⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.^{(A) 5} But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^(B) And in him is no sin.^{(C) 6} No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.^(D) No one who continues to sin has either seen him^(E) or known him.^(F)

⁷ Dear children,^(G) do not let anyone lead you astray.^(H) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^{(I) 8} The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(J) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(K) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(L) 9} No one who is born of God^(M) will continue to sin,^(N) because God’s seed^(O) 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^(P) are and who the children of the devil^(Q) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(R) their brother and sister.^(S)