Book of Common Prayer

3 See how much the Father has loved us! We are called God's children. It is true, we are God's children. People in this world did not know him and so they do not know us.

² My dear brothers, we are God's children now. No one knows yet what we shall be like. But we know that when Jesus comes, we will be like him. We will see him as he really is.

³ Everyone who has this hope about Christ makes his life holy. He makes his life holy and clean, just as Christ is holy.

⁴ Everyone who does wrong things is breaking God's law. Doing wrong things is breaking the law.

⁵ You know that Christ came to take away the wrong things people have done. He is the one who has done no wrong.

⁶ Everyone who stays with him does not do wrong things. Everyone who does wrong things has never seen him and has never known him.

⁷ My children, do not let anyone fool you. Anyone who does what is good, is good just as Christ is good.

⁸ Anyone who does what is wrong belongs to the devil. The devil has done what is wrong from the beginning. That is why God's Son came. He came to stop what the devil does.

⁹ No one who is God's child does wrong things, because God's life is in him. And he cannot keep on doing wrong things, because he is God's child.

¹⁰ This is how people can know who are God's children and who are the devil's children. Everyone who does not do right is not God's child. And anyone who does not love his brother is not God's child.

¹⁵ The people were waiting to see what would happen. They were all asking about John. They thought that he might be the Christ, the great king promised by God long ago.

¹⁶ John said to them all, `I baptise you with water. But another person is coming. He is greater than I am. I am not good enough to untie his shoe strings. He will baptise you with the Holy spirit and with fire.

¹⁷ He has a cleaning fan in his hand and will fan his grain very clean. He will put the grain into his storehouse. But he will burn the chaff in the fire that never goes out.'

¹⁸ By these words and many other ways, he told the people the good news.

¹⁹ John told Herod the ruler that he had done wrong things. He told him he should not have his brother's wife, Herodias. He also told him about all the other wrong things he had done.

²⁰ Later on Herod did another wrong thing after all those wrong things. He put John in prison.

²¹ When all the other people had been baptised, Jesus was also baptised. While he was talking with God, the sky opened.

²² The Holy Spirit came down upon him like a dove. And a voice from the sky said, `You are my dear Son. I am very pleased with you'.