1 Giăng 5

Born of God, overcoming the world

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of him as well. ²We can tell that we love God’s children when we love God and do what he commands. ³For to love God is to keep his commandments, and his commandments are no burden, ⁴because everything born of God overcomes the world. And our faith is the victory that overcame the world. ⁵Who overcomes the world, if not the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is the one who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. He came not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.^{a 7}For there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.^{b 9}We accept the testimony of people; the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony God has given: he has testified about his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, by refusing to believe the testimony God has given about his Son. ¹¹And here is what the testimony says: God gave us eternal life, and that life is found in his Son. ¹²Anyone who has the Son has the life; anyone without the Son of God does not have the life.

Knowing we have eternal life

¹³I have written these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life—you who believe in the name of the Son of God.^{c 14}And here is the boldness we have in coming to him: whenever we ask for something in line with his will, he listens to us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that the requests we have made of him are ours. ¹⁶If anyone sees their brother or sister committing a sin that does not lead to death, they should ask, and God will give that person life. This is for those whose sin does not lead to death.^de There is sin that leads to death. I am not saying that anyone should make request about that.^{fg 17}All wrongdoing is sin, and yet there is sin that does not lead to death.

What we know

¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not go on sinning; rather, the Son, who was born of God, keeps them safe, and the evil one does not lay hold of them.^{hi 19}We know that we belong to God, and that the whole world lies in the grip of the evil one. ²⁰We know too that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, since we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. This one is the true God, and eternal life.^j

²¹Dear children, guard yourselves against idols.^k