I John 3:18

First John 3 opens marveling at the Father's love that calls us His children, promising that when Christ appears we shall be like Him. It teaches that sin is lawlessness, that Christ came to take away sins, and that love for the brethren marks the children of God apart from the children of the devil. The chapter closes urging believers not to marvel that the world hates them, but to love in deed and truth, trusting that the Spirit within confirms God's presence.