that God loves us.
God is love. If we keep on loving others, we will stay one in our hearts with God, and he will stay one with us.
17If we truly love others and live as Christ did in this world, we won't be worried about the day of judgment.
18A real love for others will chase those worries away. The thought of being punished is what makes us
afraid. It shows that we have not really learned to love.
19We love because God loved us first. 20But if we say we love God and don't love each other, we are liars.
We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don't love the people we can see? 21The commandment
that God has given us is: "Love God and love each other!"
chapter 5
Victory over the World
1If we believe that Jesus is truly Christ, we are God's children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love
his children. 2If we love and obey God, we know that we will love his children. 3We show our love for God by
obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow.
4Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. 5No one can defeat the
world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
Who Jesus Is
6Water and blood came out from the side of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just water, but water and blood. The
Spirit tells about this, because the Spirit is truthful. 7In fact, there are three who tell about it. 8They are the
Spirit, the water, and the blood, and they all agree. 9We believe what people tell us. But we can trust what
God says even more, and God is the one who has spoken about his Son. 10If we have faith in God's Son, we
have believed what God has said. But if we don't believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as
calling God a liar. 11God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son.
12And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life.
Knowing about Eternal Life
13All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know that you have eternal life. 14We
are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. 15And if we know that God
listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered.
16Suppose you see one of our people commit a sin that isn't a deadly sin. You can pray, and that person will
be given eternal life. But the sin must not be one that is deadly. 17Everything that is wrong is sin, but not all
sins are deadly.
18We are sure that God's children do not keep on sinning. God's own Son protects them, and the devil cannot
harm them.
19We are certain that we come from God and that the rest of the world is under the power of the devil.
20We know that Jesus Christ the Son of God has come and has shown us the true God. And because of
Jesus, we now belong to the true God who gives eternal life.
21Children, you must stay away from idols.