1 John 4

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to see whether they are from God; for many false teachers have gone out into the world.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be from God; because many false prophets are gone forth into the world.

2 The test by which you may recognize the Spirit of God is that every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come as man is from God,

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God.

3 and that no spirit is from God which does not acknowledge this about Jesus. Such is the spirit of the anti-Christ; of whose coming you have heard, and it is already in the world.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, which you have heard that it comes, and now is in the world already.

4 As for you, dear children, you are God's children, and have successfully resisted them; for greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because he is greater, who is with you, than he who is with the world.

5 They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.

They are of the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world hearkens to them.

6 The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

We are of God: he who know God, hearkens to us; he who is not of God, hearkens not to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.

Beloved, let us love one another; for love is from God: and every one who loves, has been begotten by God, and knows God.

8 He who is destitute of love has never had any knowledge of God; because God is love.

He who does not love, does not know God; for God is love.

9 God's love for us has been manifested in that He has sent His only Son into the world so that we may have Life through Him.

By this the love of God was manifested to us, that God sent forth his Son, the only begotten, into the world, that we might live through him.

10 This is love indeed--we did not love God, but 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 forth his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

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

Beloved, if God so loved us, we, also, ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever yet seen God. If we love one another, God continues in union with us, and His love in all its perfection is in our hearts.

No one has seen God, at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is made perfect in us.

13 We can know that we are continuing in union with Him and that He is continuing in union with us, by the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit.

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

14 And we have seen and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

Now we have seen, and bear testimony, that the Father has sent forth his Son, to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God--God continues in union with him, and he continues in union with God.

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

16 And, as for us, we know the love which God has for us, and we confide in it. God is love, and he who continues to love continues in union with God, and God continues in union with him.

And we have known, and believed the love which God has in us. God is love; wherefore, he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.

17 Our love will be manifested in all its perfection by our having complete confidence on the day of the Judgement; because just what He is, we also are in the world.

By this, the love has been perfected in us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 Love has in it no element of fear; but perfect love drives away fear, because fear involves pain, and if a man gives way to fear, there is something imperfect in his love.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment: therefore, he who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because God first loved us.

We love him, because he first loved us.

20 If any one says that he loves God, while he hates his brother man, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother man whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

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

21 And the command which we have from Him is that he who loves God must love his brother man also.

Moreover, this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God, loves his brother, also.