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)

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(T) from the beginning:^(U) We should love one another.^{(V) 12} Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(W) and murdered his brother.^(X) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^(Y)

Faith and Deeds

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?^(A) Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.^{(B) 16} If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?^{(C) 17} In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.^(D)

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds,^(E) and I will show you my faith^(F) by my deeds.^{(G) 19} You believe that there is one God.^(H) Good! Even the demons believe that^(I)—and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[a]?^{(J) 21} Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?^{(K) 22} You see that his faith and his actions were working together,^(L) and his faith was made complete by what he did.^{(M) 23} And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[b](N) and he was called God’s friend.^{(O) 24} You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?^{(P) 26} As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.^(Q)