Первое послание Апостола Иоанна Богослова

Written, probably, from Ephesus, later than 70 A.D. Written by the Evangelist John, both in presentation and thought similar to the Evangelist. The Apostle refers to the heresies that spread in the Church at this time, and in particular preaches in his epistle the faith in Christ who came in the flesh, the life and light and love of God. It was written, apparently, after the fall of Jerusalem, when the imminent coming of Christ was expected. Chapter 1. Immortal life in Christ About what was from the beginning, what we heard, what we saw with our own eyes, what we looked at and what we touched with our hands, about the Word of life - this is what we write about. Life appeared, and we saw it and testify, and we proclaim to you this eternal life - that the Father had it and appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you too may have fellowship with us; our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And we write this to you, so that your joy may be complete. And this is the good news that we have heard from Him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in Him there is not a single darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, then we lie and do not stand in the truth. If we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that there is no sin in us, we deceive ourselves and there is no truth in us. If we confess our sins, He, the faithful and righteous One, will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him false, and His word has no place in us. Chapter 2. Life in the light of Christ My children! I am writing this to you so that you will not sin; But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. And that we have come to know Him, we can understand when we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Jesus,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. And whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected; from this we learn. that we abide in Him. Whoever says that he abides in Him must live as He lived. Beloved! I am not writing you a new commandment, but an ancient commandment, which you had from the beginning: the ancient commandment is the word that you heard from the beginning. But I am also writing you a new commandment: it is the truth both in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no temptation in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going: the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers: you have known Jehovah from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men: you have defeated the evil one. I am writing to you, youths: you have come to know the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have come to know the Beginningless One. I wrote to you, young men: you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world: whoever loves the world does not have the Father’s love in him. Everything that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, all this is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world and its lusts pass away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children! the last time has come. And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many antichrists have already appeared, we know from this that the time is the last. They came from us, but they were not ours; if ours had been there, they would have stayed with us; but they left us, and it became so obvious that not all of us were ours. But you have the anointing of the Holy One and you know everything. And I wrote to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that every lie is not from the truth. Who is the liar if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, rejecting both the Father and the Son. He who denies the Son does not have the Father, but he who confesses the Son does not have the Father either. Therefore, whatever you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you; If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in both the Son and the Father. The promise that He promised you is eternal life. I wrote all this to you because there are people who deceive you. But you have received the anointing from Him, and it remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you, but that same anointing teaches you everything, and it is true and not false, and whatever it has taught you, abide in it. And now, children, abide in him, so that when He appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, know that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him. Chapter 3. Who are the children of God Look what love the Father has given us, that we might be called children of God. The world does not know us because it has not known Him. Beloved! Now we are children of God, but it has not yet been revealed what we will be: we only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him seeks to purify himself, since He is pure. Anyone who sins also commits lawlessness: sin is lawlessness (violation of the law). And you know that He appeared to take away our sins from us, but in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him sins not; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him. Children! Let no one deceive you; he who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. Who commits sin? he is of the devil, since from the beginning the devil sinned. This is why the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil. Anyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because the seed of God abides in him; and cannot sin, because he was born of God (received new life from God). In this the children of God and the children of the devil are known: whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, and neither is he who does not love his brother. For this is the covenant that we heard from the beginning: Let us love one another. Not like Cain: he was of the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's deeds were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers; He who does not love his brother remains in death. He who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal, abiding life in himself. We have come to know His love in the fact that He laid down His life for us: we too must lay down our souls for our brethren. And whoever has wealth in the world, yet sees his brother in need. closes his heart from him, how can the love of God abide in him? My children! Let us love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. By this we know that our hearts are in truth and in peace before His face; If our heart condemns us, then much more does God: God is greater than our heart and He knows all things. Beloved! if our heart does not condemn us, then we have boldness towards God and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, since we keep His commandments and do what is right in His sight. And His commandment is that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He commanded us. And whoever keeps His commandments abides in Christ, and Christ in him. And we know that He abides in us by the Spirit Whom He gave us. Chapter 4. The difference between spirits - the Spirit of God and the spirit of lies Beloved! Believe not every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have come into the world. Know the Spirit of God and the spirit of lying: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God: it is the spirit of the Antichrist, about whom you have heard that he is coming, and is already in the world. You, my children, are from God and have overcome those, for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world, and therefore they speak the language of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God: whoever knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of lies. God's love and brotherly love Beloved! Let's love each other! Love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, for God is love. God's love for us was revealed in this, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him. This is where love appeared - not that we loved God, but He loved us and sent His Son to atone for our sins. Beloved! If God loved us so much, then we should love each other. No one has ever seen God: if we love each other, God abides in us and His love is perfect in us. We know that we abide in Him and He in us from what He has given us from His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son of the Savior to the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we knew and by faith accepted the love that God has for us. God is love: whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. And in this will love be perfect in us, that we will have boldness on the day of judgment, when we lived in this world as He lived. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear: in fear there is torment (expectation of evil), and whoever fears is not perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar. He who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, Whom he does not see! And we have this commandment from Him, that whoever loves God should also love his brother. Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ exists is born of God; and whoever loves the One who begot, loves the one born of Him. That we love the children of God, from this we know that we love God and keep His commandments. This is love for God—to keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered the world - our faith. Who overcomes the world if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is Jesus Christ - who came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood, and the Spirit bears witness to Him, and the Spirit is the truth. There are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth: spirit, water and blood, and these three are one (testify). If he accepts human testimony, the testimony of God is greater: God testified about His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; Whoever does not believe God makes God a lie, for he does not believe in the testimony that God testified about His Son. And this is the testimony that He gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son of God has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that by believing in the Son of God you have eternal life. And we have such boldness towards Him that when we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And when we know that He will listen to us in everything we ask, we know that we will receive what we asked of Him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, let him ask and give him life for the sin that does not lead to death. There is a sin leading to death: I’m not talking about praying. All untruth is sin, but it is a sin that does not lead to death. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who is born of God guards himself, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in evil. We also know that the Son of God came and gave us light and understanding, so that we may know the true God and may we be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and the eternal life. Children! keep yourself from idols. Amen. You might be interested in: