Iohannis I 4
1 Carissimi, nolite omni spiritui credere, sed probate spiritus si ex Deo sint: quoniam multi pseudoprophetæ exierunt in mundum.
Dear friends, do not trust every inspiration, but test each inspiration, to see whether it proceeds from God; because many false Prophets have gone out into the world.
2 In hoc cognoscitur Spiritus Dei: omnis spiritus qui confitetur Jesum Christum in carne venisse, ex Deo est:
This is the way by which to know the inspiration of God — All inspiration that acknowledges Jesus Christ as come in our human nature is from God;
3 et omnis spiritus qui solvit Jesum, ex Deo non est, et hic est antichristus, de quo audistis quoniam venit, et nunc jam in mundo est.
while all inspiration that does not acknowledge Jesus is not inspiration from God. It is the inspiration of the Anti-Christ; you have heard that it was to come, and it is now already in the world.
4 Vos ex Deo estis filioli, et vicistis eum, quoniam major est qui in vobis est, quam qui in mundo.
You, my Children, come from God, and you have successfully resisted such men as these, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5 Ipsi de mundo sunt: ideo de mundo loquuntur, et mundus eos audit.
Those men belong to the world; and therefore they speak as the world speaks, and the world listens to them.
6 Nos ex Deo sumus. Qui novit Deum, audit nos; qui non est ex Deo, non audit nos: in hoc cognoscimus Spiritum veritatis, et spiritum erroris.
We come from God. He who knows God listens to us; the man who does not come from God does not listen to us. By that we may know the true inspiration from the false.
7 Carissimi, diligamus nos invicem: quia caritas ex Deo est. Et omnis qui diligit, ex Deo natus est, et cognoscit Deum.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because Love comes from God; and every one who loves has received the new Life from God and knows God.
8 Qui non diligit, non novit Deum: quoniam Deus caritas est.
He who does not love has not learned to know God; for God is Love.
9 In hoc apparuit caritas Dei in nobis, quoniam Filium suum unigenitum misit Deus in mundum, ut vivamus per eum.
The love of God was revealed to us by his sending his only Son into the world, that we might find Life through him.
10 In hoc est caritas: non quasi nos dilexerimus Deum, sed quoniam ipse prior dilexit nos, et misit Filium suum propitiationem pro peccatis nostris.
His love is seen in this — not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and sending his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11 Carissimi, si sic Deus dilexit nos: et nos debemus alterutrum diligere.
Dear friends, since God loved us thus, we, surely, ought to love one another.
12 Deum nemo vidit umquam. Si diligamus invicem, Deus in nobis manet, et caritas ejus in nobis perfecta est.
No human eyes have ever seen God, yet, if we love one another, God remains in union with us, and his love attains its perfection in us.
13 In hoc cognoscimus quoniam in eo manemus, et ipse in nobis: quoniam de Spiritu suo dedit nobis.
We know that we remain in union with him, and he with us, by this — by his having given us some measure of his Spirit.
14 Et nos vidimus, et testificamur quoniam Pater misit Filium suum Salvatorem mundi.
Moreover, our eyes have seen — and we are testifying to the fact — that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Quisquis confessus fuerit quoniam Jesus est Filius Dei, Deus in eo manet, et ipse in Deo.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God — God remains in union with that man, and he with God.
16 Et nos cognovimus, et credidimus caritati, quam habet Deus in nobis. Deus caritas est: et qui manet in caritate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo.
And, moreover, we have learned to know, and have accepted as a fact, the love which God has for us. God is Love; and he who lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In hoc perfecta est caritas Dei nobiscum, ut fiduciam habeamus in die judicii: quia sicut ille est, et nos sumus in hoc mundo.
It is through this that love has attained its perfection in us, so that we may have confidence on the Day of Judgment, because what Christ is that we also are in this world.
18 Timor non est in caritate: sed perfecta caritas foras mittit timorem, quoniam timor pœnam habet: qui autem timet, non est perfectus in caritate.
There is no fear in love. No! Love, when perfect, drives out fear, for fear implies punishment, and the man who feels fear has not attained to perfect love.
19 Nos ergo diligamus Deum, quoniam Deus prior dilexit nos.
We love, because God first loved us.
20 Si quis dixerit: Quoniam diligo Deum, et fratrem suum oderit, mendax est. Qui enim non diligit fratrem suum quem vidit, Deum, quem non vidit, quomodo potest diligere?
If a man says ‘I love God,’ and yet hates his Brother, he is a liar; for the man who does not love his Brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21 Et hoc mandatum habemus a Deo: ut qui diligit Deum, diligat et fratrem suum.
Indeed, we have this Command from God — ‘He who loves God must also love his Brother.’
