God’s Word Translation
1 John 3:10
10This is the way God’s children are distinguished from the devil’s children. Everyone who doesn’t do what is right or love other believers isn’t God’s child.
1 John 3:10 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
- New International Version (NIV)This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
- English Standard Version (ESV)By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
- New King James Version (NKJV)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.
Context of 1 John 3:10
8The person who lives a sinful life belongs to the devil, because the devil has been committing sin since the beginning. The reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy what the devil does. 9Those who have been born from God don’t live sinful lives. What God has said lives in them, and they can’t live sinful lives. They have been born from God. This is the way God’s children are distinguished from the devil’s children. Everyone who doesn’t do what is right or love other believers isn’t God’s child. 11The message that you have heard from the beginning is to love each other. 12Don’t be like Cain. He was a child of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain murder his brother? Because the things Cain did were evil and the things his brother did had God’s approval.
Read all of 1 John 31 John 3:10 word by word
ἐν τούτῳ φανερά ἐστιν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὰ τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου. πᾶς ὁ μὴ ποιῶν δικαιοσύνην οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- thisοὗτοςhoutos houtoi hautē hautai · this/he/she/itG3778
- the childrenὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- the childrenτέκνονteknon · childG5043
- of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- manifestφανερόςphaneros · clearG5318
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- of the devilδιάβολοςdiabolos · devilish/the DevilG1228
- whosoeverπᾶςpas · allG3956
- doethποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
- notμήmē · notG3361
- righteousnessδικαιοσύνηdikaiosunē · righteousnessG1343
- notοὐou · noG3756
- ofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
- he that lovethἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
- hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- brotherἀδελφόςadelphos · brotherG80
Cross-references for 1 John 3:10
- 1 John 5:2We know that we love God’s children when we love God by obeying his commandments.
- Luke 6:35Rather, love your enemies, help them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then you will have a great reward. You will be the children of the Most High God. After all, he is kind to unthankful and evil people.
- Romans 8:16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
- Ephesians 5:1Imitate God, since you are the children he loves.
- Matthew 13:38The field is the world. The good seeds are those who belong to the kingdom. The weeds are those who belong to the evil one.
- John 8:44You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies.
- Acts 13:10and said, “You are full of dirty tricks and schemes, you son of the devil! You hate everything that has God’s approval. Quit trying to distort the truth about the way the Lord wants people to live.
- 1 John 3:7Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you. Whoever does what God approves of has God’s approval as Christ has God’s approval.
- 1 John 2:29If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.
- 1 John 4:3But every person who doesn’t declare that Jesus Christ has come as a human has a spirit that isn’t from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that you have heard is coming. That spirit is already in the world.
- 1 John 5:19We know that we are from God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
- John 8:47The person who belongs to God understands what God says. You don’t understand because you don’t belong to God.”
- 3 John 1:11Dear friend, never imitate evil, but imitate good. The person who does good is from God. The person who does evil has never seen God.
- 1 John 3:14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love other believers. The person who doesn’t grow in love remains in death.
- 1 John 2:9Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark.
- 1 John 4:8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.
Commentaries on 1 John 3:10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10In this the children of God are manifest - Here is a fearful text. Who is a child of the devil? He that commits sin. Who is a child of God? He that works righteousness. By this text we shall stand or fall before God, whatever our particular creed may say to the contrary. Neither he that loveth not his brother - No man is of God who is not ready on all emergencies to do any act of kindness for the comfort, relief, and support of any human being. For, as…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10In this the children of God are manifest - That is, this furnishes a test of their true character. The test is found in doing righteousness, and in the love of the brethren. The former he had illustrated; the latter he now proceeds to illustrate. The general idea is, that if a person is not truly a righteous person, and does not love the brethren, he cannot be a child of God. Perhaps by the phrase in this, using a pronoun in the singular number, he…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-10Verses 3-10 The sons of God know that their Lord is of purer eyes than to allow any thing unholy and impure to dwell with him. It is the hope of hypocrites, not of the sons of God, that makes allowance for gratifying impure desires and lusts. May we be followers of him as his dear children, thus show our sense of his unspeakable mercy, and express that obedient, grateful, humble mind which becomes us. Sin is the rejecting the Divine law. In him, that is…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-10To practice righteousness means to live in a right relationship with God. This is different from what the false teachers claimed. They taught that their spiritual life was not affected by what they did in their physical bodies. Living righteously does not mean that we live perfect lives (1:8). It means we confess our sins and stay in a right relationship with God (1:9).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1010. children of the devil--(See on 1Jo 3:8; Ac 13:10). There is no middle class between the children of God and the children of the devil. doeth not righteousness--Contrast 1Jo 2:29. he that loveth not his brother--(1Jo 4:8); a particular instance of that love which is the sum and fulfilment of all righteousness, and the token (not loud professions, or even seemingly good works) that distinguishes God's children from the devil's.Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 3:10
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 John 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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