Here’s a simplified summary of the text:

1. God’s Love Makes Us His Children: God loves us so much that He calls us His children. The world doesn’t understand this because it doesn’t know God. We don’t fully know what we will be like in the future, but when Jesus returns, we will become like Him. Everyone who hopes in Jesus should try to live a pure life, just like He is pure.
2. Sin and Those Who Follow God: Sin is breaking God’s law, and Jesus came to take away our sins because He has no sin. If we truly live in Jesus, we won’t continue living in sin. Those who keep sinning don’t really know Him.
3. Don’t Be Fooled: Don’t let anyone mislead you. If someone does what is right, they are righteous like Jesus. But if someone continues to sin, they are following the devil, who has been sinning from the start. Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work. Anyone who is born of God won’t keep living in sin because God’s spirit is in them.
4. Love Is the Mark of God’s Children: You can tell who belongs to God by how they act. If someone doesn’t do what is right or doesn’t love others, they’re not from God. We’ve been taught from the beginning to love one another, not like Cain, who killed his brother because he was jealous of his goodness.
5. The World May Hate You: Don’t be surprised if the world doesn’t like you. We know we’ve moved from death to life because we love others. If someone hates another person, it’s like they are a murderer, and no murderer has eternal life.
6. Real Love Means Action: We know what love is because Jesus laid down His life for us. In the same way, we should help others in need, even sacrificing for them. If you see someone in need but don’t help, God’s love isn’t in you. Love isn’t just about saying kind words; it’s about real actions that show truth.
7. Confidence in God: When we live in truth and love, we can feel confident before God. Even if we feel guilty, God knows everything and is greater than our hearts. If we’re doing what’s right, we can ask God for anything, and He will listen because we keep His commandments and please Him.
8. God’s Main Commandments: God commands us to believe in His Son, Jesus, and to love each other. If we obey these commandments, we stay connected to God, and we know He is with us because of the Holy Spirit He has given us.

This chapter is a strong reminder that true love, faith, and righteousness go hand in hand, and they are the markers of being a child of God.

1 John 3 Revised Geneva Translation

1 Behold, what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the sons of God! For this reason, this world does not know you: because it does not know Him.

² Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God. But what we shall be is yet to be revealed. And we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is.

³ And everyone who has this hope in Him purges himself, just as He is pure.

⁴ Whoever commits sin, also transgresses the Law. For sin is the transgression of the Law.

⁵ And you know that He was revealed so that He might take away our sins. And no sin is in Him.

⁶ Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous (as He is righteous).

⁸ Whoever commits sin is of the devil. For the devil sins from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: that He might destroy the works of the devil.

⁹ Whoever is born of God does not sin. For His seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is born of God.

¹⁰ In this are the children of God and the children of the devil known. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: that we should love one another;

¹² not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil and his brother’s good.

¹³ Do not marvel, my brothers, though this world hates you.

¹⁴ We know that we have passed over from death to life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love his brother remains in death.

¹⁵ Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

¹⁶ By this we have perceived love: that He laid down His life for us. Therefore, we also ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

¹⁷ And whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother has need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?

¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth.

¹⁹ For by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.

²⁰ For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have boldness toward God.

²² And whatever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight.

²³ This, then, is His commandment: that we believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He commanded.

²⁴ For the one who keeps His commandments dwells in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us: by that Spirit which He has given us.