Dear children,(A) do not let anyone lead you astray.(B) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.(C) The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,(D) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God(E) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.(F) No one who is born of God(G) will continue to sin,(H) because God’s seed(I) 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(J) are and who the children of the devil(K) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love(L) their brother and sister.(M)

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Little children, don’t let anyone deceive you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, just as the Messiah[a] is righteous. The person who practices sin belongs to the evil one, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason that the Son of God was revealed was to destroy what the Devil has been doing. No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God’s[b] seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God. 10 This is how God’s children and the Devil’s children are distinguished.[c] No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 John 3:7 Lir. as he
  2. 1 John 3:9 Lit. his
  3. 1 John 3:10 Lit. are revealed