1 John 3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 3
1 See what love
the Father has bestowed on us,
enabling us to be called the children of God,
and that is what we are.
If the world does not recognize us,
that is because it did not know him.
2 Beloved,
we are God’s children now.
What we shall be
has not yet been revealed.
However, we do know that when he appears
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he really is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in him
keeps himself pure,
just as he is pure.
The Rupture with Sin[a]
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law,
for sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared
in order to take away sins,
and that there is no sin in him.
6 Whoever remains in him does not sin,[b]
and whoever sins has not seen him
nor known him.
7 Dear children,
do not let anyone deceive you.
Everyone who does what is right is righteous,
just as he is righteous.
8 Everyone who sins comes from the devil,
for the devil has been a sinner
from the very beginning.
The Son of God appeared for this very purpose:
to destroy the work of the devil.
9 Whoever is born of God
does not sin,
because his seed[c] remains in him.
He cannot sin
because he is begotten by God.
10 This is what distinguishes
the children of God from the children of the devil:
anyone who fails to live righteously
does not belong to God;
neither does anyone who fails to love a brother.
The Message of Love[d]
11 For from the beginning
you have heard the message
that we should love one another,
12 unlike Cain who was from the evil one
and slew his brother.
And why did he slay him?
Because his own deeds were evil
while those of his brother were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, my brethren,
if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed
from death to life
because we love our brethren.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
15 Anyone who hates his brother
is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him.
16 This is how we know what love is:
he laid down his life for us,
and we in turn must be prepared
to lay down our lives for our brethren.
17 If anyone is rich in worldly possessions
and sees a brother in need
but refuses to open his heart,
how can the love of God abide in him?
18 Dear children,
let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.[e]
19 This is how we know
that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts in his presence
20 even if our hearts experience a sense of guilt.
For God is greater than our hearts,
and he knows everything.
21 Beloved,
if our hearts do not condemn us,
we can approach God with confidence
22 and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we obey his commandments
and do whatever is pleasing to him.[f]
23 And this is his commandment:
that we should believe
in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.[g]
24 All those who keep his commandments abide in him,
and he abides in them.
And the proof that he abides in us
is the Spirit that he has given us.
Footnotes
- 1 John 3:4 Breaking away from sin does not take place by delighting in sublime thoughts but by the action of God in Jesus Christ. For it is Christ alone who is without sin (see Jn 8:26). And it is not words but deeds that bear witness to this liberation. To what options or influences does our life cling? Is it in the grip of the devil or does it cling to the word of God? Certainly, sin is part of the daily life of believers (1 Jn 1:8-10), but we are speaking about the fundamental and general choice between sin and righteousness. Which do we choose?
- 1 John 3:6 Whoever remains in him does not sin: the author is not speaking about sinless perfection (see 1 Jn 1:8—2:1). He is simply asserting that the life of believers is dominated not by sin but by doing the right thing.
- 1 John 3:9 His seed: a reference to Christ (see 1 Jn 5:18; Gal 3:16) or to the Holy Spirit (see 1 Jn 2:20-27) or to the seed of Divine life that God introduced into us.
- 1 John 3:11 There are two attitudes toward life—hate and love, murder and the offering of one’s life. Cain is the Biblical prototype of all the homicidal impulses that arise in the human heart (see Gen 4; Heb 11:4); these come together in what the author’s language terms “the world.” This symbolizes death. Christian behavior—which is life, love, and offering of self—draws us away from the world. Christ gives us both the power to do so and the example to follow in the concrete reality of his Passion. Believers must do likewise. They can count on God’s mercy. Verse 23, which expresses the whole intent of the Letter, brings out clearly the mind of the author in regard to the growing Gnosticism.
- 1 John 3:18 Like James, John insists on the value of good works. Love is not a mere matter of lip service; it must be seen and known in actions. Beautiful words are meaningless if they are not accompanied by good deeds.
- 1 John 3:22 Believers who have a good conscience desire nothing that is contrary to God’s honor and glory. They will trust in God, who will give them the good things they request (see Ps 84:12).
- 1 John 3:23 This commandment has two parts: (1) belief in Christ (see Jn 6:29) and (2) love for one another (see Jn 13:34f). The Letter develops part one in 4:1-6 and the second part in 4:7-12.
