1 John 5 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Greetings from Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.

² All mercy, peace, and love be yours.

³ Grace (kindness), mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from his Son, Jesus Christ. We receive these blessings through truth and love.

⁴ I was very happy to learn about some of your children. I am happy that they are following the way of truth, like the Father (God) commanded us.

⁵ And now, dear lady, {\cf2\super [4]} I tell you: We should all love each other. This is not a new command. It is the same command we had from the beginning.

⁶ And loving means living the way he commanded us to live. And God’s command is this: that you live a life of love. You heard this command from the beginning.

⁷ So there are three witnesses that tell us \{about Jesus\}:

⁸ the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three witnesses agree.

⁹ We believe people when they say something is true. But what God says is more important. And this is what God told us: He told us the truth about his own Son.

¹⁰ When I come, I will talk about what Diotrephes is doing. He lies and says evil things about us. But that is not all he does! He refuses to help those brothers \{who are working to serve Christ\}. Diotrephes also stops those people who want to help the brothers. He makes those people leave the church (group of believers).

¹¹ This is what God told us: God has given us eternal life. And this eternal life is in his Son (Jesus).

¹² All the people say good things about Demetrius. And the truth {\cf2\super [5]} agrees with what they say. Also, we say good about him. And you know that what we say is true.

¹³ The children of your sister {\cf2\super [5]} who was chosen by God send you their love.

¹⁴ I hope to visit you soon. Then we can be together and talk.

¹⁵ Peace to you. The friends (believers) here with me send their love. Please give our love to each one of the friends there.

¹⁶ These people always complain and find wrong \{in other people\}. They always do the \{evil\} things they want to do. They boast about themselves. The only reason they say good things about other people is to get what they want.

¹⁷ Dear friends, remember what the apostles {\cf2\super [8]} of our Lord Jesus Christ said before.

¹⁸ We know that any person who has been made God’s child does not continue to sin. The Son of God keeps God’s child safe. {\cf2\super [22]} The Evil One (the devil) cannot hurt that person.

¹⁹ These are the people who divide you. These people do only what their sinful selves want. They don’t have the Spirit. {\cf2\super [9]}

²⁰ But, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up strong. Pray with the Holy Spirit. {\cf2\super [10]}

²¹ Keep yourselves in God’s love. Wait for the Lord Jesus Christ with his mercy to give you life forever.