1 John 3

₁ See what great love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we may be called “children of God”—and that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is because it did not know Him. ₂ Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we shall be just like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ₃ And every person who has this hope purifies themselves in Him, just as He is pure.

₄ Every person who commits sin also commits lawlessness: for sin is lawlessness. ₅ You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and there is no sin in Him. ₆ Every person who abides in Him does not continue to sin; every person who continues sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him.

₇ Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts righteously is righteous, just as He is righteous. ₈ The person who commits sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ₉ Every person who has been born of God does not continue to sin, because His seed abides in them and they cannot sin because they have been born of God. ₁₀ The children of God and the children of the devil are manifest in this way: every person who does not act righteously and does not love their brother or sister is not of God.

₁₁ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another. ₁₂ Not like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, but those of his brother were righteous.

₁₃ Don’t be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ₁₄ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters; the person who does not love remains in death. ₁₅ Every person who hates their brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in them. ₁₆ This is how we know love: that He laid down his life for us; thus, we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ₁₇ How can the love of God abide in the person who has worldly goods and sees their brother or sister in need and yet refuses to show them compassion? ₁₈ Little children, let us not love only in word or speech, but in action and truth.

₁₉ And this is how we will know that we are of the truth, and we will reassure our heart before Him ₂₀ whenever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows everything. ₂₁ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, ₂₂ and whatever we ask we receive from Him because we are keeping His commandments and doing what pleases him.

₂₃ And this is His commandment: that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we love one another as He commanded us. ₂₄ And the person who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in them; and this is how we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He has given us.