2 ²⁸ Even now, my children, dwell in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 2 ²⁹ If you know that he is righteous, you must recognize that every man who does right is his child.

3 ¹ How great is the love that the Father has shown to us! We were called God's children, and such we are; Or: We are called children of God! Not only called, we really are his children. and the reason why the godless world does not recognize us is that it has not known him. 3 ² Here and now, dear friends, we are God's children; what we shall be has not yet been disclosed, but we know that when it is disclosed Or: when he appears. we shall be like him, Or: we are God's children, though he has not yet appeared; what we shall be we know, for when he does appear we shall be like him. because we shall see him as he is. 3 ³ Everyone who has this hope before him purifies himself, as Christ is pure.

3 ⁴ To commit sin is to break God's law: sin, in fact, is lawlessness. 3 ⁵ Christ appeared, as you know, to do away with sins, and there is no sin in him. 3 ⁶ No man therefore who dwells in him is a sinner; the sinner has not seen him and does not know him.
3 ⁷ My children, do not be misled: it is the man who does right who is righteous, as God is righteous; 3 ⁸ the man who sins is a child of the devil, for the devil has been a sinner from the first; and the Son of God appeared for the very purpose of undoing the devil's work.
3 ⁹ A child of God does not commit sin, because the divine seed remains in him; he cannot be a sinner, because he is God's child. 3 ¹⁰ That is the distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil: no one who does not do right is God's child, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.