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Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God's law, because sin is a breaking of the law.
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You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him.
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So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.
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Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
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Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.
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Those who are children of God do not continue to sin, for God's very nature is in them; and because God is their Father, they cannot continue to sin.
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Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.
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The message you heard from the very beginning is this: we must love one another.
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We must not be like Cain; he belonged to the Evil One and murdered his own brother Abel. Why did Cain murder him? Because the things he himself did were wrong, and the things his brother did were right.
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So do not be surprised, my friends, if the people of the world hate you.
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We know that we have left death and come over into life; we know it because we love others. Those who do not love are still under the power of death.
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