The Message Bible MSG
New American Standard Bible NAS
1 What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it - we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to.
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See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
2 But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him - and in seeing him, become like him.
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Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
3 All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
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And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God's order.
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Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
5 Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program.
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You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
6 No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They've got him all backwards.
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No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
7 So, my dear children, don't let anyone divert you from the truth. It's the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah.
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Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
8 Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil's ways.
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the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
9 People conceived and brought into life by God don't make a practice of sin. How could they? God's seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It's not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin.
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No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 Here's how you tell the difference between God's children and the Devil's children: The one who won't practice righteous ways isn't from God, nor is the one who won't love brother or sister. A simple test.
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By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
11 For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
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For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
12 We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous.
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not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
13 So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
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Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.
14 The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead.
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We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
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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've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
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We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
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But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love.
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Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
19 This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality.
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We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
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in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God!
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Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
22 We're able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him.
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and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
23 Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command.
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This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
24 As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
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The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. All rights reserved.