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See 1what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called 2children of God; and so we are. The reason why 3the world does not know us is that 4it did not know him.
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Beloved, we are 5God's children 6now, and what we will be 7has not yet appeared; but we know that 8when he appearsa9 we shall be like him, because 10we shall see him as he is.
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No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; 17no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
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Little children, 18let no one deceive you. 19Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
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20Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was 21to destroy the works of the devil.
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22No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God'sb seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
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By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, 23nor is the one who 24does not love his brother.
Love One Another
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For 25this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, 26that we should love one another.
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We should not be like 27Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? 28Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.
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We know that 30we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
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31Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that 32no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
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By this we know love, that 33he laid down his life for us, and 34we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
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But 35if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet 36closes his heart against him, 37how does God's love abide in him?
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By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
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for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
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and 42whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and 43do what pleases him.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)