Notice the similarities between the opening of this letter and the first part of John's Gospel. They may both have been written some sixty years after the birth of the early church - at a time when some of the early zeal seems to have been evaporating. One of John's reasons for writing was to deal with some dangerous false teachings. Some teachers doubted that Jesus could be both God and human. They believed all physical things to be evil so Jesus could not have been really human.
Wrong belief leads to wrong actions or complacency.
No one is beyond sin but this does not allow us to excuse it or pretend it doesn't exist. The genius of the Gospel is that it offers forgiveness to sinners while treating their sin with the utmost seriousness. PRAY Ask God to keep you from being deceived about his Son, about yourself and about his forgiveness.