By this ¹  you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses ²  Jesus as the Christ ³  who has come in the flesh is from God,

Everyone who has been fathered ¹  by God does not practice sin, ²  because ³  God’s ⁴  seed ⁵  resides in him, and thus ⁶  he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

By this ¹  the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness – the one who does not love his fellow Christian ²  – is not of God.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because ¹  love is from God, and everyone who loves ²  has been fathered ³  by God and knows God.

If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because ¹  this ²  is the testimony of God that ³  he has testified concerning his Son.

We know that everyone fathered ¹  by God does not sin, but God ²  protects ³  the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.

We know that we are from God, ¹  and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

But whoever obeys his ¹  word, truly in this person ²  the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains ¹  forever.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, ¹  but test ²  the spirits ³  to determine ⁴  if they are from God, because many false prophets ⁵  have gone out into the world.

You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, ¹  because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

If anyone ¹  confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides ²  in him and he in God.

By this ¹  we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

For ¹  this is the love of God: ²  that we keep his commandments. ³  And his commandments do not weigh us down,

Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that ¹  Jesus is the Son of God?

The one who has the Son ¹  has this ²  eternal ³  life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this ⁴  eternal ⁵  life.

I have written these things ¹  to you who believe ²  in the name of the Son of God so that ³  you may know that you have eternal life.

We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but ¹  whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this ²  we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. ³ 

I have written to you, children, that ¹  you have known the Father. ²  I have written to you, fathers, that ³  you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that ⁴  you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that ¹  we should be called God’s children – and indeed ²  we are! ³  For this reason ⁴  the world does not know us: because it did not know him. ⁵