1 JohnChapter 3

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¹See how great a love the Father has given us! He lets us be called children of God. And that is what we are! The world does not know us because it did not know him. ²Dear friends, we are God's children now. What we will be has not yet been shown. But we know that when Christ appears, we will be like him. For we will see him as he really is. ³Everyone who has this hope in him makes himself pure, just as Christ is pure. ⁴Everyone who keeps on sinning also breaks God's law. In fact, sin is breaking God's law. ⁵But you know that Christ came to take away sins. And there is no sin in him. ⁶No one who stays in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, do not let anyone fool you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. ⁸The one who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil. The devil has been sinning from the very start. That is why the Son of God came. He came to destroy the devil's work. ⁹Anyone born of God will not keep on sinning, because God's seed lives in him. He cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰Here is how you can tell God's children from the devil's children. Anyone who does not do what is right is not from God. And anyone who does not love his brother or sister is not from God either. ¹¹Here is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹²Do not be like Cain. He belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain kill him? Because Cain's own deeds were evil, and his brother's deeds were right. ¹³So do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love is still in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life living in him. ¹⁶Here is how we know what love is: Jesus gave up his life for us. So we should give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷Say someone has money and things in this world. He sees a brother or sister in need. But he shuts his heart and does not care. Then how can God's love live in him? ¹⁸Little children, let's not love just with words or talk. Let's love by what we do and in truth. ¹⁹This is how we will know that we belong to the truth. And this is how we will put our hearts at rest when we stand before him: ²⁰Even if our hearts blame us, God is greater than our hearts. He knows all things. ²¹Dear friends, if our hearts do not blame us, we can come to God boldly. ²²And we will receive from him whatever we ask. For we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³And here is his command: We should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. And we should love one another, just as he told us to. ²⁴Whoever keeps his commands lives in God, and God lives in him. And here is how we know he lives in us. We know it by the Spirit he has given us.