John is very clear throughout this whole letter. He is clear that because of who God is his people live differently. The opposite is true as well, for those who do not know God their life follows the trajectory of the devil.

John breaks down the world and all of humanity into one of two families. The first is the family of God and the other is the family of the devil. 

The family of God is what John has been writing about and will continue to describe. We are children of God when we know God. Because we know God, we do not make a practice of sinning. We are fighting against the sin that clings to us. We have been born of God and because of that, we have been given the seed of God. We chase after righteousness in our life because God is righteous. John again uses phrases like “abides in him” to show us how we flee from sin and cling to God. We abide in him and we allow his power to fight our flesh. The children of God are not perfect, but they do have the Holy Spirit that brings conviction to the lifestyle of sin. The family of the devil cannot say the same.

The family of the devil is described as those who make a habit of practicing sin and because of that, they practice lawlessness, because sin is lawlessness. We see the practice of sinning is of the devil because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. He brought sin into this world. 

Here’s the beauty in the midst of this stern warning and description. Jesus appeared in order to take away our sins. It is only through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension that we receive his grace and his righteousness. And John tells us what we are to do, we are to abide in him. We run to him because the same power that raised him from the dead now lives in us. We ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with his power and transform us to flee from the devil and make us righteous.