1 John 4

1 Most beloved, do not be willing to believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Dear friends, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 The Spirit of God may be known in this way. Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has arrived in the flesh is of God;

This is the way to recognize the Spirit of God: those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as come in the flesh have God’s Spirit,

3 and every spirit who contradicts Jesus is not of God. And this one is the Antichrist, the one that you have heard is coming, and even now he is in the world.

while a spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus isn’t from God. Instead it is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that it was coming, and it is now already in the world!

4 Little sons, you are of God, and so you have overcome him. For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

You, my children, come from God, and you have successfully resisted such people as these, because he who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

5 They are of the world. Therefore, they speak about the world, and the world listens to them.

Those people belong to the world and therefore they speak as the world speaks, and the world listens to them.

6 We are of God. Whoever knows God, listens to us. Whoever is not of God, does not listen to us. In this way, we know the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

We come from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; the person who does not come from God does not listen to us. This is how we distinguish the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

7 Most beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love, does not know God. For God is love.

Those who do not love know nothing of God, for God is love.

9 The love of God was made apparent to us in this way: that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

10 In this is love: not as if we had loved God, but that he first loved us, and so he sent his Son as a propitiation for our sins.

This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Most beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Dear friends, since God loved us in this way, we should love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love reaches perfection within us.

13 In this way, we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he has given to us from his Spirit.

We know that we live in him, and he lives in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen, and we testify, that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Moreover, we have seen for ourselves and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever has confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.

And so we have come to know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love; and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.

17 In this way, the love of God is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment. For as he is, so also are we, in this world.

This is the way love has reached its perfection among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Christ.

18 Fear is not in love. Instead, perfect love casts out fear, for fear pertains to punishment. And whoever fears is not perfected in love.

There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love.

19 Therefore, let us love God, for God first loved us.

We love, because God first loved us.

20 If anyone says that he loves God, but hates his brother, then he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he does see, in what way can he love God, whom he does not see?

If someone says ‘I love God,’ and yet hates others, they are a liar. For the person who does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

21 And this is the commandment that we have from God, that he who loves God must also love his brother.

Indeed, we have this command from Christ: Those who love God must also love each other.