1 John 3

See what great love^g the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^h And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.ⁱ Dear friends,^j now we are children of God,^k and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^l we shall be like him,^m for we shall see him as he is.ⁿ All who have this hope in him purify themselves,^o just as he is pure.^p

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.^q But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^r And in him is no sin.^s No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.^t No one who continues to sin has either seen him^u or known him.^v

Dear children,^w do not let anyone lead you astray.^x The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^y The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^z because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^a appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^b Those who are born of God^c will not continue to sin,^d because God’s seed^e remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God^f are and who the children of the devil^g are: Those who do not do what is right are not God’s children; nor are those who do not love^h their brothers and sisters.ⁱ

More on Love and Hatred

For this is the message you heard^a from the beginning:^b We should love one another.^c Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^d and murdered his brother.^e And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^f Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.^g We know that we have passed from death to life,^h because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.ⁱ Anyone who hates a fellow believer^j is a murderer,^k and you know that no murderers have eternal life in them.^l

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^m And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.ⁿ If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^o how can the love of God be in you?^p Dear children,^q let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.^r

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends,^s if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God^t and receive from him anything we ask,^u because we keep his commands^v and do what pleases him.^w And this is his command: to believe^x in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^y and to love one another as he commanded us.^z Those who keep his commands^a live in him,^b and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.^c