¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.^(A)

⁹ No one who is born of God^(A) will continue to sin,^(B) because God’s seed^(C) 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^(D) are and who the children of the devil^(E) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(F) their brother and sister.^(G)

¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.^(A) They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[a] you want.^(B)