Children of God 1 UDB Think about how much our Father loves us: He allows us to say that we are his children! And this is indeed true. But people who are unbelievers have not understood who God is. So they do not understand who we are, that we are God's children. BSB BSB: Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
2 UDB Dear friends, even though at present we are God's children, he has not yet shown us what we will be like in the future. However, we know that when Christ comes back again, we will become like him because we will see him face to face. BSB BSB: Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
3 UDB So all those who confidently expect to become like Christ will keep themselves from sinning—just like Christ who never sins. BSB BSB: And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.
4 UDB But everyone who continues to sin is refusing to obey God's laws because that is what sin is—refusing to obey God's laws. BSB BSB: Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.
5 UDB You know that Christ came in order to completely remove the guilt of our sins. You know also that he never sinned. BSB BSB: But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.
6 UDB Those who stay close to Christ cannot continue to sin over and over again. But those who repeatedly sin have not come to see all that Christ does for those he loves, and they do not know him as their Savior. BSB BSB: No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.
7 UDB So I urge you who are very dear to me: Do not let anyone deceive you by telling you that it is all right to sin. If you continue doing what is right, then you are righteous just like Christ is righteous. BSB BSB: Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
8 UDB But anyone who continues to sin repeatedly is like the devil because the devil has always been sinning since the world began. And the reason why God's Son became a human being was to destroy what the devil has done. BSB BSB: The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
9 UDB People do not continue sinning repeatedly if they have become children of God. They cannot continually sin because God has made them his children, and he has put into them what he himself is like. BSB BSB: Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10 UDB Those who are God's children are clearly different from those who are the devil's children. This is way that we can know who Satan's children are: Those who do not do what is right are not God's children. And those who do not love their fellow believers are not God's children. BSB BSB: By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
Love One Another (John 13:31–35; Romans 12:9–13)
11 UDB The message that you heard when you first believed in Christ is that we should love each other. BSB BSB: This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 UDB We should not hate others as did Adam's son Cain, who belonged to Satan, the evil one. Because Cain hated his younger brother, he murdered him. I will tell you about why he murdered his brother. It was because Cain habitually behaved in an evil way, and he hated his younger brother because his younger brother behaved in the right way. BSB BSB: Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
13 UDB You should not be amazed when unbelievers hate you. BSB BSB: So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
15 UDB God treats those who hate their fellow believers as though they had done something just as bad as committing murder. Anyone who does not love his brother is living his life under the power of death. BSB BSB: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.
16 UDB The way that we now know how to truly love our fellow believers is by remembering that Christ willingly died for us. So in the same way, we should do anything for our fellow believers, even die for them. BSB BSB: By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
17 UDB Many of us have the things that are necessary for us to live in this world. If we become aware that any of our fellow believers do not have what they need and we refuse to provide for them, then it is clear that we do not love God as we claim to do. BSB BSB: If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
18 UDB I am saying to you whom I love dearly: Let us not merely say we love each other; let us love each other by helping each other. BSB BSB: Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
19 UDB If we truly love our fellow believers, we can be sure that we are living according to the true message about Christ. As a result, we will not feel guilty in the presence of God. BSB BSB: And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:
20 UDB We can pray confidently because, although we might feel guilty because we have done wrong, God deserves for us to trust him. He knows everything about us. BSB BSB: Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
21 UDB Dear friends, if our minds do not accuse us of having sinned, then we can pray confidently to God. BSB BSB: Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
22 UDB When we confidently pray to him and request something from him, we receive it because we do what he commands us to do and because we do what pleases him. BSB BSB: and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
23 UDB I will tell you what he commands us to do: We must believe that Jesus Christ is his Son. We must also love each other just as God commanded us to do. BSB BSB: And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.
24 UDB Those who do what God commands are those who are joined with God, and God is joined with them. And it is because we have his Spirit, whom he gave to us, that we can be sure that God is joined with us. BSB BSB: Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.