1 John 3

1See what great love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God—and that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

2Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

3Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies themselves, just as he is pure.

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

5You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

6No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him.

7Little children, do not let anyone deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.

8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil.

9No one who has been born of God practices sin, because his seed remains in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.

10This is how the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love their brother or sister.

11For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.

12We must not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

13Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

14We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love our brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love remains in death.

15Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in them.

16This is how we have come to know love: he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

17But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need, yet closes their heart against them, how can the love of God remain in that person?

18Little children, let us not love with words or with the tongue, but with actions and in truth.

19This is how we will know that we are of the truth, and how we will reassure our hearts before him

20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

22and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

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.

24Whoever keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he has given us.