¹See what great love the father has given us in that we should be called children of God. This is why the world does not know you: because it did not know him. ²Beloved, we are now children of God, but it has not yet been made apparent what we shall be. But we do know that when he is made manifest, we shall be like him, because we will see him as he is. ³And everyone who puts this hope in him purifies himself, as he (the aforementioned) is pure. ⁴Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness – indeed sin is lawlessness. ⁵And you know that he was made manifest in order to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. ⁶No-one who remains in him sins. No-one who sins has seen him or has come to know him. ⁷Little children, let no-one lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸He who commits sin stems from the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The son of God was made manifest for this reason: to undo the works of the devil. ⁹No-one who has been begotten by God commits sin, because his seed remains in him. And he cannot sin, because he has been begotten by God. ¹⁰By this criterion the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: everyone who does not do what is right does not stem from God, including him who does not love his brother. ¹¹For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹²not as Cain, stemming from the wicked one, was, who killed his brother. And for what reason did he kill him? Because his works were evil, but those of his brother were good. ¹³Do not be astonished, my brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love his brother remains in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has age-abiding life remaining in him. ¹⁶By this we have come to know love: in that he laid down his life for our sakes. And we have a debt to lay down our lives for the sake of our brothers. ¹⁷And as for whoever makes a living in the world and sees his brother in need but shuts off his feelings of compassion for him – how can the love of God remain in him? ¹⁸My little children, let us not love by mere word or by speech, but by deed and truth. ¹⁹And this is how we know that we stem from the truth, and that we will reassure our hearts in his presence: ²⁰by the fact that if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. ²¹Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence in God, ²²and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and we do things pleasing in his sight. ²³And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ and love each other as he gave commandment. ²⁴And he who keeps his commandments remains in him, and the latter remains in the former. And by this we know that he remains in us: by the spirit which he has given us.

Reference(s) in Chapter 3: v.12 ↔ Genesis 4:8.