1 John 3:11–24

Love One Another

¹¹For ^vthis is the message that you have heard from the beginning, ^wthat we should love one another. ¹²We should not be like ^xCain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ^yBecause his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers,^{3 z}that the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that ^awe have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ^15bEveryone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^cno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶By this we know love, that ^dhe laid down his life for us, and ^ewe ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But ^fif anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet ^gcloses his heart against him, ^hhow does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not ⁱlove in word or talk but in deed and ^jin truth.

¹⁹By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; ²⁰for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. ²¹Beloved, ^kif our heart does not condemn us, ^lwe have confidence before God; ²²and ^mwhatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and ⁿdo what pleases him. ²³And this is his commandment, ^othat we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and ^plove one another, ^qjust as he has commanded us. ^24rWhoever keeps his commandments abides in God,⁴ and God⁵ in him. And ^sby this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.