You belong to your father the devil, and you are [always] wanting to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the [very] beginning [Note: This is probably a reference to Satan's influence on Adam, Eve and Cain in the Garden of Eden] and does not stand for the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he only speaks what is part of his nature, because he is a liar and the father of [all] liars.

This is because the one whose mind is [controlled] by the flesh is an enemy of God; for he is not obedient to God's law, and in fact, cannot obey it.

that person is conceited. He does not understand anything, but has an unhealthy concern for controversy and arguments over words, which produce envy, dissension, abusive language, evil suspicions,

For we [Christians] were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various kinds of [evil] desires and [sinful] pleasures. [We used to] live in malice and envy, hating people and being hated by them.

As obedient children, do not pattern your lives after the evil desires you formerly had when you were ignorant,

My dearly loved ones, I urge you, as a people who are foreigners and strangers [in this world], do not give in to sinful desires, which wage war against the soul.

So then, you should no longer live the rest of your lives [to satisfy] the sinful desires of your body, but to do what God wants.

[Although] their talk is big, what they say is worthless, and by [offering people] fleshly desires [i.e., sexual gratification], they lead people astray, who are barely escaping from the error of the world.

First of all, you should understand that, in the final days, mockers with evil desires will come [to you] saying, mockingly,

You should not love the [godless] world, nor the things [i.e., the materialistic values] that are part of this [present] age. If any person loves the world, a [genuine] love for the Father is not in his heart.

These people are gripers and complainers, living according to their own [evil] desires, whose mouths speak boastfully, and who show partiality [toward certain people] to gain some advantage.

Lusts

[When] you do ask, you do not receive it, because you ask from wrong motives, [just] so you can satisfy your own pleasures.

In

For when we were in the flesh [i.e., before conversion], our sinful desires, aroused by [the restrictions of] the law of Moses, worked in our bodies to produce activity that led to [spiritual] death.

For what your body wants is in conflict with what the Holy Spirit wants [for you], and what the Holy Spirit wants conflicts with what your body wants, for these [two desires] are contrary to one another, so that you do not [always] do what you [really] want to.

So, put to death [i.e., stop practicing the desires of] your physical bodies [such as] sexual immorality, [moral] impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is [in reality] idolatry.

General references

And He said, "Whatever proceeds out of a man's life is what [spiritually] corrupts him.

But if you [unlovingly] bite and eat one another [i.e., figuratively], be careful that you do not totally consume one another.