1Look at what great love the Father has given us. He lets us be called the sons of God. That is why the world does not know us: because it did not know him.
2Dear friends, we are the sons of God now. What we will be has not been shown yet. But we know that, when he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.
3And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself pure, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins also breaks the law, for sin is the breaking of the law.
5And you know that he appeared to take away our sins. There is no sin in him.
6No one who remains in him goes on sinning. Anyone who sins has not seen him, and has not known him.
7Little children, let no one lead you astray. The one who does righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8The one who sins belongs to the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this reason: to destroy the works of the devil.
9No one who is born of God goes on sinning, because God's seed stays in him. He cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10This is how the children of God and the children of the devil are seen. Anyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother.
11For this is the message you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another.
12Not like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
13My brothers and sisters, do not be surprised if the world hates you.
14We know that we have passed from death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love his brother stays in death.
15Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life staying in him.
16This is how we know what love is: he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.
17But suppose someone has the good things of this world, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him. How can the love of God live in him?
18My little children, let us not love with words or with the tongue, but in action and in truth.
19This is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we will set our hearts at rest before him.
20For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence before God.
22And whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that please him.
23And this is his commandment: that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he commanded us.
24The one who keeps his commandments lives in him, and he in that person. And this is how we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he has given us.