⁴ If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

¹⁶ Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,^[a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

⁹ If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer,^[a] that person is still living in darkness.

¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.