约翰一书 3
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
上帝的儿女
3 你们看，父上帝何等爱我们，称我们为祂的儿女！我们也实在是祂的儿女，世人之所以不认识我们，是因为他们不认识父上帝。 2 亲爱的弟兄姊妹，我们现在是上帝的儿女，将来如何还未显明。但我们知道，当主显现的时候，我们必会像祂，因为我们必见到祂的本体。 3 凡心存这种盼望的人都会自洁，因为主是圣洁的。
4 犯罪的人都违背上帝的律法，违背上帝的律法就是罪。 5 你们知道，耶稣降世是为了除掉人的罪，祂自己并没有罪。 6 住在祂里面的人不会一直犯罪；一直犯罪的人既没见过祂也不认识祂。
7 孩子们，不要受人迷惑，要知道行义的才是义人，正如主是公义的。 8 一直犯罪的人是属魔鬼的，因为魔鬼从起初便犯罪，但上帝儿子的显现是为了摧毁魔鬼的工作。 9 从上帝生的人不会继续犯罪，因为他里面有上帝的生命[a]。他不能犯罪，因为他是从上帝生的。 10 这样，就可以看出谁是上帝的儿女，谁是魔鬼的儿女。凡不按公义行事、不爱弟兄姊妹的，都不是上帝的儿女。
彼此相爱
11 我们应当彼此相爱，这是你们起初听见的信息。 12 不要步该隐的后尘。他属于那恶者，杀害了自己的弟弟。他为什么要杀害自己的弟弟呢？因为他的行为邪恶，而他弟弟秉行公义。
13 弟兄姊妹，世人若恨你们，不要惊奇。 14 我们因爱弟兄姊妹，便知道自己已经出死入生了。不爱弟兄姊妹的，仍然陷在死亡中。 15 恨弟兄姊妹的就是杀人的，你们知道杀人的没有永生。 16 主耶稣为我们舍命，我们由此便知道什么是爱，我们也应当为弟兄姊妹舍命。 17 如果一个丰衣足食的人看见贫穷的弟兄姊妹，却毫无怜悯之心，怎能说他爱上帝呢？ 18 所以，孩子们啊，不要单在口头上说爱人，总要以真诚的行动表现出来。
19-20 这样，我们必知道自己属于真理，即使我们心中自责，也可以在上帝面前心安，因为上帝比我们的心大，祂知道一切。
21 亲爱的弟兄姊妹，我们若能凡事问心无愧，就可以在上帝面前坦然无惧。 22 这样，我们无论向上帝祈求什么，都必得到，因为我们遵守祂的命令，做祂喜悦的事。 23 其实上帝的命令是：我们要信祂儿子耶稣基督的名，遵照祂的命令彼此相爱。 24 遵行上帝命令的人就住在上帝里面，上帝也住在他里面。我们借着上帝赐给我们的圣灵知道：祂住在我们里面。
Footnotes
- 3:9 “上帝的生命”希腊文是“上帝的种子”。
1 John 3
EasyEnglish Bible
We are God's children
3 Think about how much God the Father loves us. He calls us his children! God loves us so much that we really have become his children. The people who belong to this world do not understand who God is. Because of that, they do not understand who we are. 2 My friends, we are already children of God. We do not yet know clearly what we will become. But we do know this: when Christ returns to this world, we will become like him. We will be like him because we will see him as he really is. 3 Christ is completely good. So all of us who hope to see him then must keep ourselves clean from sin.
4 If a person continues to do wrong things, he is choosing not to obey God's rules. Sin is when we do not obey God's rules. 5 You know that Jesus came into the world so that he might take away our sins. He himself is completely clean from sin. 6 Anyone who lives together with Christ does not continue to do wrong things. If anyone continues to do wrong things, that person has not understood who Christ is. He does not know Christ.
7 My little children, do not let anyone deceive you about sin. It is people who live in a good way that God accepts as right. In the same way, Jesus did only what is good and right. 8 People who continue to do wrong things show that they belong to the Devil. The Devil has always been doing wrong things from the beginning. This is why the Son of God came to the world. He came to destroy everything that the Devil has done.
9 Everybody who is a child of God does not continue to do wrong things. This is because God has given them a new life. He has caused them to become his children. So they cannot continue to do wrong things. 10 In this way, we can see clearly who are God's children and who are the Devil's children. Anyone who does not live in a way that is good and right does not belong to God. People like that do not love other believers.
Christians must love one another
11 Yes, we must love one another. That is the message which you have heard from the beginning. 12 We should not be like Cain. He belonged to Satan and he even killed his brother, Abel. Why did he do that? Cain did bad things and he killed Abel because Abel did things that were right.
13 So, my Christian friends, do not be surprised when people who belong to this world hate you.
14 We know that we now have new life with God. Death no longer has power over us. We know this because we love our Christian friends. But anyone who does not love other believers is still under the power of death. 15 Anyone who hates other believers is like someone who murders other people. You know that a person like that does not have true life with God.
16 This is how we know what true love is: Jesus Christ gave his own life on the cross. He died on our behalf. So we too ought to give our lives for other believers. 17 When another believer has trouble, we need to be kind to him. Maybe you have all the things that you need to live. If you see another believer who needs things like that, you should help him. If you refuse to be kind to him, it shows that you do not belong to God. You do not love people in the way that God loves them.[a]
18 My little children, we should not show love for each other only by what we say. We should also show true love by the things that we do. 19 Then we will know that we truly belong to God. We will be obeying God's true message. As a result, our thoughts will not make us ashamed to come to God. 20 Even if our thoughts tell us that we have done something wrong, we still will not be afraid of God. We can trust God more than we trust our thoughts. He already knows everything about us.
21 My friends, if our thoughts do not tell us that we are guilty, we will not be afraid to come to God. 22 We can pray to God and we can ask him to help us. He will give us what we ask him for. That is because we obey his commands and we do the things that please him. 23 This is God's command to us: we must believe that Jesus Christ is his Son. And we must love each other, as Jesus commanded us. 24 Anyone who obeys God's commands lives together with God. God also lives in him. How do we know that God lives in us? It is because of his Holy Spirit that he has given to us.
Footnotes
- 3:17 Christians should love their Christian friends. We should even be ready to die for them.
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