1 John
Chapter 3
Overview
The writer speaks warmly to a community learning what it means to be God’s children. That identity is more than a title: it reshapes their hopes, choices, and relationships. The chapter draws a sharp line between doing wrong and doing what is right, then makes love the practical test. Cain provides the dark example; Jesus provides the true one by giving his life for others. Love, then, cannot remain a pleasant idea. It must open its hands when someone is in need. The chapter closes with confidence before God and the assurance of his Spirit.
1See what extraordinary love the Father has given us: we are called God’s children—and that is what we are. The world does not recognize us because it did not recognize him.
2Dear friends, we are God’s children now, but what we will become has not yet been revealed. We know that when Jesus is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is.
3Everyone who places this hope in Jesus makes themselves pure, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins also breaks God’s law. Sin is the breaking of God’s law.
5You know that Jesus appeared to take away sins, and there is no sin in him.
6No one who remains united with Jesus keeps on sinning. Anyone who keeps on sinning has neither seen him nor known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone deceive you. The person who does what is right is right with God, just as Jesus is right.
8The person who keeps on sinning belongs to the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose: to destroy what the devil has done.
9No one born from God keeps on sinning, because the life God planted in that person remains there. Such a person cannot keep on sinning, because they have been born from God.
10This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become clear: anyone who does not do what is right does not belong to God. Neither does anyone who does not love a fellow believer.
11This is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.
12We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because Cain’s own actions were evil, while his brother’s actions were right.
13Brothers and sisters, do not be surprised if the world hates you.
14We know that we have crossed from death into life because we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
15Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in them.
16This is how we have come to know what love is: Jesus gave up his life for us. We too ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
17Suppose someone has enough to live on and sees a brother or sister in need but refuses to show compassion. How can God’s love remain in that person?
18Dear children, let us not love merely with words or talk. Let us love sincerely through what we do.
19This is how we will know that we belong to the truth, and how we will reassure our hearts in God’s presence
20whenever our hearts condemn us: God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we can approach God with confidence.
22We receive from him whatever we ask because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
23This is his command: we must put our trust in his Son, Jesus the Messiah, and love one another, just as he commanded us.
24Whoever obeys God’s commands remains in God, and God remains in that person. We know that he remains in us because of the Spirit he gave us.