1 Seeych. 4:10; John 3:16 what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be calledzJohn 1:12 children of God; and so we are. The reason whya[ch. 4:17] the world does not know us is thatbJohn 16:3; 17:25 it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we arez[See ver. 1 above] God's childrencRom. 8:15; Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:5 now, and what we will bed[Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17] has not yet appeared; but we know thatech. 2:28 when he appears1Or when it appearsfRom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:11; Phil. 3:21; 2 Pet. 1:4 we shall be like him, becausegJohn 17:24; 1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. 22:4 we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone whohRom. 15:12 thus hopes in himi2 Cor. 7:1 purifies himself as he is pure.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness;j[ch. 5:17; Rom. 4:15] sin is lawlessness. 5 You know thatkHeb. 9:26; See ch. 1:2 he appeared tol[Isa. 53:11, 12] take away sins, andmSee 1 Pet. 2:22 in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;nch. 2:4; 4:8; 3 John 11 no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children,och. 2:26 let no one deceive you.pch. 2:29 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 qMatt. 13:38; John 8:44 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared wasrHeb. 2:14; [Gen. 3:15; Luke 10:18; John 16:11] to destroy the works of the devil. 9 sch. 5:18 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God,tch. 4:8 nor is the one whouch. 4:20, 21 does not love his brother.
11 Forvch. 1:5; 2:24 this is the message that you have heard from the beginning,wSee John 13:34 that we should love one another. 12 We should not be likexGen. 4:4, 8; Heb. 11:4; Jude 11 Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him?yPs. 38:20; Prov. 29:10 Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,zJohn 15:18; 17:14 that the world hates you. 14 We know thataJohn 5:24 we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 bMatt. 5:21, 22 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know thatcGal. 5:21; Rev. 21:8 no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, thatdSee John 15:13 he laid down his life for us, ande[Phil. 2:17] we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 ButfJames 2:15, 16 if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yetgDeut. 15:7 closes his heart against him,h[ch. 4:20] how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us notiEzek. 33:31; Eph. 4:15 love in word or talk but in deed andj2 John 1; 3 John 1 in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved,k[1 Cor. 4:4] if our heart does not condemn us,lch. 5:14; [Job 11:15; 22:26; Rom. 14:22] we have confidence before God; 22 andmSee Matt. 7:7 whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments andnJohn 8:29 do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment,oJohn 6:29; [Acts 18:8] that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ andpver. 11 love one another,q[ch. 2:8] just as he has commanded us. 24 r[John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5; 17:21] Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. Andsch. 4:13; Rom. 8:9 by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.