Chapter 3

Children of God Love One Another

1 See 1ahow great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called bchildren of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because cit did not know Him.

2 aBeloved, now we are bchildren of God, and cit has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He dappears, we will be elike Him, because we will fsee Him just as He is.

3 And everyone who has this ahope fixed on Him bpurifies himself, just as He is pure.

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

5 You know that He aappeared in order to btake away sins; and cin Him there is no sin.

6 No one who abides in Him asins; no one who sins has seen Him or 1bknows Him.

7 aLittle children, make sure no one bdeceives you; cthe one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;

8 the one who practices sin is aof the devil; for the devil 1has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God cappeared for this purpose, dto destroy the works of the devil.

9 No one who is 1aborn of God bpractices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is 1born of God.

10 By this the achildren of God and the bchildren of the devil are obvious: 1anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who cdoes not love his dbrother.

11 aFor this is the message bwhich you have heard from the beginning, cthat we should love one another;

12 not as aCain, who was of bthe evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because chis deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

13 Do not be surprised, brethren, if athe world hates you.

14 We know that we have apassed out of death into life, bbecause we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

15 Everyone who ahates his brother is a murderer; and you know that bno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 We know love by this, that aHe laid down His life for us; and bwe ought to lay down our lives for the cbrethren.

17 But awhoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and bcloses his 1heart 2against him, chow does the love of God abide in him?

18 aLittle children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and btruth.

19 We will know by this that we are aof the truth, and will 1assure our heart before Him

20 1in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

21 aBeloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have bconfidence 1before God;

22 and awhatever we ask we receive from Him, because we bkeep His commandments and do cthe things that are pleasing in His sight.

23 This is His commandment, that we 1abelieve in bthe name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as cHe 2commanded us.

24 The one who akeeps His commandments babides in Him, and He in him. cWe know by this that dHe abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Chapter 4

Testing the Spirits

1 aBeloved, do not believe every bspirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because cmany false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: aevery spirit that bconfesses that cJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

3 and every spirit that adoes not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the bantichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and cnow it is already in the world.

4 You are from God, alittle children, and bhave overcome them; because cgreater is He who is in you than dhe who is in the world.

5 aThey are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.

6 aWe are from God; bhe who knows God listens to us; che who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know dthe spirit of truth and ethe spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 aBeloved, let us blove one another, for love is from God; and ceveryone who loves is 1dborn of God and eknows God.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for aGod is love.

9 By this the love of God was manifested 1ain us, that bGod has sent His 2only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love, anot that we loved God, but that bHe loved us and sent His Son to be cthe propitiation for our sins.

11 aBeloved, if God so loved us, bwe also ought to love one another.

12 aNo one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His blove is perfected in us.

13 aBy this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

14 We have seen and atestify that the Father has bsent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 aWhoever confesses that bJesus is the Son of God, God cabides in him, and he in God.

16 aWe have come to know and have believed the love which God has 1bfor us. cGod is love, and the one who dabides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this, alove is perfected with us, so that we may have bconfidence in cthe day of judgment; because das He is, so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but aperfect love casts out fear, because fear 1involves punishment, and the one who fears is not bperfected in love.

19 aWe love, because He first loved us.

20 aIf someone says, “I love God,” and bhates his brother, he is a cliar; for dthe one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ecannot love God whom he has not seen.

21 And athis commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God bshould love his brother also.