约翰一书 4
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
灵的分辨
4 亲爱的弟兄姊妹，不要什么灵都信，总要试验那些灵是否出于上帝，因为世上已经出现了许多假先知！ 2 任何灵若承认耶稣基督曾降世为人，就是从上帝来的，你们可以凭这一点认出上帝的灵。 3 任何灵若不承认耶稣，就不是从上帝来的，而是敌基督者的灵。以前你们听说敌基督者要来，现在他已经在世上了。
4 孩子们，你们属于上帝，你们已经胜过了那些假先知，因为在你们里面的圣灵比在世上运行的邪灵更有能力。 5 他们属于世界，所以他们谈论的都是世俗的事，世人也听从他们。 6 我们属于上帝，认识上帝的人听从我们，不属于上帝的人不听从我们。这样，我们就可以分辨真理的灵和错谬的灵。
上帝是爱
7 亲爱的弟兄姊妹，我们应当彼此相爱，因为爱是从上帝来的。凡有爱心的人都是从上帝生的，并且认识上帝。 8 没有爱心的人不认识上帝，因为上帝就是爱。 9 上帝差遣祂独一的儿子到世上来，是为了叫我们靠着祂得到生命。这就显明了上帝对我们的爱。 10 不是我们爱上帝，而是上帝爱我们，并且差遣祂儿子为我们的罪作了赎罪祭，这就是爱。
11 亲爱的弟兄姊妹，上帝既然这样爱我们，我们也应该彼此相爱。 12 从来没有人见过上帝，如果我们彼此相爱，上帝就住在我们里面，祂的爱就在我们里面得到成全。
13 上帝将祂的灵赐给了我们，所以我们知道自己住在祂里面，祂也住在我们里面。 14 我们看见过，现在做见证：父差遣了祂的儿子成为世人的救主。 15 无论是谁，他若承认耶稣是上帝的儿子，上帝必住在他里面，他也住在上帝里面。 16 我们已经认识并且相信了上帝对我们的爱。
上帝就是爱，住在爱中的，就是住在上帝里面，上帝也住在他里面。 17 这样，爱在我们里面得到成全，使我们在审判的日子可以坦然无惧，因为我们在这世上以基督为榜样。 18 爱里没有恐惧，纯全的爱能驱除恐惧，因为恐惧意味着怕受惩罚。人若心里恐惧，就表示他尚未明白那纯全的爱。
19 我们爱，因为上帝先爱了我们。 20 若有人说“我爱上帝”，却恨自己的弟兄姊妹，这人就是说谎话，因为人若不爱看得见的弟兄姊妹，又怎能爱看不见的上帝呢？ 21 爱上帝的人也应该爱弟兄姊妹，这是上帝给我们的命令。
1 John 4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 4
Testing the Spirits.[a] 1 Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.(A) 2 This is how you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God,(B) 3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus[b] does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.(C) 4 You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them.(D) 6 We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.(E)
God’s Love and Christian Life. 7 [c]Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. 8 Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.(F) 10 In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.(G) 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.(H)
13 [d]This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. 14 Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. 15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. 16 We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 17 In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world.(I) 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God[e] whom he has not seen.(J) 21 This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.(K)
Footnotes
- 4:1–6 Deception is possible in spiritual phenomena and may be tested by its relation to Christian doctrine (cf. 1 Cor 12:3): those who fail to acknowledge Jesus Christ in the flesh are false prophets and belong to the antichrist. Even though these false prophets are well received in the world, the Christian who belongs to God has a greater power in the truth.
- 4:3 Does not acknowledge Jesus: some ancient manuscripts add “Christ” and/or “to have come in the flesh” (cf. 1 Jn 4:2), and others read “every spirit that annuls (or severs) Jesus.”
- 4:7–12 Love as we share in it testifies to the nature of God and to his presence in our lives. One who loves shows that one is a child of God and knows God, for God’s very being is love; one without love is without God. The revelation of the nature of God’s love is found in the free gift of his Son to us, so that we may share life with God and be delivered from our sins. The love we have for one another must be of the same sort: authentic, merciful; this unique Christian love is our proof that we know God and can “see” the invisible God.
- 4:13–21 The testimony of the Spirit and that of faith join the testimony of love to confirm our knowledge of God. Our love is grounded in the confession of Jesus as the Son of God and the example of God’s love for us. Christian life is founded on the knowledge of God as love and on his continuing presence that relieves us from fear of judgment (1 Jn 4:16–18). What Christ is gives us confidence, even as we live and love in this world. Yet Christian love is not abstract but lived in the concrete manner of love for one another.
- 4:20 Cannot love God: some ancient manuscripts read “how can he love…?”
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