1 John 4

1 Dear friends, do not trust every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

My loved ones, do not put your faith in every spirit, but put them to the test, to see if they are from God: because a great number of false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 This is the way to recognise the Spirit of God: those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as come in the flesh have God’s Spirit,

By this you may have knowledge of the Spirit of God: every spirit which says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God:

3 while a spirit that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus isn’t from God. Instead it is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that it was coming, and it is now already in the world!

And every spirit which does not say this is not from God: this is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you have had word; and it is in the world even now.

4 You, my children, come from God, and you have successfully resisted such people as these, because he who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

You are of God, my little children, and you have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

5 Those people belong to the world and therefore they speak as the world speaks, and the world listens to them.

They are of the world, so their talk is the world's talk, and the world gives ear to them.

6 We come from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; the person who does not come from God does not listen to us. This is how we distinguish the spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

We are of God: he who has the knowledge of God gives ear to us; he who is not of God does not give ear to us. By this we may see which is the true spirit, and which is the spirit of error.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

My loved ones, let us have love for one another: because love is of God, and everyone who has love is a child of God and has knowledge of God.

8 Those who do not love know nothing of God, for God is love.

He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love.

9 This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.

10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us in this way, we should love one another.

My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another.

12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love reaches perfection within us.

No man has ever seen God: if we have love for one another, God is in us and his love is made complete in us:

13 We know that we live in him, and he lives in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit.

And his Spirit which he has given us is the witness that we are in him and he is in us.

14 Moreover, we have seen for ourselves and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

And we have seen and give witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God.

Everyone who says openly that Jesus is the Son of God, has God in him and is in God.

16 And so we have come to know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love; and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.

And we have seen and had faith in the love which God has for us. God is love, and everyone who has love is in God, and God is in him.

17 This is the way love has reached its perfection among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Christ.

In this way love is made complete in us, so that we may be without fear on the day of judging, because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So anyone who is afraid has not reached perfection in love.

There is no fear in love: true love has no room for fear, because where fear is, there is pain; and he who is not free from fear is not complete in love.

19 We love, because God first loved us.

We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us.

20 If someone says “I love God,” and yet hates others, they are a liar. For the person who does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

If a man says, I have love for God, and has hate for his brother, his words are false: for how is the man who has no love for his brother whom he has seen, able to have love for God whom he has not seen?

21 Indeed, we have this command from Christ: Those who love God must also love each other.

And this is the word which we have from him, that he who has love for God is to have the same love for his brother.