Called Children of God

1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God—and we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know him.

2Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that if he is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

3And everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

4Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

5And you know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

6Everyone who remains in him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him.

7Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous.

8The one who practices sin is from the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.

9Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him; and he is not able to keep sinning, because he has been born of God.

10By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not from God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.