Book of Common Prayer

3 ¹ See what-kind-of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called children of God! And we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet appeared^[a]. We know that if He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. ³ And everyone having this hope in^[b] Him is purifying himself, just as that One is pure. ⁴ Everyone doing sin also is doing lawlessness. Indeed sin is lawlessness. ⁵ And you know that that One appeared in order that He might take-away sins. And there is no sin in Him. ⁶ Everyone abiding in Him is not sinning^[c]. Everyone sinning has not seen Him nor known Him. ⁷ Little-children, let no one be deceiving you— the one doing righteousness is righteous, just as that One is righteous. ⁸ The one doing sin is of the devil, because the devil is sinning^[d] from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this: that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Everyone having been born^[e] from God is not doing sin— because His seed^[f] is abiding in him, and he is not able to be sinning^[g] because he has been born from God. ¹⁰ By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are evident.

Abiding Means Loving In Deed And Truth, As Jesus Commanded Us

Everyone not doing^[h] righteousness is not from God— and the one not loving his brother!

John Says One More Powerful Is Coming, Who Will Baptize With The Spirit And Fire

¹⁵ And while the populace was waiting-in-expectation and all were pondering in their hearts about John— if perhaps he might be the Christ— ¹⁶ John responded, saying to everyone, “I am baptizing you with^[a] water, but the One more powerful than me is coming, of Whom I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with^[b] the Holy Spirit and fire^[c]— ¹⁷ Whose winnowing-tool is in His hand so as to clean-out^[d] His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with an inextinguishable fire”. ¹⁸ So indeed, while also exhorting many other things, he was announcing-good-news-to the people.

Herod Locked Up John In Prison

¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch— while being rebuked^[e] by him concerning Herodias^[f], the wife of his brother, and concerning all the evil things which Herod did— ²⁰ also added this to everything: he also locked-up John in prison.

Jesus Was Baptized When All The People Were Baptized

²¹ And it came about when^[g] all the people were baptized, Jesus also having been baptized and praying, that the heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in a bodily form like^[h] a dove, and a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son. With You I was^[i] well-pleased”.