1 Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the father also loves his child. 2 How do we know that we love God's children? When we love God and follow his commands. 3 Loving God means that we follow his commands, and his commands are not hard to bear. 4 Everyone who is born of God defeats the world. The way we gain victory and defeat the world is by trusting God. 5 Who can defeat the world? Only those who trust in Jesus, believing he is the Son of God. 6 He is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not only come by water, but by water and blood.* This is often interpreted to mean the water of baptism and the blood meaning his death. The Spirit gives evidence to confirm this, for the Spirit is the truth. 7 So there are three that give evidence: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and all three agree as one.† The authenticity of verses 7 and 8 has been disputed.

9 If we accept the evidence that human witnesses provide, then the evidence that God provides is much more important. The evidence that God provides is his testimony about his Son. 10 Those trusting in the Son of God have accepted and hold on to this evidence. Those who don't trust God make God out to be a liar, because they don't believe the evidence God has given about his Son. 11 The evidence is this: God has given eternal life to us, and we have this life through his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever doesn't have the Son of God doesn't have life. 13 I'm writing to tell those of you who trust in the name of the Son of God so you can be certain you have eternal life. 14 We can be confident that he will listen to us as long as we ask in accordance with his will. 15 If we know that he hears our requests, we can be sure that we will receive what we've asked him for. 16 If you see your Christian brother or sister committing a sin that is not a deadly sin,‡ Deadly sin. Literally, “a sin to death.” you ought to pray and God will grant life to the one who's sinned. (But not for a deadly sin. There's a sin that is deadly, and I'm not saying people should pray about that. 17 Yes, all that is not right is sin, but there's sin that is not deadly.)

18 We recognize that those who are born of God don't keep on sinning. The Son of God§ Literally, the One born of God, following the concept at the beginning of the verse. The identification is made clear in the following verse. protects them and the devil cannot harm them. 19 We know that we belong to God, and that the world is under the power of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come, and has helped us to understand so we can recognize the one who is true. We live in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and is eternal life.* This can be understood to mean he gives eternal life, and also that he lives eternally. 21 Dear friends, stay away from idol worship.