1 Juan 3
1 ¡Miren el amor que tiene el Padre para con nosotros! Por eso podemos ser llamados hijos de Dios, ¡porque eso es lo que somos! La razón por la que el mundo no nos reconoce como hijos de Dios es porque no lo reconocen a él.
[Think about] how much our [heavenly] Father loves us! He allows us to (say that we are/be called) his children! [And it is indeed true that] we are [his children. But people in] the world [MTY] [who are unbelievers] have not understood [who] God [is]. So they do not understand [who we are], that we [belong to God].
2 Amigos míos, ya somos hijos de Dios, pero lo que llegaremos a ser no se ha revelado todavía. Pero sabemos que cuando él aparezca seremos como él, porque lo veremos como él es realmente.
Dear friends, even though (at present/now) we are God’s children, [he] has not yet (made clear/revealed) [to us] what we will be like [in the future]. However, we know that when [Christ] comes back again, we will be like him, because we will see what he is [really] like.
3 Todos los que tienen esta esperanza en él, asegúrense de ser puros, como él lo es.
[So], all those who confidently expect [to see Christ as he actually is/what Christ is like when he returns] must keep themselves pure in every way, just like Christ, who is pure in every way.
4 Todos los que pecan son violadores de la ley de Dios.
But everyone who continues sinning is refusing to obey [God’s] laws, because that is what sin is, refusing to obey [God’s] laws.
5 Pero desde luego ustedes saben que Jesús vino para eliminar los pecados, y en él no hay pecado.
You know that Christ came in order to completely remove [the guilt of] our sins. You know also that he never sinned.
6 Todos los que viven en él, ya no pecan más; todos los que siguen pecando es porque no lo han visto y no lo han conocido.
Those who continue [doing what] Christ wants them to, do not continue sinning repeatedly. But those who repeatedly sin have not understood [who Christ is], nor have they had a close relationship with him.
7 Queridos amigos, no dejen que nadie los engañe: los que hacen justicia son justos, así como Jesús es justo.
[So I urge you, ] who are all very dear to me, do not let anyone deceive you [by telling you that it is all right to sin]. If you continue doing what is right, you are righteous, just like Christ is righteous.
8 Los que pecan son del diablo, porque el diablo ha estado pecando desde el principio. Por eso vino el Hijo de Dios, para destruir lo que el diablo ha hecho.
[But] if anyone continues sinning, he is like the devil, because the devil has always been sinning. [And] the reason why God’s Son became a human being was to destroy what the devil has done.
9 Y todos los que son nacidos de Dios ya no pecan más, porque la naturaleza de Dios habita en ellos. Y no pueden seguir pecando porque han nacido de Dios.
People do not continue sinning repeatedly if they have become children of God. Instead, [they] continue [to conduct their lives according to the character/nature that God produced in them] [MET]. They cannot continually sin because God has caused them to become his children.
10 Así es como podemos distinguir a los hijos de Dios y los hijos del diablo: todos aquellos que no obran con justicia, no pertenecen a Dios, ni aquellos que no aman a sus hermanos cristianos.
Those who are God’s children are clearly different from those who are (the devil’s/Satan’s) children. [The way that we can know who are Satan’s children is this]: Those who do not do what is right are not God’s children. [Specifically], those who do not love their fellow believers are not [God’s children Instead, they are Satan’s children].
11 El mensaje que han escuchado desde el principio es este: debemos amarnos unos a otros.
The message that you heard when you first [MTY] [believed in Christ] is that we should love each other.
12 No podemos ser como Caín, que pertenecía al maligno, y mató a su hermano. ¿Por qué lo mató? Porque Caín era malo, pero su hermano era justo.
[We should] not [hate others] as did [Adam’s son], Cain, who belonged to [Satan], the evil one. [Because Cain hated his younger brother], he murdered him. (I will tell you about why he murdered his brother./Do you know why he murdered his brother [RHQ]?) It was because Cain habitually conducted his life in an evil way, and [he hated his younger brother] because his [younger] brother [conducted his life] righteously.
13 Así que no se sorprendan si este mundo los aborrece.
You should not be amazed/surprised, my fellow believers, when [unbelievers] [MTY] hate you.
14 La razón por la que sabemos que hemos ido de la muerte a la vida es porque amamos a nuestros hermanos y hermanas en la fe. Porque el que no ama sigue muerto.
We know that we have been changed from [being spiritually] dead [MET] to [being spiritually] alive. We know this because we love our fellow believers. [Those who] do not love [their fellow believers] are still [spiritually] [MET] dead.
15 Los que odian a sus hermanos cristianos son asesinos, y ustedes saben que los asesinos no tendrán vida eterna con ellos. (aiōnios g166)
Those who hate [any of] their fellow believers, [God considers] [MET] them [to be] murderers. And you know that no murderer has eternal life. (aiōnios g166)
16 Así es como sabemos qué es el amor: Jesús entregó su vida por nosotros, y nosotros debemos entregar nuestras vidas por nuestros hermanos en la fe.
The way that we now know [how to truly] love [our fellow believers is by remembering] that Christ (voluntarily died/gave his life) for us. So, [when our fellow believers need something, we should be willing to help them. We should even be willing to] die for them.
17 Si alguno de ustedes vive cómodamente en este mundo, y ve a su hermano o hermana en Cristo padeciendo necesidad, pero no tiene compasión, ¿cómo podemos decir que el amor vive en ustedes?
Many [of us] have the things that are necessary for us to live in this world. If we become aware that any of our fellow believers do not have what they need and [if we] refuse to ([provide for them/give to them what they need]), it is clear that we do not love God [as we claim/say that we do].
18 Queridos amigos, no digamos que amamos solo con palabras, sino mostremos nuestro amor en lo que hacemos y en la manera como demostramos la verdad.
[I say to] all of you whom I love dearly, let us not merely say [MTY] that [we love our fellow believers!] Let us genuinely/really love them by doing things [to help them]!
19 Así es como sabremos que pertenecemos a la verdad, y pondremos nuestras mentes en paz con Dios
When we [truly love our fellow believers], we can be sure that we are [conducting our lives according to] the true message. [As a result], we will not feel guilty/ashamed [when we talk] [MTY] to God.
20 cuando pensemos que estamos en error. Dios es más grande de lo que creemos, y lo sabe todo.
[We can pray confidently], because [although] we might feel guilty/ashamed [about our sins], God is (greater/more worthy to be trusted) than what we feel. He knows everything [about us].
21 Así que, queridos amigos, si tenemos la tranquilidad de que no estamos en el error, podemos tener confianza ante Dios.
Dear friends, when we do not feel guilty [because of our sins], we can pray to God confidently.
22 Pues recibiremos de él cualquier cosa que le pidamos, porque seguimos sus mandamientos y hacemos lo que le agrada.
And, when we confidently pray to him and request [something from him], we receive it because we do what he commands [us to do], and because we do what pleases him.
23 Y esto es lo que él manda: que debemos confiar en el nombre de su Hijo Jesucristo, y amarnos unos a otros, así como él nos mandó.
[I will tell you] what he commands [us to do]: [We must] believe that Jesus Christ is (his Son/the one who is also God). [We must] also love each other, just like he commanded [us to do].
24 Los que guardan sus mandamientos siguen viviendo en él, y él vive en ellos. Y sabemos que él vive en nosotros por el Espíritu que nos ha dado.
Those who do what God commands are ones who have a close relationship with God, and God has a close relationship with them. [I will tell you how] we can be sure that God has a close relationship with us: It is because [we have] his Spirit, whom he gave to us, that we can be sure that God has a close relationship with us.
