\v 1 All those who believe that Jesus is the Christ are children of God, born from God. And whoever loves anyone who is a father certainly loves his child also.
\v 2 The way we can be sure that we truly love God's children is when we love God and do what he commands us to do.
\v 4 All of us whom God has caused to become his children have been able to refuse to do what unbelievers want us to do. We are stronger than everything that is against God. We are able to refuse to do wrong because we trust in Christ.
\v 6 Think about Jesus Christ. He is the one who came to earth from God. God showed that he had truly sent Jesus when John baptized Jesus in water, but also when Jesus' blood flowed from his body when he died. And God's Spirit declares truthfully that Jesus Christ came from God.
\v 8 God's Spirit, the water when John baptized Jesus, and Jesus' blood that flowed from his body when he died on the cross. These three things all tell us the same thing, that Jesus came from God.
\v 9 We usually believe what other people tell us. But we can certainly trust much more in what God says. And he has certainly testified about his Son.
\v 10 Those who trust in the Son of God know within their inner beings what is true about him. But those who do not believe what God says call him a liar, because they have refused to believe what God has testified about his Son.
\v 16 Suppose you see one of our fellow believers sinning in a way that would not separate them from God,and when you see sinning, you should ask God and pray that God will give that person life—that is, to that person who is not commiting a sin that would separate him from God. But there are some people who sin in a way that causes them to be separated from God forever. I am not saying you should ask God to help people who sin in that way.
\v 18 We know that if a person is a child of God, he does not keep sinning again and again. Instead, the Son of God protects him so that Satan, the evil one, does not harm him.
\v 19 We know that we belong to God, and we know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
\v 20 We also know that the Son of God has come among us and has enabled us to understand the truth; we are joined to him who is true, God's Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is truly God, and he is the one who enables us to have eternal life.