3 See what great loveC 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.t We know that when he appears,D we will be like himu because we will see him as he is.v 3 And everyone who has this hopew in him purifies himself just as he is pure.x

4 Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins,E,y and there is no sin in him.z 6 Everyone who remains in himaa does not sin;F,ab everyone who sinsG 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 commitsH sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of Godac was revealedad for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works. 9 Everyone who has been born of Godae does not sin,I because his seedaf remains in him; he is not able to sin,J because he has been born of God. 10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.ag

LOVE IN ACTION

11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain,ah who was of the evil oneai and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.