I write to you, my children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong; the word of God lives in you, and you have defeated the Evil One.

Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

If we obey God's commands, then we are sure that we know him.

If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us.

We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God---in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.

God says, "I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

"Where is your father?" they asked him. "You know neither me nor my Father," Jesus answered. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

Now that you have known me," he said to them, "you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him."

And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it.

Before you created the hills or brought the world into being, you were eternally God, and will be God forever.

I write to you, my children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who has existed from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong; the word of God lives in you, and you have defeated the Evil One.

young women and young men, old people and children too.

We admire the strength of youth and respect the gray hair of age.

"Afterward I will pour out my Spirit on everyone: your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old people will have dreams, and your young people will see visions.

How good and beautiful the land will be! The young people will grow strong on its grain and wine.

In the same way urge the young men to be self-controlled.

But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.

because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith.

Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power.

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that other believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings.

We must not be like Cain; he belonged to the Evil One and murdered his own brother Abel. Why did Cain murder him? Because the things he himself did were wrong, and the things his brother did were right.

We know that no children of God keep on sinning, for the Son of God keeps them safe, and the Evil One cannot harm them.

Those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them.

the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One;

I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf---Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

I write to you, my children, because your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

Jesus answered, "If I were to honor myself, that honor would be worth nothing. The one who honors me is my Father---the very one you say is your God.

You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word.

Now that you have known me," he said to them, "you will know my Father also, and from now on you do know him and you have seen him."

Jesus answered, "For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, 'Show us the Father'?

People will do these things to you because they have not known either the Father or me.

I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!" is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ.