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

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 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 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 — 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.

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

Those people belong to the world and therefore they speak as the world speaks, 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 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, 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 us love one another, because love comes from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

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

Those who do not love know nothing of 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;

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

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

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, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love reaches perfection within us.

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

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 — we have seen and do testify, that the Father hath sent the Son — 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 whoever may confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him doth remain, 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 — 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.

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 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 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 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;

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

We love, because God first loved us.

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?

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 command we have from Him, that he who is loving God, may also love his brother.

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