[3:1] See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.
[3:2] My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.
[3:3] Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.
[3:4] Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God's law, because sin is a breaking of the law.
[3:5] You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him.
[3:6] So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him.
[3:7] Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
[3:8] Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.
[3:9] Those who are children of God do not continue to sin, for God's very nature is in them; and because God is their Father, they cannot continue to sin.
[3:10] Here is the clear difference between God's children and the Devil's children: those who do not do what is right or do not love others are not God's children.