¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

¹⁵ “If you love me, obey^[a] my commandments.

³ Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

⁵ But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.

²¹ Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. ²² And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

²³ And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. ²⁴ Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

2 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. ² He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

²¹ It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.

Live to Please God

4 Finally, dear brothers and sisters,^[a] we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.

²⁹ And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.”

³⁴ Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.