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¹ See what kind of love the Father has given us in letting us be called God's children! Yet that is what we are.[fn] For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him either.[xr] ² Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when Christ[fn] is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.[xr] ³ And everyone who has this hope based on him keeps himself pure, just as he is pure.[xr]

⁴ Everyone who keeps living in sin also practices disobedience. In fact, sin is disobedience.[xr] ⁵ You know that he was revealed to take away sins,[fn] and there is not any sin in him.[xr] ⁶ No one who remains in him goes on sinning. The one who goes on sinning hasn't seen him or known him.[xr] ⁷ Little children, don't let anyone deceive you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.[xr] ⁸ The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy the works of the devil.[xr] ⁹ No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's[fn] seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.[xr] ¹⁰ This is how God's children and the devil's children are distinguished.[fn] No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.[xr]

¹¹ This is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.[xr] ¹² Do not be like Cain,[fn] who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous.[xr] ¹³ So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.[xr]

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another. The person who does not love[fn] remains in death.[xr] ¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.[xr] ¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: Christ[fn] gave his life for us. We, too, ought to give our lives for our brothers.[xr] ¹⁷ Whoever has earthly possessions and notices a brother in need and yet withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in him?[xr] ¹⁸ Little children, we must stop loving in word and in tongue, but instead love[fn] in action[fn] and in truth.[xr] ¹⁹ And this is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to establish our hearts in his presence.[xr]

²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.[xr] ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in the presence of God.[xr] ²² Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.[xr]

²³ And this is his commandment: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.[xr] ²⁴ The person who keeps his commandments abides in God,[fn] and God abides in him.[fn] This is how we can be sure that he remains in us: he has given us his Spirit.[xr]