Study Desk

If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.

If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God's love be in that person?

But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

If someone says, "I love God," but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

And Jesus Christ was revealed as God's Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.

If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.

All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.

Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

I have much more to say to you, but I don't want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete.

I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us.

I have much more to say to you, but I don't want to write it with pen and ink.

Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.

So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful.