1See what great love3:1 Or what sort of love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.
2Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.3:2 2Co 4:11; 1Pt 5:4; 1Jn 2:28 We know that when he appears,3:2 Or when it appears we will be like him3:2 Rm 8:29; 1Co 15:49; 2Co 3:18; Php 3:21; 2Pt 1:4 because we will see him as he is.3:2 1Co 13:12; Heb 12:14; Rv 22:4
4Everyone who commits sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
7Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
8The one who commits3:8 Or practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God3:8 Mk 1:11 was revealed3:8 Jn 21:1; 2Co 4:11; 1Pt 5:4; 1Jn 5:20 for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works.
Love in Action
11For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another,
14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.3:14 Jn 8:51
15Everyone who hates his brother or sister3:15 1Jn 2:9,11; 4:20 is a murderer,3:15 Mt 5:21–22; Jn 8:44 and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life3:16 Jn 10:11,14,17–18; 13:37–38; 15:13 for us.3:16 Is 53:10; Mk 10:45 We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.3:16 Mk 8:34–35; 1Co 11:1; Php 2:5–8
17If anyone has this world’s goods3:17 Mk 12:44; Lk 15:12; 1Jn 2:16 and sees a fellow believer3:17 Lit sees his brother or sister in need3:17 Ac 2:45 but withholds compassion3:17 2Co 7:15 from him — how does God’s love reside in him?3:17 Jms 2:15–16; 1Jn 2:5
18Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.3:18 Mt 7:21; Jn 13:34–35; 15:12–17; Jms 1:22–25; 2:14–17
21Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence before God
22and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands3:22 Mk 7:8; Jn 14:15; 1Jn 2:3; 5:2 and do what is pleasing in his sight.
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