God’s Children

28 So now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears p we may have boldness and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. q 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right r has been born of Him. s 3 1 Look at how great a love t the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the * world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. u We know that when He appears, we will be like Him v because we will see Him as He is. w 3 And everyone who has this hope x in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. y

4 Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; z sin is the breaking of law. 5 You know that He was revealed so that He might take away sins, a b and there is no sin in Him. c 6 Everyone who remains in Him d does not sin; e f everyone who g sins has not seen Him or known Him.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 The one who commits h sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God i was revealed j for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works. 9 Everyone who has been born of God k does not sin, l because His m seed n remains in him; he is not able to sin, o because he has been born of God. 10 This is how God’s children—and the Devil’s children—are made evident.

The Command to Love

Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother. p 11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, q who was of the evil one r and murdered s his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, * brothers, if the world hates t you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. u 15 Everyone who hates his brother v is a murderer, w and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Love in Action

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life x for us. y We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. z 17 If anyone has this world’s goods a and sees his brother in need b but closes his eyes c to his need—how can God’s love reside in him? d

18 Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. e 19 This is how we will know we belong to the truth f and will convince our conscience in His presence, 20 even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things. g

21 Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands h and do what is pleasing in His sight. 23 Now this is His command: that we believe in the name i of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, j and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us k is from the Spirit l He has given us.

The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits m to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has n come in the flesh o is from God. p 3 But every spirit who does not confess Jesus q is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; r you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you s is greater than the one who is in the world. t 5 They are from the * world. u Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; v anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. w

Knowing God through Love

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God x and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: y God sent z His * One and Only Son a into the world so that we might live b through Him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us c and sent His Son to be the d * propitiation e for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. f 12 No one has ever seen God. g h If we love one another, God remains in i us and His love is perfected in us.

13 This is how we know that we remain in Him j and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. k 14 And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son l as the world’s Savior. 15 Whoever confesses m n that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

17 In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, o for we are as He is in this world. p 18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, q because fear involves punishment. r So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. s 19 We love t because He first loved us. u

Keeping God’s Commands

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, v he is a liar. w For the person who does not love his brother x he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. y 21 And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the * Messiah has been born of God, z and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. 2 This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey a His commands. 3 For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, b 4 because whatever has been born of God conquers the * world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. 5 And who is the one who conquers the world c but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? d

The Certainty of God’s Testimony

6 Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water e and by blood. f And the Spirit is the One who testifies, g because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: h i 8 the Spirit, j the water, and the blood k—and these three are in agreement. 9 If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony l is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. 10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, m because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

12 The one who has the Son has life. n The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name o of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Effective Prayer

14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask p anything according to His will, He hears us. q 15 And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, r we know that we have what we have asked Him for. s

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God t will give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin u that brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death.

Conclusion

18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the One v who is born of God keeps him, w x y and the evil one does not touch him.

19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

20 And we know that the Son of God has come z and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. a We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. b He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

2 John

Greeting

The Elder: a

To the elect b lady c and her children: I love all of you in the truth—and not only I, but also all who have come to know the truth d— 2 because of the truth that remains in us e and will be with us forever.

3 Grace, mercy, and peace f will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son g of the Father, in truth and love. h

Truth and Deception

4 I was very glad to find some of your children * walking in the truth, i in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. 5 So now I urge you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. j 6 And this is love: k that we walk according to His commands. l This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love. m

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. n o This is the deceiver and the antichrist. p 8 Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we q have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. r 9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching s but goes beyond it, does not have God. t The one who remains u in that teaching, this one has both the Father v and the Son. w 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive x him into your home, and don’t say, “Welcome,” to him; 11 for the one who says, “Welcome,” to him shares y in his evil works. z

Farewell

12 Though I have many things to write to you, a I don’t want to do so with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to be with you and talk face to face b so that our joy c may be complete.

13 The children of your elect sister send you greetings.

3 John

Greeting

The Elder: a

To my dear friend b Gaius: I love you in the truth. c

2 Dear friend, d I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health physically e just as you are spiritually. f 3 For I was very glad when some * brothers came and testified g to your faithfulness to the truth—how you are * walking in the truth. h 4 I have no greater joy i than this: to hear that my children j are walking in the truth.

Gaius Commended

5 Dear friend, k you are showing faithfulness l by whatever you do for the brothers, especially when they are strangers. 6 They have testified to your love in front of the church. m You will do well to send them on their journey n in a manner worthy of God, o 7 since they set out for the sake of the Name, p accepting nothing from pagans. q 8 Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we can be coworkers with r the truth.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, s does not receive us. t 10 This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering u us with malicious words. And he is not satisfied with that! He not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

11 Dear friend, v do not imitate what is evil, w but what is good. The one who does good is of God; x the one who does evil has not seen God. y 12 Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. And we also testify for him, and you know z that our testimony is true. a

Farewell

13 I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. b

Peace be with you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.