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.
1 John 3
Revised Geneva Translation
3 Behold, what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the sons of God! For this reason, this world does not know you: because it does not know Him.
2 Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God. But what we shall be is yet to be revealed. And we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purges himself, just as He is pure.
4 Whoever commits sin, also transgresses the Law. For sin is the transgression of the Law.
5 And you know that He was revealed so that He might take away our sins. And no sin is in Him.
6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous (as He is righteous).
8 Whoever commits sin is of the devil. For the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: that He might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever is born of God does not sin. For His seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this are the children of God and the children of the devil known. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another;
12 not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s good.
13 Do not marvel, my brothers, though this world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love his brother remains in death.
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we have perceived love: that He laid down His life for us. Therefore, we also ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 And whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother has need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth.
19 For by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.
20 For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have boldness toward God.
22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.
23 This, then, is His Commandment: that we believe in the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded.
24 For the one who keeps His Commandments dwells in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us: by that Spirit which He has given us.
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