But when we obey God’s teaching, his love is truly working in us. This is how we know that we are living in him.

We Are God’s Children

The Father has loved us so much! This shows how much he loved us: We are called children of God. And we really are his children. But the people in the world don’t understand that we are God’s children, because they have not known him.

So we can see who God’s children are and who the devil’s children are. These are the ones who are not God’s children: those who don’t do what is right and those who do not love their brothers and sisters in God’s family.

Suppose a believer who is rich enough to have all the necessities of life sees a fellow believer who is poor and does not have even basic needs. What if the rich believer does not help the poor one? Then it is clear that God’s love is not in that person’s heart.

This is what God commands: that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love each other as he commanded.

Love Comes From God

Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child. And so everyone who loves knows God.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him.

True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. He sent his Son as the way to take away our sins.

That is how much God loved us, dear friends! So we also must love each other.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us. If we love each other, God’s love has reached its goal—it is made perfect in us.

So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.

If God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus.

Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

We love because God first loved us.

If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him.

God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.

God’s Children Win Against the World

The people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah are God’s children. Anyone who loves the Father also loves the Father’s children.

How do we know that we love God’s children? We know because we love God and we obey his commands.