1 John 3 - 4 — Legacy Standard Bible

Children of God, Love One Another

3See ¹^,^ahow great a love the Father has given to us, that we would be called ^bchildren of God; and we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because ^cit did not know Him. ²^aBeloved, now we are ^bchildren of God, and ^cit has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when He ^dis manifested, we will be ^elike Him, because we will ^fsee Him just as He is. ³And everyone who has this ^ahope fixed on Him ^bpurifies himself, just as He is pure.

⁴Everyone who does sin also does lawlessness; and ^asin is lawlessness. ⁵And you know that He ^awas manifested in order to ^btake away sins, and ^cin Him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in Him ^asins; no one who sins has seen Him or ¹^,^bhas come to know Him. ⁷^aLittle children, let no one ^bdeceive you. ^cThe one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ⁸The one who does sin is ^aof the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning. ^bThe Son of God ^cwas manifested for this purpose, ^dto destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Everyone who has been ¹^,^aborn of God ^bdoes not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been ²born of God. ¹⁰By this the ^achildren of God and the ^bchildren of the devil are manifested: everyone who does not do righteousness is not of God, as well as the one who ^cdoes not love his ^dbrother.

¹¹^aFor this is the message ^bwhich you have heard from the beginning, ^cthat we should love one another; ¹²not as ^aCain, who was of ^bthe evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because ^chis deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³Do not marvel, brothers, if ^athe world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have ^apassed out of death into life, ^bbecause we love the brothers. The one who does not love abides in death. ¹⁵Everyone who ^ahates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^bno murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶By this we have known love, that ^aHe laid down His life for us; and ^bwe ought to lay down our lives for the ^cbrothers. ¹⁷But ^awhoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and ^bcloses his ¹heart ²against him, ^chow does the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸^aLittle children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and ^btruth. ¹⁹And by this we will know that we are ^aof the truth, and will ¹assure our heart before Him ²⁰¹in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. ²¹^aBeloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have ^bconfidence ¹before God; ²²and ^awhatever we ask we receive from Him, because we ^bkeep His commandments and do ^cthe things that are pleasing in His sight.

²³And this is His commandment, that we ¹^,^abelieve in ^bthe name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as ^cHe gave a commandment to us. ²⁴And the one who ^akeeps His commandments ^babides in Him, and He in him. ^cWe know by this that ^dHe abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave us.

Test the Spirits

4^aBeloved, do not believe every ^bspirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^cmany false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: ^aevery spirit that ^bconfesses that ^cJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit that ^adoes not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the ^bantichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and ^cnow it is already in the world. ⁴You are from God, ^alittle children, and ^bhave overcome them; because ^cgreater is He who is in you than ^dhe who is in the world. ⁵^aThey are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them. ⁶^aWe are from God. ^bThe one who knows God hears us; ^cthe one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know ^dthe spirit of truth and ^ethe spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷^aBeloved, let us ^blove one another, for love is from God; and ^ceveryone who loves has been ¹^,^dborn of God and ^eknows God. ⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because ^aGod is love. ⁹By this the love of God was manifested ¹^,^ain us, that ^bGod has sent His ²only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, ^anot that we have loved God, but that ^bHe loved us and sent His Son to be ^cthe propitiation for our sins. ¹¹^aBeloved, if God so loved us, ^bwe also ought to love one another. ¹²^aNo one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His ^blove is perfected in us. ¹³^aBy this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴We have beheld and ^abear witness that the Father has ^bsent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵^aWhoever confesses that ^bJesus is the Son of God, God ^cabides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶^aAnd we have come to know and have believed the love which God has ^bin us. ^cGod is love, and the one who ^dabides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷By this, ^alove has been perfected with us, so that we may have ^bconfidence in ^cthe day of judgment, because ^das He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love; but ^aperfect love casts out fear, because fear ¹involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ^bperfected in love. ¹⁹^aWe love, because He first loved us. ²⁰^aIf someone says, “I love God,” and ^bhates his brother, he is a ^cliar; for ^dthe one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^ecannot love God whom he has not seen. ²¹And ^athis commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ^bshould love his brother also.