Study Desk

But if we live in the light—just as he is in the light—then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.

But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make a liar out of God, and his word is not in us.

If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us.

But if we obey his word, we are the ones whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit's teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ.

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

We must not be like Cain; he belonged to the Evil One and murdered his own brother Abel. Why did Cain murder him? Because the things he himself did were wrong, and the things his brother did were right.

This is how we know what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for others!

We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

What he commands is that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as Christ commanded us.

And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.

This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit.

And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God; and whoever loves a father loves his child also.

This is how we know that we love God's children: it is by loving God and obeying his commands.

For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us,

Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth.