1 John 4
New Testament for Everyone
False prophets
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Rather, test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Many false prophets, you see, have gone out into the world. 2 This is how we know God’s spirit: every spirit that agrees that Jesus the Messiah has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This spirit is actually the spirit of the Antimessiah. You have heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.
4 But you, children, are from God, and you have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world, and that is why they speak from the world, and why the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; people who know God listen to us, but people who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of error.
God’s love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and all who love are fathered by God and know God. 8 The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love has appeared among us: God sent his only son into the world, so that we should live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sacrifice that would atone for our sins. 11 Beloved, if that’s how God loved us, we ought to love one another in the same way. 12 Nobody has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is completed in us. 13 That is how we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us a portion of his spirit. 14 And we have seen and bear witness that the father sent the son to be the world’s savior. 15 Anyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s son, God abides in them and they abide in God. 16 And we have known and have believed the love which God has for us.
God is love; those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 This is what makes love complete for us, so that we may have boldness and confidence on the day of judgment, because just as he is, so are we within this world. 18 There is no fear in love; complete love drives out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and anyone who is afraid has not been completed in love. 19 We love, because he first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates their brother or sister, that person is a liar. Someone who doesn’t love a brother or sister whom they have seen, how can they love God, whom they haven’t seen? 21 This is the command we have from him: anyone who loves God should love their brother or sister too.
1 John 4
World English Bible
4 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7 Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born[a] Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice[b] for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him,[c] because he first loved us. 20 If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
Footnotes
- 4:9 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενη”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only”.
- 4:10 “atoning sacrifice” is from the Greek “ιλασμος”, an appeasing, propitiating, or the means of appeasement or propitiation—the sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath because of our sin.
- 4:19 NU omits “him”.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
by Public Domain. The name "World English Bible" is trademarked.