¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned,^(A) but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.^{(B) 19} This is the verdict: Light^(C) has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.^{(D) 20} Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.^{(E) 21} But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience,^(A) so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.^(B)

⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(A) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(B) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(C) 9} No one who is born of God^(D) will continue to sin,^(E) because God’s seed^(F) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(G) are and who the children of the devil^(H) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(I) their brother and sister.^(J)