1 John
Chapter 4
1 Dear friends, do not believe all spirits, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have spread throughout the world.
2 You know God’s Spirit if it says Jesus Christ came as a human.
3 Any spirit that does not admit Jesus Christ has come as a human is not from God. This is the spirit of the enemy of Christ you have heard about, which is already in the world.
4 You belong to God, little children, and have defeated them: because the one in you is greater than the one in the world.
5 They belong to the world, so they talk about worldly things, and the world listens to them.
6 We belong to God: anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
7 Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves is God’s child and understands God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 God showed his love for us by sending his one and only Son into the world so we could have life through him.
10 Love is this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.
11 Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we should also love each other.
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us and his love becomes complete in us.
13 We know we live in God and God lives in us because he has given us his Spirit.
14 We have seen and tell others that God sent his Son to save the world.
15 Anyone who says Jesus is the Son of God lives with God, and God lives with him.
16 We know and trust God’s love for us. God is love; anyone living in love lives in God, and God lives in them.
17 Our love is made complete by this, so that we can be confident on judgment day: because we are like him in this world.
18 Love has no fear; true love gets rid of fear because fear brings pain. Someone who is afraid doesn’t have complete love.
19 We love God because God loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is lying. If he doesn’t love his brother who he can see, how can he love God who he cannot see?
21 We have this rule from God: Anyone who loves God should love their brother too.