1 John 3
International Children’s Bible
We Are God’s Children
3 The Father has loved us so much! He loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are his children. But the people in the world do not understand that we are God’s children, because they have not known him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God. We have not yet been shown what we will be in the future. But we know that when Christ comes again, we will be like him. We will see him as he really is. 3 Christ is pure. And every person who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure like Christ.
4 When a person sins, he breaks God’s law. Yes, sinning is the same as living against God’s law. 5 You know that Christ came to take away sins. There is no sin in Christ. 6 So the person who lives in Christ does not go on sinning. If he goes on sinning, he has never really understood Christ and has never known him.
7 Dear children, do not let any person lead you the wrong way. Christ is righteous. To be like Christ, a person must do what is right. 8 The devil has been sinning since the beginning. Anyone who continues to sin belongs to the devil. The Son of God came for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s work.
9 When God makes someone his child, that person does not go on sinning. The new life God gave that person stays in him. So he is not able to go on sinning, because he has become a child of God. 10 So we can see who God’s children are and who the devil’s children are. Those who do not do what is right are not children of God. And anyone who does not love his brother is not a child of God.
We Must Love Each Other
11 This is the teaching you have heard from the beginning: We must love each other. 12 Do not be like Cain who belonged to the Evil One. Cain killed his brother. He killed his brother because the things Cain did were evil, and the things his brother did were good.
13 Brothers, do not be surprised when the people of this world hate you. 14 We know that we have left death and have come into life. We know this because we love our brothers in Christ. Whoever does not love is still in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.[a] And you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16 This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us. So we should give our lives for our brothers. 17 Suppose a believer is rich enough to have all that he needs. He sees his brother in Christ who is poor and does not have what he needs. What if the believer does not help the poor brother? Then the believer does not have God’s love in his heart. 18 My children, our love should not be only words and talk. Our love must be true love. And we should show that love by what we do.
19-20 This is the way we know that we belong to the way of truth. When our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace before God. God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 My dear friends, if we do not feel that we are doing wrong, we can be without fear when we come to God. 22 And God gives us the things we ask for. We receive these things because we obey God’s commands, and we do what pleases him. 23 This is what God commands: that we believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love each other, just as he commanded. 24 The person who obeys God’s commands lives in God. And God lives in him. How do we know that God lives in us? We know because of the Spirit whom God gave us.
Footnotes
- 3:15 Everyone . . . murderer. If a person hates his brother in Christ, then in his mind he has killed his brother. Jesus taught about this sin to his followers (Matthew 5:21–26).
1 John 3
Darby Translation
3 See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called [the] children of God. For this reason the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as *he* is pure.
4 Every one that practises sin practises also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
5 And ye know that *he* has been manifested that he might take away our sins; and in him sin is not.
6 Whoever abides in him, does not sin: whoever sins, has not seen him or known him.
7 Children, let no man lead you astray; he that practises righteousness is righteous, even as *he* is righteous.
8 He that practises sin is of the devil; for from [the] beginning the devil sins. To this end the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil.
9 Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.
10 In this are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil. Whoever does not practise righteousness is not of God, and he who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message which ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another:
12 not as Cain was of the wicked one, and slew his brother; and on account of what slew he him? because his works were wicked, and those of his brother righteous.
13 Do not wonder, brethren, if the world hate you.
14 *We* know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love [his] brother abides in death.
15 Every one that hates his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby we have known love, because *he* has laid down his life for us; and *we* ought for the brethren to lay down [our] lives.
17 But whoso may have the world's substance, and see his brother having need, and shut up his bowels from him, how abides the love of God in him?
18 Children, let us not love with word, nor with tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before him—
20 that if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God,
22 and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments, and practise the things which are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, even as he has given us commandment.
24 And he that keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given to us.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
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