1 John 4

1 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.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but examine the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

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

By this ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ having come in flesh is of God,

3 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!

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in flesh is not of God. And this is that of the antichrist, which ye have heard that it comes, and is now in the world already.

4 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.

Ye are of God, little children, and ye have overcome them, because greater is he in you than he in the world.

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

They are of the world. Because of this they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

6 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.

We are of God. He who 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.

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

Beloved, we should love each other. Because love is of God, and every man who loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

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

He who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 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.

By this the love of God was made known in us, because God sent his Son, the only begotten, into the world so that we might live through him.

10 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.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son, an atonement for our sins.

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

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also are obligated to love each other.

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

No man has ever seen God. If we love each other, God abides in us, and his love is in us, having been fully perfected.

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

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

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

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son, a Savior of the world.

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

Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

16 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.

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

17 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.

By this love has been fully perfected with us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because just as that man is, we also are in this world.

18 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.

Fear is not in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear holds punishment, and he who is afraid has not been fully perfected in love.

19 We love, because God first loved us.

We love him, because he first loved us.

20 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.

If any man says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

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

And we have this commandment from him, so that he who loves God will also love his brother.