10 By this the (A)children of God and the (B)children of the devil are obvious: [a]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who (C)does not love his (D)brother and sister.

11 (E)For this is the message (F)which you have heard from the beginning, (G)that we are to love one another; 12 not as (H)Cain, who was of (I)the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because (J)his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 John 3:10 Lit everyone

9-10 People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-born to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test.

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11 For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.

12-13 We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.

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10 You can tell God's children from the devil's children, because those who belong to the devil refuse to do right or to love each other.

Love Each Other

11 (A) From the beginning you were told we must love each other. 12 (B) Don't be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil.

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15 Everyone who (A)hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that (B)no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

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14-15 The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.

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15 If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know murderers do not have eternal life.

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