¹ Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and whoever loves the father loves the son.

² In this way we know that we love God's children, when we love God and keep his commandments.

³ This is what the love of God is: keeping his commandments. Nor are his commandments burdensome,

⁴ because every child of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.

⁵ Who can overcome the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

⁶ He it is who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water alone but with water and blood, and it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is Truth.

⁷ So there are three witnesses,

⁸ the Spirit, water and blood; and the three of them coincide.

⁹ If we accept the testimony of human witnesses, God's testimony is greater, for this is God's testimony which he gave about his Son.

¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him, and whoever does not believe is making God a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

¹¹ This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

¹² Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever has not the Son of God has not life.

¹³ I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴ Our fearlessness towards him consists in this, that if we ask anything in accordance with his will he hears us.

¹⁵ And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him, we know that we already possess whatever we have asked of him.

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that is not a deadly sin, he has only to pray, and God will give life to this brother -- provided that it is not a deadly sin. There is sin that leads to death and I am not saying you must pray about that.

¹⁷ Every kind of wickedness is sin, but not all sin leads to death.

¹⁸ We are well aware that no one who is a child of God sins, because he who was born from God protects him, and the Evil One has no hold over him.

¹⁹ We are well aware that we are from God, and the whole world is in the power of the Evil One.

²⁰ We are well aware also that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know the One who is true. We are in the One who is true as we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and this is eternal life. Children, be on your guard against false gods.