¹See ywhat kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called zchildren of God; and so we are. The reason why athe world does not know us is that bit did not know him. ²Beloved, we are zGod's children cnow, and what we will be dhas not yet appeared; but we know that ewhen he appears1 fwe shall be like him, because gwe shall see him as he is. ³And everyone who hthus hopes in him ipurifies himself as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; jsin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that khe appeared in order to ltake away sins, and min him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; nno one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, olet no one deceive you. pWhoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸qWhoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was rto destroy the works of the devil. ⁹sNo one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's2 seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, tnor is the one who udoes not love his brother.

Love One Another

¹¹For vthis is the message that you have heard from the beginning, wthat we should love one another. ¹²We should not be like xCain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? yBecause his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers,3 zthat the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that awe have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵bEveryone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that cno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶By this we know love, that dhe laid down his life for us, and ewe ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But fif anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet gcloses his heart against him, hhow does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not ilove in word or talk but in deed and jin truth.

¹⁹By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹Beloved, kif our heart does not condemn us, lwe have confidence before God; ²²and mwhatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ndo what pleases him. ²³And this is his commandment, othat we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and plove one another, qjust as he has commanded us. ²⁴rWhoever keeps his commandments abides in God,4 and God5 in him. And sby this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.