1 John 4

Discerning False Prophets

1Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. 2This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet#4:2 Greek If a spirit; similarly in 4:3. acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

4But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Loving One Another

7Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19We love each other#4:19 Greek We love. Other manuscripts read We love God; still others read We love him. because he loved us first.

20If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,#4:20 Greek hates his brother. that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.#4:21 Greek The one who loves God must also love his brother.

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1 John 4

Test the Spirits

1Beloved, #Jer. 29:8do not believe every spirit, but #1 Thess. 5:21; [1 Cor. 12:10; 14:29; Rev. 2:2] test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for #See ch. 2:18many #2 Pet. 2:1false prophets #2 John 7have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: #[1 Cor. 12:3] every spirit that confesses that #2 John 7Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit #ch. 2:22; 2 John 7that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and #ch. 2:18; [2 Thess. 2:3-7]now is in the world already. 4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for #See Rom. 8:31he who is in you is greater than #[1 Cor. 2:12]; See John 12:31he who is in the world. 5#John 3:31; 8:23They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and #John 15:19the world listens to them. 6We are from God. #[John 8:47; 10:16; 18:37; 1 Cor. 14:37] Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know #John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13the Spirit of truth and #[1 Cor. 2:12; 1 Tim. 4:1]the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7Beloved, #ch. 3:11let us love one another, for love is from God, and #ch. 2:29whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8#ch. 3:10Anyone who does not love does not know God, because #ver. 16; 2 Cor. 13:11; [ch. 1:5; John 4:24]God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that #See John 3:16God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, #Rom. 5:8, 10not that we have loved God #[See ver. 9 above] but that he loved us and sent his Son to be #See ch. 2:2the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12#ver. 20; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and #ch. 2:5his love is perfected in us.

13 # ch. 3:24 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And #ch. 1:1, 2we have seen and testify that #See John 3:17the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of #See ch. 2:2the world. 15#ch. 5:5; [Rom. 10:9]; See Matt. 14:33Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So #John 6:69we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. #See ver. 8God is love, and #ver. 12; ch. 3:24whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this #[ch. 2:5] is love perfected with us, so that #ch. 2:28; 3:21we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because #[ch. 3:1]as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but #[John 3:18; Rom. 8:15] perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not #[See ver. 17 above]been perfected in love. 19#ver. 10We love because he first loved us. 20#ch. 2:4; 3:17If anyone says, “I love God,” and #ch. 2:9, 11hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot#4:20 Some manuscripts how can he love God #ver. 12; [1 Pet. 1:8]whom he has not seen. 21And #Gal. 6:2this commandment we have from him: #ver. 7; ch. 3:11whoever loves God must also love his brother.

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