18 My children! let us love not by word or language, but by deed and truth. (A call to brotherly love, «brothers» means supporters).
19 And this is how we know that we are from the truth, and we calm our hearts before him; (The statement that Jesus Christ is the truth, his supporters are «from the truth,» therefore they calm down).
20 For if our heart condemns us, then [more than God], because God is greater than our heart and knows everything. (Yahweh knows everything).
21 Beloved ones! if our heart does not condemn us, then we have boldness towards God, (the ancient idea that a person thinks with his heart).
22 And whatever we ask, we will receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing to him. (If, they say, we behave well, then Jesus will reward us: Talion’s rule).
23 But his commandment is that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he commanded us. (The main thing is faith and love «in the name of His Son Jesus Christ», the fulfillment of the commandments).
24 And whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he is in him. And we know that He abides in us by the spirit that He has given us. (Keeping the commandments is the main condition of nascent Christianity).
Chapter 4
1 Beloved! do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world. (There are also «wrong» spirits, that is, people who suggest something that is not beneficial to certain circles in the nascent Christian church).
2 Recognize the Spirit of God (and the spirit of error) in this way: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, is from God; (It is necessary to «check" the spirits»).
3 And every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, is not of God, but it is the spirit of the antichrist, of whom you have heard that he will come and is now already in the world. (It is necessary to «check" the spirits.» The Antichrist was also created by God the father, from a religious point of view).
4 Kids! You are of God, and you have overcome them; for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (The statement that these children are «from God» who will overcome the «wrong» spirits, «for the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world»).
5 They are of the world, therefore they speak in the world, and the world listens to them. (Those who are from the world are «wrong»).
6 We are of God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not of God does not listen to us. By this we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (Those who are «from God» are «right»).
7 Beloved! let us love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (Propaganda of love).
8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. (The statement that God is love).
9 God’s love for us was revealed in the fact that God sent his only Begotten Son into the world so that we would receive life through him. (God Yahweh has an «only begotten son» whom he sent into the world. Personification of the gods).
10 This is love, that we did not love God, but he loved us and sent his Son to propitiate for our sins. (Yahweh sent his son to the slaughter to atone for the sins of all people. «It was inherent in all ancient religions that a sin before the deity should be redeemed by a propitiatory sacrifice. And every single person could not help but realize that he was „not without sin.“ The righteous Job had to agree with his opponents that „one born of a woman“ cannot be completely pure before God (Job 25:5). But let us remember that the same Job laid the blame for this on the creator of people: „Is it good for you that you oppress, that you despise the work of your hands?“ (10:3). God himself, who created them, is to blame for the imperfection of people. God was not justified before Job. In Christianity, God was justified. He justified himself by offering a great redemptive sacrifice – his „only begotten“ son – for the „unclean“ and sinful humanity that he had created. With this sacrifice, God redeemed the sins of people, but also his guilt. Redeemed… to whom? In front of you? Illogic? Of course! But, as Engels rightly observes, „in the sacrificial death of its founder, Christianity created an easily understandable form of inner salvation from a corrupt world, consolation in consciousness, which everyone so passionately aspired to,“ and thus Christianity „proved its ability to become a world religion – moreover, a religion that corresponds just to this world.“ This act – a kind of self – justification of the deity – in Christianity, in essence, ended the process of theodicy, the justification of God. God has opened a „way out“ and a „way to salvation“ for suffering humanity.» – writes M. I. Riszski «Biblical Prophets and Biblical Prophecies», pp. 327—328).
11 Beloved! if God has loved us so much, then we should love each other too. (Talion’s rule, God has loved, then it is impossible not to love him).
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, then God abides in us, and His love is perfect in us. («No one has ever seen God,» the author claims, so there is no God! And people love each other without any gods).
13 That we abide in him and he in us, we learn from what he has given us from his Spirit. («The presence of someone in something» is possible only by suggestion – «Spirit»).
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. (Personification of the gods: God the father and God the son).
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he is in God. (It is necessary to assert that «Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he is in God»).
16 And we have known the love that God has for us, and have believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (God is love).
17 Love reaches such perfection in us that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because we act in this world like him. (God is love).
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because there is torment in fear. The one who is afraid is imperfect in love. (God is love).
19 Let us love him, because he first loved us. (God is love).
20 Whoever says, «I love God,» but hates his brother, is a liar: for he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? (It is necessary, in addition to loving God, to love your fellow brothers).
21 And we have such a commandment from him that he who loves God should also love his brother. (It is necessary, in addition to loving God, to love your fellow brothers).
Chapter 5
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the one who gave birth also loves the one born of him. (An indication of who is considered a believer, those. who believes that «Jesus is the Christ, born of God, and everyone who loves the One who gave birth also loves the One born of Him»).
2 That we love the children of God, we learn from when we love God and keep his commandments. (The «Children of God» are obliged to love Yahweh and observe the commandments of God, that is, the Jewish guidelines-laws).
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not hard. (The love of God is the observance of the commandments of God, that is, Jewish attitudes-laws).
4 For whosoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. (Faith is suggestion, and then self—suggestion, the «children of God» are fellow brothers of the nascent Christianity).
5 Who