Chapter 5

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves those who are his children. ²This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: it is by loving God and obeying his commands. ³For loving God means obeying his commands, and his commands are not burdensome, ⁴for every child of God is victorious over the world. Our faith is the victory that has triumphed over the world. ⁵For who is there that is victorious over the world except the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶It was he, Jesus Christ himself, who came in water and in blood; not in water only, but in water and in blood. The Spirit also testifies to this, for the Spirit is truth. ⁷For there are three that testify to it, ⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are at one. ⁹If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is stronger still; for the value of God’s testimony lies in this, that he has testified to his Son. ¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God possesses that testimony in his heart. Anyone who will not believe God has made him a liar, for he has refused to believe the testimony that God has borne to his Son. ¹¹And that testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and that this life is found in his Son. ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever has not the Son has not life.

¹³I have written this so that you who believe in the Son of God may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴And we have confidence in him, that if we ask him for anything that is in accordance with his will, he will listen to us. ¹⁵And if we know that he listens to whatever we ask him for, we know that the requests we have made of him are granted. ¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing any sin except a deadly one, he will ask and obtain life for him—provided the sin is not a deadly one. There is such a thing as deadly sin; I do not say that a man should pray about that. ¹⁷Any wrongdoing is sin, but there are sins that are not deadly.

¹⁸We know that no child of God commits sin, but the fact that he is God’s child protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him. ¹⁹We know that we are children of God, while the whole world is under the power of the evil one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us power to recognize him who is true; and we are in union with him who is true, through his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹Dear children, keep away from idols.