1See what great love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of ¹⁷God! The reason the world does not know ¹⁸you is that it did not know him.

2Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. But we know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

3Everyone who places this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

4Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

5But you know that he appeared in order to take away ¹⁹our sins, and in him there is no sin.

6No one who abides in him continues in sin; no one who continues in sin has either seen him or known him.

7²⁰Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

8Whoever practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

9No one who has been born of God continues in sin, because God's seed abides in him; he cannot continue in sin, because he has been born of God.

10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

Love One Another

11For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

12We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but the deeds of his brother were righteous.

13Do not be surprised, ²¹my brothers, if the world hates you.

14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love ²²his brother abides in death.

15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16By this we know ²³love, that he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

17If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

18²⁴My little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth.

19By this ²⁵we know that we are of the truth and can reassure our hearts before him:

20If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.

21Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn ²⁶us, we have confidence before God

22and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in his sight.

23And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he ²⁷commanded.

24Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God abides in him. And we know that he abides in us because of the Spirit he has given us.