| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. | 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him. |
| 2We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. | 2By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. |
| 3Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. | 3For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down, |
| 4For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. | 4because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. Testimony About the Son This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith. |
| 5And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. | 5Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? |
| 6And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross —not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. | 6Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood--not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. |
| 7So we have these three witnesses — | 7For there are three that testify, |
| 8the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. | 8the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are in agreement. |
| 9Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. | 9If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son. |
| 10All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. | 10(The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.) |
| 11And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. | 11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. |
| 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. Conclusion | 12The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life. |
| 13I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. | 13I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. |
| 14And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. | 14And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. |
| 15And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. | 15And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him. |
| 16If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it. | 16If anyone sees his fellow Christian committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that. |
| 17All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death. | 17All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not resulting in death. |
| 18We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. | 18We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him. |
| 19We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. | 19We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. |
| 20And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. | 20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life. |
| 21Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. | 21Little children, guard yourselves from idols. |
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