1 John 4

1 Beloved, every spirit believe not, but prove the spirits, if of God they are, because many false prophets have gone forth to the world;

Dear friends, don't trust every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to find out whether they're from God, for there are many false prophets out there in the world.

2 in this know ye the Spirit of God; every spirit that doth confess Jesus Christ in the flesh having come, of God it is,

How can you recognize God's Spirit? Every spirit that accepts Jesus Christ came with a human body is from God;

3 and every spirit that doth not confess Jesus Christ in the flesh having come, of God it is not; and this is that of the antichrist, which ye heard that it doth come, and now in the world it is already.

while every spirit that doesn't accept Jesus, that spirit isn't from God. In fact it is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming, and which is already in the world.

4 Ye — of God ye are, little children, and ye have overcome them; because greater is He who [is] in you, than he who is in the world.

But you belong to God, my friends, and you have defeated them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

5 They — of the world they are; because of this from the world they speak, and the world doth hear them;

They belong to the world, so they speak like people of the world, and the world listens to them.

6 we — of God we are; he who is knowing God doth hear us; he who is not of God, doth not hear us; from this we know the spirit of the truth, and the spirit of the error.

We belong to God and whoever knows God listens to us, while whoever doesn't belong to God doesn't listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of deception.

7 Beloved, may we love one another, because the love is of God, and every one who is loving, of God he hath been begotten, and doth know God;

Dear friends, let's go on loving one another, for love comes from God. All those who love are born of God and know God.

8 he who is not loving did not know God, because God is love.

Those who don't love don't know God, for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son — the only begotten — hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him;

How was God's love shown to us? God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could live through him.

10 in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins.

This is love! It's not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be the reconciliation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;

Friends, if this is the way God loves us, we ought to love one another like this too.

12 God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us;

No one has ever seen God. However, if we love one another then God lives in us, and his love is fulfilled in us.

13 in this we know that in Him we do remain, and He in us, because of His Spirit He hath given us.

How can we know that we live in him, and that he lives in us? He's given us the ability to love by his Spirit.

14 And we — we have seen and do testify, that the Father hath sent the Son — Saviour of the world;

For we are witnesses to what we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world.

15 whoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him doth remain, and he in God;

God lives in everyone who declares that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God.

16 and we — we have known and believed the love, that God hath in us; God is love, and he who is remaining in the love, in God he doth remain, and God in him.

We have experienced and trusted in the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them.

17 In this made perfect hath been the love with us, that boldness we may have in the day of the judgment, because even as He is, we — we also are in this world;

This is how love is made complete in us so that we can be confident on judgment day: by the fact that we live just like him in this world.

18 fear is not in the love, but the perfect love doth cast out the fear, because the fear hath punishment, and he who is fearing hath not been made perfect in the love;

Where there is love there can be no fear. God loves us completely, and this love drives all our fears away. If we do fear, it's because we fear being punished, and this shows that we have not been fully re-made by the completeness of God's love.

19 we — we love him, because He — He first loved us;

We love because he loved us first.

20 if any one may say — 'I love God,' and his brother he may hate, a liar he is; for he who is not loving his brother whom he hath seen, God — whom he hath not seen — how is he able to love?

Anyone who says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, is a liar. Anyone who doesn't love a brother whom they can see, can't love God whom they can't see.

21 and this [is] the command we have from Him, that he who is loving God, may also love his brother.

This is the command he gave to us: those who love God love their brothers and sisters too.