1 John 3:11–24

God is Love, so Love One Another

¹¹For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, ¹²not as Cain, who was of the evil one and violently murdered his brother. And for what reason^a did he violently murder him? Because his deeds were evil and the deeds of his brother were righteous.

¹³Do not marvel,^b brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life residing in him. ¹⁶We have come to know love by this: that he^c laid down his life on behalf of us, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers. ¹⁷But whoever has the world’s material possessions and observes his brother in need^d and shuts his heart against him, how does the love of God reside in him?

¹⁸Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. ¹⁹By this^e we know that we are of the truth and will convince our heart before him, ²⁰that^f if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart and knows all things. ²¹Dear friends, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God, ²²and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in his sight^g. ²³And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us^h. ²⁴And the one who keeps his commandments resides in him, and he in him. And by this we know that he resides in us: by the Spirit whom he has given to us.