1. Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don't know who we are.
2. My dear friends, we are already God's children, though what we will be hasn't yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is.
3. This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy.
4. Everyone who sins breaks God's law, because sin is the same as breaking God's law.
5. You know that Christ came to take away sins. He isn't sinful,
6. and people who stay united in their hearts with him won't keep on sinning. If they do keep on sinning, they don't know Christ, and they have never seen him.
7. Children, don't be fooled. Anyone who does right is good, just like Christ himself.
8. Anyone who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil. He has sinned from the beginning, but the Son of God came to destroy all that he has done.
9. God's children cannot keep on being sinful. His life-giving power lives in them and makes them his children, so that they cannot keep on sinning.
10. You can tell God's children from the devil's children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.
11. From the beginning you were told that we must love each other.