Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Children of God
1 See how much the Father has
loved us! His love is so great
that we are called God's children—
and so, in fact, we are. This is why
the world does not know us: it has
not known God. note
2 My dear friends,
we are now God's children, but it is
not yet clear what we shall become.
But we know that when Christ appears,
we shall be like him, because
we shall see him as he really is.
3 Everyone who has this hope in
Christ keeps himself pure, just as
Christ is pure.
4 Whoever sins is guilty of breaking
God's law, because sin is a
breaking of the law.
5 You know that
Christ appeared in order to take
away sins, note and that there is no sin
in him. note
6 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.
7 Let no one deceive you, my children!
Whoever does what is right is
righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
8 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.
9 Whoever is a child of God does
not continue to sin, for God's very
nature is in him; and because God is
his Father, he cannot continue to sin.
10 Here is the clear difference between
God's children and the Devil's
children: anyone who does not do
what is right or does not love his
brother is not God's child.
Love One Another
11 The message you heard from the
very beginning is this: we must love
one another. note
12 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. note
13 So do not be surprised, my
brothers, if the people of the world
hate you.
14 We know that we have
-- --
left death and come over into life;
we know it because we love our
brothers. Whoever does not love is
still under the power of death. note
15 Whoever hates his brother is a
murderer, and you know that a murderer
does not have eternal life in
him.
16 This is how we know what
love is: Christ gave his life for us.
We too, then, ought to give our lives
for our brothers!
17 If a rich person
sees his brother in need, yet closes
his heart against his brother, how
can he claim that he loves God?
18 My children, our love should not
be just words and talk; it must be
true love, which shows itself in action.
Courage before God
19 This, then, is how we will know
that we belong to the truth; this is
how we will be confident in God's
presence.
20 If our conscience condemns
us, we know that God is
greater than our conscience and that
he knows everything.
21 And so, my
dear friends, if our conscience does
not condemn us, we have courage in
God's presence.
22 We receive from
him whatever we ask, because we
obey his commands and do what
pleases him.
23 What he commands
is that we believe in his Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, just as
Christ commanded us. note
24 Whoever
obeys God's commands lives in
union with God and God lives in
union with him. And because of the
Spirit that God has given us we
know that God lives in union with
us.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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