1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,3:2 Or when it is made known we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No-one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No-one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
More on love and hatred
11For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another. 12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,3:13 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in verse 16. if the world hates you. 14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1Dubi irin ƙaunar da Uba ya ƙaunace mu da ita mana, har ana ce da mu ’ya’yan Allah! Haka kuwa muke! Dalilin da ya sa duniya ba tă san mu ba shi ne, don ba tă san shi ba. 2Abokaina ƙaunatattu, yanzu, mu ’ya’yan Allah ne, kuma abin da za mu zama nan gaba ba a riga an bayyana ba. Sai dai mun san cewa sa’ad da Kiristi ya bayyana, za mu zama kamar sa, domin za mu gan shi kamar yadda yake. 3Duk mai wannan bege a cikinsa yakan tsarkake kansa, kamar yadda shi Kiristi yake da tsabta.
4Duk mai yin zunubi yana karya doka ne; tabbatacce, zunubi, karya doka ne. 5Sai dai kun san cewa Kiristi ya bayyana ne domin yă ɗauke zunubanmu. A cikinsa kuwa babu zunubi. 6Ba mai rayuwa a cikinsa da yake cin gaba da yin zunubi. Kowa da yake aikata zunubi, bai taɓa ganinsa ba, bai ma san shi ba.
7’Ya’yana ƙaunatattu, kada ku yarda wani yă ruɗe ku. Duk mai yin abin da yake daidai mai adalci ne, yadda Kiristi yake mai adalci. 8Duk mai aikata abin da yake zunubi shi na Iblis ne, domin Iblis mai aikata zunubi ne tun farko. Dalilin da ya sa Ɗan Allah ya bayyana kuwa shi ne don yă rushe aikin Iblis. 9Babu haifaffe na Allah da zai ci gaba da yin zunubi, domin iri na Allah yana a cikinsa; ba zai iya ci gaba da yin zunubi ba, domin haifaffe ne na Allah. 10Ta haka muka san waɗanda suke ’ya’yan Allah da kuma waɗanda suke ’ya’yan Iblis. Duk wanda ba ya yin abin da yake daidai, ba ɗan Allah ba ne; haka ma wanda ba ya ƙaunar ɗan’uwansa.
Ku ƙaunaci juna
11Wannan shi ne saƙon da kuka ji tun farko. Ya kamata mu ƙaunaci juna. 12Kada ku zama kamar Kayinu, wanda ya zama na mugun nan, ya kuma kashe ɗan’uwansa. Me ya sa ya kashe shi? Domin ayyukansa mugaye ne, na ɗan’uwansa kuma na adalci ne. 13Kada ku yi mamaki ’yan’uwana, in duniya ta ƙi ku. 14Mun san cewa mun riga mun ratsa daga mutuwa zuwa rai, domin muna ƙaunar ’yan’uwanmu. Duk wanda ba ya ƙauna matacce ne har yanzu. 15Duk mai ƙin ɗan’uwansa mai kisankai ne, kun kuma san cewa ba mai kisankan da yake da rai madawwami a cikinsa.
16Yadda muka san ƙauna ke nan, wato, Yesu Kiristi ya ba da ransa dominmu. Ya kamata mu ma mu ba da rayukanmu domin ’yan’uwanmu. 17In wani yana da arziki, ya kuma ga ɗan’uwansa cikin rashi, bai kuwa taimake shi ba, anya, ƙaunar Allah tana a cikinsa kuwa? 18’Ya’yana ƙaunatattu, kada mu yi ƙauna da fatar baki kawai, sai dai mu nuna ta ta wurin aikatawa da kuma gaskiya.
19Ta haka muka san cewa mu na gaskiya ne, kuma za mu iya tsaya a gaban Allah ba tare da rawar jiki ba. 20Idan zuciyarmu ta nuna mana muna da laifi, mun san cewa Allah ya fi zuciyarmu, ya kuma san dukan kome. 21Abokaina ƙaunatattu, in zukatanmu ba su ba mu laifi ba, muna da ƙarfin halin tsayawa a gaban Allah ke nan. 22Muna kuma samun dukan abin da muka roƙa daga gare shi, domin muna biyayya da umarnansa, muna kuma yin abin da ya gamshe shi. 23Umarninsa kuwa shi ne, mu gaskata da sunan Ɗansa, Yesu Kiristi, mu kuma ƙaunaci juna kamar yadda ya umarce mu. 24Waɗanda suke biyayya da umarnansa kuwa suna rayuwa a cikinsa, shi kuma a cikinsu. Ta haka muka san cewa yana raye a cikinmu. Mun san haka ta wurin Ruhun da ya ba mu.
