⁵ For ^[a]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any ^(A)inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. ^8 (A)He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, ^(B)that He might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Whoever has been ^(C)born of God does not sin, for ^(D)His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

The Imperative of Love^(E)

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

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to ^[a]deceive you. ²⁷ But the ^(A)anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and ^(B)you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing ^(C)teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you ^[b]will abide in Him.

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who ^[a]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[b]corruption; ^(A)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[c]bondage.

^3 (A)For the time will come when they will not endure ^(B)sound doctrine, ^(C)but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and ^(D)be turned aside to fables.