Study Desk

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

If someone claims, "I know God," but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

If anyone claims, "I am living in the light," but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness.

But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.

And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth.

So I am writing to you not because you don't know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies.

Anyone who denies the Son doesn't have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him.

Dear friends, we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.