1 John 4

Tree of Life Version

Yeshua, the Ruach of Truth

4 Loved ones, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. ^{[a] 2} You know the Ruach Elohim by this—every spirit that acknowledges that Messiah Yeshua has come in human flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. ⁴ You are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world, so they speak from the world and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God; whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God’s Life-Giving Spirit of Love

⁷ Loved ones, let us love one another, for love is from God. 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 The love of God was revealed among us by this—that God sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ This is love—not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins.

¹¹ Loved ones, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God.^[b] If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is made perfect in us. ¹³ We know that we abide in Him and He in us by this—because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ We have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Yeshua is Ben-Elohim, God abides in him and he abides in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and trust in the love that God has for us. God is love. Now whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

God’s Fulfilling Love

¹⁷ In this way, love is made perfect among us, so that we should have boldness on the Day of Judgment. For just as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love, because He first loved us.

Love God—Love God’s Family

²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brother.^[c]