Book of Common Prayer

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is God's child. And everyone who loves the Father loves his child.

² This is how we know we love God's children. We love God and we obey his laws.

³ We show that we love God when we obey his laws. His laws are not hard to obey.

⁴ Everyone who is God's child wins a victory over the world. We win because we believe God.

⁵ Who wins a victory over the world? It is only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶ There was water and there was blood when Jesus Christ came. There was not water only, but there was water and there was blood. The Spirit proves this is true, because the Spirit is true.

⁷ There are three in heaven who prove it is true. They are the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one.

⁸ There are three on earth who prove it is true. They are the spirit, the water, and the blood. These three all prove the same thing.

⁹ We believe what people prove to us. But when God proves something it is stronger than what people prove. This is what God proved about his Son.

¹⁰ Anyone who believes in God's Son believes what God says about him. Anyone who does not believe God shows that he thinks what God says is not true. He has not believed what God says about his Son.

¹¹ Here is what God says. He has given us life that will last for ever. And this life is in his Son.

¹² So anyone who has the Son has this life. Anyone who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.

¹⁶ `What shall I say that the people of today are like? They are like children who sit in the market. They call to the other children.

¹⁷ They say, "We played music for you, but you did not dance. We cried, but you did not cry."

¹⁸ John came. He does not eat or drink much. People say, "He has a bad spirit in him!"

¹⁹ The Son of Man came. He eats and drinks. People say, "This man eats and drinks too much! He is a friend with tax collectors and bad people!" But a man is proved to be wise by what he has done.'

²⁰ Then Jesus began to talk about the towns where he had done most of his big works. He said hard things about the people, because they did not stop their wrong ways and turn back to God.

²¹ He said, `Chorazin! You will have trouble! Bethsaida! You will have trouble! If the big works I did in you had been done in the cities of Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have stopped their wrong ways long ago. They would wear the clothes people wear to show they are sad. They would sit in ashes.

²² But I tell you, on the day when people are judged, you will be punished harder than the people from the cities of Tyre and Sidon.

²³ Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the sky? No, you will go down to death. If the big things I did in you had been done in the city of Sodom, it would be standing now.

²⁴ But I tell you, on the day when people are judged you will be punished harder than the people from Sodom.'