Study Desk

See what great love^(a) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(b) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^(c)

Dear friends,^(d) now we are children of God,^(e) and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a](f) we shall be like him,^(g) for we shall see him as he is.^(h)

All who have this hope in him purify themselves,⁽ⁱ⁾ just as he is pure.^(j)

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.^(k)

But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^(l) And in him is no sin.^(m)

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.⁽ⁿ⁾ No one who continues to sin has either seen him^(o) or known him.^(p)

Dear children,^(q) do not let anyone lead you astray.^(r) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^(s)

The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(t) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(u) appeared was to destroy the devil's work.^(v)

No one who is born of God^(w) will continue to sin,^(x) because God's seed^(y) 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^(z) are and who the children of the devil^(aa) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love^(ab) their brother and sister.^(ac)

More on Love and Hatred

For this is the message you heard^(ad) from the beginning:^(ae) We should love one another.^(af)

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(ag) and murdered his brother.^(ah) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.^(ai)

Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[b] if the world hates you.^(aj)

We know that we have passed from death to life,^(ak) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^(al)

Anyone who hates a brother or sister^(am) is a murderer,^(an) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.^(ao)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(ap) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^(aq)

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^(ar) how can the love of God be in that person?^(as)

Dear children,^(at) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(au)

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,^(av) if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God^(aw)

and receive from him anything we ask,^(ax) because we keep his commands^(ay) and do what pleases him.^(az)

And this is his command: to believe^(ba) in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^(bb) and to love one another as he commanded us.^(bc)

The one who keeps God's commands^(bd) lives in him,^(be) and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.^(bf)