1 John 4

Revised Geneva Translation

4 Dearly beloved, do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are of God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

² By this you shall know the Spirit of God: Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.

³ And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is not of God. But this is the spirit of Antichrist, of whom you have heard; how that he would come and is now already in this world.

⁴ Little children, you are of God; and have overcome them! For greater is He Who is in you than he who is in this world.

⁵ They are of this world. Therefore, they speak of this world. And this world hears them.

⁶ We are of God. The one who knows God hears us. The one who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another. For love comes from God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

⁸ The one who does not love does not know God. For God is love.

⁹ In this was that love of God revealed amongst us: because God sent His only begotten Son into this world, so that we might live through Him.

¹⁰ In this is that love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be a reconciliation for our sins.

¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us. And His love is perfected in us.

¹³ By this we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us: because He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁴ And we have seen (and do testify) that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God - God dwells in him and he in God.

¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has in us. God is love. And the one who dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him.

¹⁷ In this is that love perfected in us: that we should have boldness on the Day of Judgment. For as He is, even so are we in this world.

¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear. For fear has painfulness. And the one who fears has not been perfected in love.

¹⁹ We love Him because He loved us first.

²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can one who does not love his brother - whom he has seen - love God, Whom he has not seen?

²¹ And this Commandment we have from Him: that the one who loves God should love his brother also.