The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we'll surely love the child who was conceived.
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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.
2 The reality test on whether or not we love God's children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands?
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We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.
3 The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.
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Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
4 Every God-begotten person conquers the world's ways. The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith.
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For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
5 The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.
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And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
6 Jesus - the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God's presence at Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us.[(s15.7)] A triple testimony:
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And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross —not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.
8 the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
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the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree.
9 If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son.
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Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God's testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God's own testimony regarding his Son.
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All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.
11 This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son.
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And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
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Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
13 My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.
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I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
14 And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening.
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And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.
15 And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours.
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And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
16 For instance, if we see a Christian believer sinning (clearly I'm not talking about those who make a practice of sin in a way that is "fatal," leading to eternal death), we ask for God's help and he gladly gives it, gives life to the sinner whose sin is not fatal. There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I'm not urging you to pray about that.
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If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.
17 Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.
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All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.
18 We know that none of the God-begotten makes a practice of sin - fatal sin. The God-begotten are also the God-protected. The Evil One can't lay a hand on them.
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We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.
19 We know that we are held firm by God; it's only the people of the world who continue in the grip of the Evil One.
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We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God - what a gift! - and we are living in the Truth itself, in God's Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life.
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And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.
21 Dear children, be on guard against all clever facsimiles.
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Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.
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.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.