Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame when he comes back. 29 If you [fn]know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

3 See what great love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called children of [fn]God! The reason the world does not know [fn]you is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. But we know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is. 3 Everyone who places this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared in order to take away [fn]our sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him continues in sin; no one who continues in sin has either seen him or known him. 7 [fn]Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 Whoever practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who has been born of God continues in sin, because God's seed abides in him; he cannot continue in sin, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.