Study Desk

Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

For no prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.

Consider also that our Lord's patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.

And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to 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.

Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God's seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.

By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.