1 All those who believe that Jesus is the ◄Messiah/person God sent to rescue us► are ones who have truly become children of God. And everyone who loves a man who is someone's father will be expected to love that man's children as well. Similarly, those who love God, who has caused them to become his children [MET], should love their fellow believers, whom God has also caused to become his children. 2 The way we can be sure that we truly love God's children is this: We are loving them when we love God and do what he commands us to do. 3  I say this because our obeying what God commands us to do is the same as loving him. And it is not burdensome/difficult for us to do what God commands us to do. 4 All of us whom God has caused to become his children have been able to successfully resist ◄doing what/conducting our lives like► the people [MTY] who oppose God do. It is only by our trusting in Christ that we are able to ◄resist doing what/conducting our lives like► people in the world who are opposed to God [MTY] do. 5 ◄ I will tell you who are the ones who are able to resist doing what the people who are opposed to God do./Do you know who are the ones who are able to resist conducting their lives like the people who are opposed to God [MTY] do? [RHQ]► It is those who believe that Jesus is ◄God's Son/the man who is also God►.

6  Think about Jesus Christ. He is the one who came to earth from God. God showed that he had truly sent Jesus when Jesus was baptized in water [MTY] and when Jesus' blood flowed from his body when he died. God showed this not only when Jesus was baptized [MTY], but also when Jesus' blood flowed from his body when he died. And God's Spirit declares truthfully that Jesus Christ came from God. The Spirit always speaks what is true. 7 There are three things by which we know that Christ came from God. 8  Those three things are: What God's Spirit tells us, what God said when Jesus was baptized [MTY] in/with water, 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. 9 We usually believe what other people say. But what God says is more reliable/trustworthy than what people say. So we must believe what God has said is true about ◄his Son/the one who is also God►. 10 Those who trust in the Son of God know within their ◄inner beings/hearts► that what God says about his Son is true. But those who refuse to believe that what God says is true are saying that God is a liar, because they refuse to believe what God has said about ◄his Son/the one who is also God►. 11 This is what God says to us: “I have given you eternal life!” We will live forever if we have a close relationship with his Son. 12 Those who have a close relationship with God's Son (OR, who have accepted what God's Son has done for them) have already begun to live forever. But those who do not have a relationship with ◄God's Son/the one who is also God► (OR, who have not accepted what God's Son has done for them) have not begun to live forever.

13 I have written this letter to you who believe that Jesus is [MTY] ◄God's Son/the one who is also God► in order that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 Because we have a close relationship with him, we are very confident that he hears us when we ask him to do anything that is in accordance with ◄his will/what he desires►. 15  And since we know that he hears whenever we ask him for something, we also know that it is as though he has already done what we requested him to do.

16 Those who see one of their fellow believers sinning in a way that does not result in eternal separation from God should ask God to help that fellow believer; and as a result God will help that fellow believer and enable him or her to live eternally. But some people sin in a manner that causes them to be separated from God eternally. I am not saying that you should ask God to help people who sin like that. 17 Everyone who does what is wrong is sinning, but there are some sins that do not cause a person to be separated from God eternally. 18 We know that if a person has new life from God [MET], that person does not continue sinning. Instead, the ◄Son of/one who is also► God protects him so that Satan, the evil one, does not harm him spiritually. 19 We know that we belong to God, and we know that the evil one controls all the evil people in [MTY] the world. 20 We also know that ◄God's Son/the one who is also God► has come to us, and we know that he has enabled us to know God, the one who is really/truly God. So now we have a close relationship with God because we belong to Jesus Christ, the one who is the ◄Son of/man who is also► God. Jesus Christ is truly God, and he is the one who enables us to have eternal life.

21  I say to you who are very dear to me, guard/keep yourselves from worshipping gods that have no real power!