Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God's children, and that is what we are! Because the world didn't recognize him, it doesn't recognize us.
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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Dear friends, now we are God's children, and it hasn't yet appeared what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him because we'll see him as he is.
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Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.
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And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
4 Every person who practices sin commits an act of rebellion, and sin is rebellion.
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Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and there is no sin in him.
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You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
6 Every person who remains in relationship to him does not sin. Any person who sins has not seen him or known him.
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No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, in the same way that Jesus is righteous.
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Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
8 The person who practices sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. God's Son appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil.
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Whoever 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 to destroy the works of the devil.
9 Those born from God don't practice sin because God's DNA remains in them. They can't sin because they are born from God.
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No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
10 This is how God's children and the devil's children are apparent: everyone who doesn't practice righteousness is not from God, including the person who doesn't love a brother or sister.
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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, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
11 This is the message that you heard from the beginning: love each other.
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For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 Don't behave like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he kill him? He killed him because his own works were evil, but the works of his brother were righteous.
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We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 Don't be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
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Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
14 We know that we have transferred from death to life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The person who does not love remains in death.
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We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
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Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
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By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
17 But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn't care—how can the love of God remain in him?
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But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?
18 Little children, let's not love with words or speech but with action and truth.
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Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God's presence.
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By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
20 Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things.
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for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
21 Dear friends, if our hearts don't condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God.
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Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
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and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us.
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And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
24 The person who keeps his commandments remains in God and God remains in him; and this is how we know that he remains in us, because of the Spirit that he has given to us.
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Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025