Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have ^econfidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that ^feveryone who practices righteousness has been ^gborn of him.

1 See what kind of ^hlove the Father has given to us, that we should be called ⁱchildren of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that ^jit did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that ^kwhen he appears¹ we shall be ^llike him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to ^mtake away sins, and ⁿin him there is no sin. 6 ^oNo one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either ^pseen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one ^qdeceive you. ^rWhoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to ^sdestroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s² seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world,^{1 w}that he gave his only ^xSon, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not ^ysend his Son into the world ^zto condemn the world, but ^ain order that the world might be saved through him. 18 ^bWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but ^cwhoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed ^din the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the ^elight has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the ^flight and does not come to the light, ^glest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Praise the Name of the Lord