1 John 4

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, if they are of God; because many false prophets are 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 Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in 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 which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God: and this is that [power] of the antichrist, [of] which ye have heard that it comes, and now it is already 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 Ye are of God, children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that [is] in you than he that [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; for this reason they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears 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; he that knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and 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 Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten 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 He that loves not has not known God; for God is love.

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

9 Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, 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 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son 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 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 seen God at any time: 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 Hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, that he has given to us of 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 testify, that the Father has sent the Son [as] Saviour 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 Whosoever shall confess 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 have believed the love which God has to us. God is love, and he that 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 Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as he is, we also are 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 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has torment, and he that fears has not been made perfect 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 We love because he has first loved us.

We love, because God first loved us.

20 If any one say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

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 commandment have we from him, That he that loves God love also his brother.

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