Lee Sommitz Paraphrase
1John Ch 3
1 Notice and ponder how immense the love God pours out into our lives, he even calls us his kids. Never doubt it, embrace it as truth! Understand that the world can’t recognize that any more than it recognizes Him. 2 So while we are dearly beloved children of the Father, we don’t know all the details of that yet. We can say that when He appears, we will be much more like Him, for then we will see Him in all of His glory. 3 Focussing on the great hope of seeing the Pure One soon is literally a purifying exercise. 4 But everyone who practices sinning is in the habit of disregarding God and His commands. Sin boils down to disregarding God. 5 Don’t forget that He came the first time to carry away all of our sin, the only One who never came close to sin did this! 6 People who abide in close communion with Him are not in the habit of sinning. Those who make a practice of sin have no regard for Him or fellowship with Him. 7 Precious children, don’t be deceived; each person whose aim is living in a right relationship with Him is righteous like He Himself is. 8 But those committed to the practice of sin are not, they are of the Devil, whose practice has been to sin from the start. 9 Everyone born of God’s seed has this restraint from sinning inherent in them by virtue of this miraculous birth. 10 So who one belongs to is most evident: Those who don’t practice living in the right relationship with God and those who don’t choose to love others are not God’s children.
11 Ever since the beginning, we’ve heard that we should love one another. 12 That is not like Cain who murdered his brother. Belonging to the Devil, It stands to reason since these people do evil that the righteous deeds of God’s people bring out the worst in them. 13 So I ask you not to be shocked when you receive hatred at the hands of worldly people. 14 Our confidence that we have passed from the evil realm of darkness into life grows when we choose to love others. People who do not love, remain in death’s dark realm. 15 People given over to hatred are murderers and murderers do not have the seed of God’s eternal life in them. 16 Now we know the truest and purest form of love having seen Jesus Christ lay His life down for the likes of us. So it follows that we should be willing to do that for our fellow mortals who are sinners like us. 17 Those with an abundance of temporal goods who you see close themselves off to helping
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