1 John 3
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
4 Whoever commits sin
also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
5 And you know that He
was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
6 Whoever abides in Him
does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let
no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
righteous. 8 He who
sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the
devil. 9 Whoever has
been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin,
because he has been born of God.
10 In this the
children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not
practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his
brother. 11 For this
is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one
another, 12 not as
Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he
murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my
brethren, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we
have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not
love his brother[c]
abides in death. 15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know
love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. 17
But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up
his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children,
let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
19 And by this we know[d]
that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
20 For if our heart
condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our
heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
22 And whatever we ask
we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that
are pleasing in His sight.
23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us[e]
commandment.
24 Now he who keeps
His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He
abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Ephesians 2
1 And you He
made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we
all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the
others.
4 But God, who is rich
in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), 6 and raised
us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, 7 that
in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, 9 not of works,
lest anyone should boast. 10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
11 Therefore remember
that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is
called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—
12 that at that time
you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world. 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ.
14 For He Himself is
our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of
separation, 15 having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from
the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might
reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to
death the enmity. 17
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were
near. 18 For through
Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
19 Now, therefore, you
are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God,
20 having been built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone, 21
in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in
the Lord, 22 in whom
you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.