⁴¹ The men of Nineveh^(A) will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,^(B) and now something greater than Jonah is here.

⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a](A) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(B) were at work in us,^(C) so that we bore fruit for death.^(D)

¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God^(A) but considers them foolishness,^(B) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^{(B) 18} They are darkened in their understanding^(C) and separated from the life of God^(D) because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.^{(E) 19} Having lost all sensitivity,^(F) they have given themselves over^(G) to sensuality^(H) so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies^(A) in your minds^(B) because of^[a] your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled^(C) you by Christ’s physical body^(D) through death to present you^(E) holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation^(F)—

⁴ You adulterous^(A) people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world^(B) means enmity against God?^(C) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^(D)

On Not Loving the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world.^(A) If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them.^{(B) 16} For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh,^(C) the lust of the eyes,^(D) and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away,^(E) but whoever does the will of God^(F) lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour;^(G) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,^(H) even now many antichrists have come.^(I) This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us,^(J) but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.^(K)

²⁰ But you have an anointing^(L) from the Holy One,^(M) and all of you know the truth.^{[b](N) 21} I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it^(O) and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.^{(P) 23} No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.^(Q)

²⁴ As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning^(R) remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.^{(S) 25} And this is what he promised us—eternal life.^(T)

²⁶ I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.^{(U) 27} As for you, the anointing^(V) you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things^(W) and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.^(X)

God’s Children and Sin

²⁸ And now, dear children,^(Y) continue in him, so that when he appears^(Z) we may be confident^(AA) and unashamed before him at his coming.^(AB)

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous,^(AC) you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.^(AD)