Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers

³ We know^(A) that we have come to know him^(B) if we keep his commands.^{(C) 4} Whoever says, “I know him,”^(D) but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.^{(E) 5} But if anyone obeys his word,^(F) love for God^[a] is truly made complete in them.^(G) This is how we know^(H) we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.^(I)

⁷ Dear friends,^(J) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(K) This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command;^(L) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing^(M) and the true light^(N) is already shining.^(O)

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[b](P) is still in the darkness.^{(Q) 10} Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[c] lives in the light,^(R) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.^{(S) 11} But anyone who hates a brother or sister^(T) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.^(U) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.^(V)

¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(A) are and who the children of the devil^(B) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(C) their brother and sister.^(D)

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(E) from the beginning:^(F) We should love one another.^{(G) 12} Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(H) and murdered his brother.^(I) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^{(J) 13} Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if the world hates you.^{(K) 14} We know that we have passed from death to life,^(L) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^{(M) 15} Anyone who hates a brother or sister^(N) is a murderer,^(O) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.^(P)