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Fulfill the commandment of love

1 My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One.

2 He is the sacrificial victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

3 How can we know that we know him? If we fulfill his commands.

4 If you say, ¡°I know him,¡± but do not ful fill his commands, you are a liar and the truth is not in you.

5 But if you keep his word, God¡¯s love is made complete in you. This is how we know that we are in him:

6 he who claims to live in him must live as he lived.

7 My dear friends, I am not writing you a new commandment, but re minding you of an old one, one you had from the beginning. This old commandment is the word you have heard.

8 But, in a way, I give it as a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines.

9 If you claim to be in the light but hate your brother, you are still in darkness.

10 If you love your brothers and sisters, you remain in the light and nothing in you will make you fall.

11 But if you hate your brother you are in the dark and walk in darkness without knowing where you go, for the darkness has blinded you.

12 My dear children, I write this to you: you have already received the forgiveness of your sins through the Name of Jesus.

13 Fathers, I write this to you: you know him who is from the beginning. Young men, I write this to you: you have overcome the Evil One. My dear children, I write to you because you already know the Father.

14 Fathers, I write to you because you know him who is from the beginning. Young men, I write to you because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you who have indeed overcome the Evil One.

15 Do not love the world or what is in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For everything in the world ¨C
the craving of the flesh,
the greed of eyes
and people boasting of their superiority ¨C
all this belongs to the world, not to the Father.

17 The world passes away with all its craving but those who do the will of God remain for ever.


Reject the antichrist

18 My dear children, it is the last hour. You were told that an antichrist would come; but several antichrists have already come, by which we know that it is now the last hour.

19 They went out from us though they did not really belong to us. Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us. So it became clear that not all of us were really ours.

20 But you have the anointing from the Holy One, so that all of you have true wisdom.

21 I write to you, not because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you already know it, and lies have nothing in common with the truth. 22 Who is the liar?

22 The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
This is an antichrist, who denies both the Father and the Son.

23 The one who denies the Son is without the Father, and those who acknowledge the Son also have the Father.

24 Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you, too, will remain in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is the promise he himself gave us: eternal life.

26 I write this to you thinking of those who try to lead you astray.

27 You received from him an anointing, and it remains in you, so you do not need someone to teach you. His anointing teaches you all things, it speaks the truth and does not lie to you; so remain in him, and keep what he has taught you.

28 And now, my children, live in him, so that when he appears in his glory, we may be confident and not ashamed before him when he comes.

29 You know that he is the Just One: know then that anyone living justly is born of God.

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Comments Letter of 1 John, Chapter 2

• 2.1 Second criterion for love of God: to obey the commandments that are summarized in love. Do we perhaps pretend to know God and to believe? If so, it must be measured by the love we have for others.

An old commandment, because it is the first one we learned in the Church; a new command ment, because the world must constantly, and in new ways, discover the power of love.

• 15. Third criterion: not to love the world. Note how John begins by rejoicing with his readers because they know the Father. It is not a matter of hating the world that Christ came to save (see commentary on Jn 3:17). Yet the life and history of people manifest a deep alienation: this is the power of the evil spirit. John calls ¡°the world¡± all the evil current prevailing in it. According to John the world is the deceitful life which people live when they cease to seek the Father¡¯s will, and when they oppose Christ. Two contrary forces coexist in this world of ours and also in people: what comes from the Father and is forever; and what is planned and desired by humans when they forget their condition and dignity as children of God: greed and pride that lead them to death.

There is something more to say about this not loving the world. Even though all that comes from God is good: the sunlight, love, what emerges from human intelligence and hands, yet the whole creation is worth nothing if we compare it with God.

As long as we look upon the world as the great gift that God gave us and we feel accountable to him for its progress and development, the world is good for us. As soon as we consider the world as our thing, use it or ne glect it according to our fancy, or if we think we can change it alone and by force, it becomes our worst enemy, an idol that enslaves us and is the source of rivalries. Christians commit themselves to the world (first case) but not with the world (second case). They keep their freedom as children of God or they are no longer sons and daughters because of their love for the world.

• 18. Fourth criterion: to be sure we are walking in the Light, we must reject the antichrist and remain steadfast in the faith and in what faith teaches. The believers of John¡¯s days knew that before the glorious return of Christ, an antichrist would appear. John says: the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ already is an antichrist. Today there are still many people who make a distinction: on one hand the man Jesus, lost in the mist of legend and on the other hand an idealized Christ adored by believers. John says: ¡°The one who has come in history, he himself is eternal God.¡±

You received from him an anointing, and it remains in you. John not only speaks of the anointing of oil in baptism and confirmation. ¡°Christ¡± signifies pre cisely, ¡°he who is anointed,¡± and this anointing was the presence in him of the Spirit of God, his Father. John adds: ¡°You cannot receive passively just any instruction in the Church, but you must discern whether the word of God is being faithfully transmitted.¡±

His anointing (Spirit) teach es you all things. In writing that, John had in mind the prophets who were the animators of the churches: through their inspired words the Spirit taught the community (see Acts 14:2and 1Thes 5:19). Today the Spirit also maintains us in the truth through the leaders of the community and those who teach but we are not dispensed from seeking by ourselves the meaning of the Word and discerning what others tell us.