17 Suppose someone has ·enough to live [L the world’s possessions/goods] and sees a brother or sister [C fellow believer] in need, but ·does not help [L closes off his heart/compassion from him]. ·Then God’s love is not living in that person [L How does God’s love abide/remain in him?]. 18 My children [2:1], we should love people not only ·with words and talk [L in word and tongue], but ·by our actions and true caring [or by showing true love through our actions; L in deed and truth].
·This is the way [L By this] we ·know [L will know; C perhaps in a future moment of crisis] that we belong to the ·way of truth [L truth]. ·When [or If] our hearts [C our conscience] ·make us feel guilty [condemn/convict us], ·we can still have peace before God [our hearts can be reassured before him]. God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything [1 Cor. 4:3–5]. 21 ·My dear friends [L Beloved], if our hearts do not ·make us feel guilty [condemn/convict us], we ·can come without fear into God’s presence [L have boldness/confidence before God]. 22 And ·God gives us [L we receive from him] what we ask for because we obey ·God’s [L his] commands and do what pleases him [John 14:14; 16:23]. 23 This is ·what God commands [L his command]: that we believe in [L the name of] his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love each other, just as he commanded. 24 The people who ·obey [keep] God’s commands ·live [abide; remain] in God, and God ·lives [abides; remains] in them. We know that God ·lives [abides; remains] in us ·because of [by; from] the Spirit God gave us.