1 John 2:3-11

3This is how we can be sure that we know God: If we obey God's commands, we know that we belong to him.

4Someone may say, ‘I belong to God.’ But if he does not obey God's commands, that person is telling a lie. He is not living in the way that God's true message teaches us.

5But anyone who obeys God's message shows that he really loves God completely. So this is how we know that we belong to God.

6If we say that we are living in God's true way, then we must live in the way that Jesus lived.

7My friends, I am telling you to love one another. When I write this to you, I am not giving you a new rule. It is an old rule that you have had for a long time. We gave it to you when you began to obey Christ. It is the same message that you have already heard.

8But there is something new about it. This rule has become true in the way that Christ lived. Now it has also become true in your lives. God's true message has brought light to shine in your lives. You no longer live in the dark where you do bad things.

9A person may say that he is living in the light. But if that person hates another believer, then he is telling a lie. He is still living in the dark.

10Anyone who loves other believers shows that he is living in the light. There is nothing that will make him turn away from God.

11But if someone hates other believers, he is still living in a bad way. He is like someone who is walking in the dark. He cannot see where he is going. He is like a blind person. He cannot understand God's true message.