Daily Bread

God’s Children and Sin

²⁸ And now, dear children,^(A) continue in him, so that when he appears^(B) we may be confident^(C) and unashamed before him at his coming.^(D)

²⁹ If you know that he is righteous,^(E) you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.^(F)

3 See what great love^(G) the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!^(H) And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.^{(I) 2} Dear friends,^(J) now we are children of God,^(K) and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a](L) we shall be like him,^(M) for we shall see him as he is.^{(N) 3} All who have this hope in him purify themselves,^(O) just as he is pure.^(P)

⁴ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.^{(Q) 5} But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.^(R) And in him is no sin.^{(S) 6} No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.^(T) No one who continues to sin has either seen him^(U) or known him.^(V)

⁷ Dear children,^(W) do not let anyone lead you astray.^(X) The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.^{(Y) 8} The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(Z) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(AA) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(AB) 9} No one who is born of God^(AC) will continue to sin,^(AD) because God’s seed^(AE) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(AF) are and who the children of the devil^(AG) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(AH) their brother and sister.^(AI)