And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

We [who teach God’s word] are from God [energized by the Holy Spirit], and whoever knows God [through personal experience] listens to us [and has a deeper understanding of Him]. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know [without any doubt] the spirit of truth [motivated by God] and the spirit of error [motivated by Satan].

he that believeth on the son of God, hath the testimony of God thereto: he that does not believe God, impeaches his veracity, because he does not believe the testimony that God gave of his son.

And God lives in the heart of the person who [continually] obeys His commands, and he lives in [fellowship with] God. And here is [another] way we know that God lives in our hearts: It is by [means of] the Holy Spirit, whom God gave to us. [See Rom. 8:9, 11; James 4:5; I Cor. 6:19].

Every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one] has been [spiritually] conceived [and eventually born] by God. And everyone who [continually] loves God, who did the conceiving, also [must continually] love the person whom God has [spiritually] conceived.

We realize, too, that the Son of God has come among us, and has given us the discernment to know the True God; and we are in union with the True God by our union with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the True God and he is Immortal Life.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.

Anyone who is a child of God does no sin, because he still has God's seed in him; he is not able to be a sinner, because God is his Father.

By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source];

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are clearly identified: anyone who does not practice righteousness [who does not seek God’s will in thought, action, and purpose] is not of God, nor is the one who does not [unselfishly] love his [believing] brother.