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The Holy Spirit and false spirits

4 My friends, do not believe everyone who says that they speak God's message. There are many false prophets who are travelling around everywhere. They say that they have a message from God's Spirit, but the message comes from a false spirit. So check each message carefully to see if it is really from God.

2 How do you know whether a person has God's Spirit in him? He must agree that Jesus is God's Messiah who was born as a human baby. If someone says that, then he has God's Spirit. 3 But if someone does not agree to say that about Jesus, he does not have God's Spirit. That person has a spirit that comes from the enemy of Christ. You have heard that this enemy of Christ would come among us. Now this spirit is already here in the world.

4 My little children, you belong to God. You have won against those people with a false message. You have been able to do that because God's Holy Spirit is in you. He is more powerful than the spirit that belongs to this world. 5 Those false prophets belong to this world. Their message comes from the ideas of people of this world. So the people of this world believe what they teach. 6 But we belong to God. Everyone who knows God believes our message. But anyone who does not belong to God does not believe it.

So that is how we know if someone's message comes from God's Spirit or not. God's Spirit brings us a true message, but false spirits tell lies. [ a ]

Love each other because God loved us

7 My friends, we should all love each other. It is God who makes us able to love other people. Everyone who loves other people has become a child of God. That person knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love other people does not know God. We know this because God's own nature is love. 9 This is how God showed that he loves us: He sent his only Son to come and live in the world. He did that so that we could have true life with God because of his Son. 10 This shows what love is: It is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. He loved us so much that he sent his Son to save us from sin. He sent Jesus to die as a sacrifice, to take the punishment for our sins.

11 My friends, this shows how much God has loved us. So we should also love one another.

12 Nobody has ever seen God. But, if we love each other, it shows that God lives in us. As a result, we can love people completely, in the same way that God loves us. 13 God has given us his Holy Spirit to live in us. Because of this, we know that we live together with God. And we know that he lives with us. 14 God the Father sent his Son to come into the world. God sent him to save the people of the world from their sins. We apostles have seen that this is true. So now we are telling people about it.

15 If anyone says clearly that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in that person. And that person lives together with God. 16 So we know the kind of love that God has for us. We believe that God has put that love in us. God's nature is love. So, if someone continues to love other people, he is living together with God. And God lives in him. 17 That is how we are able to love other people completely. Then, we will not be afraid on the day when God will judge all people. We can be sure that God will not punish us. We know this because we have lived in this world in the way that Jesus lived.

18 If we really love God, we will not be afraid of him. We cannot love him completely and also be afraid. We would only be afraid of God if we thought that he would punish us. So, if someone is afraid that God will punish them, it shows that they do not completely know God's love.

19 We are able to love God and other people because God loved us first. 20 Someone may say, ‘I love God.’ But if he says that and he hates another Christian, he is telling a lie. He sees other believers but he does not love them. So he surely cannot love God that he has not seen. 21 This is the command that God has given us. He has told us that anyone who loves him should love other Christians too. [ b ]

Footnotes

  1. 4:6 It is very important to know the difference between true spirits and false spirits. Some people say that Jesus was not really a man. Other people say that he was not really God. People like that do not have God's Spirit. What they teach is false.
  2. 4:21 God's love is very special. Christians know how much God loves them. He sent Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin. We are no longer afraid that God will punish us for our sins. That is how much God loves us. Because of that, true Christians love other people. If they hate other people, it shows that they do not really know about God's love.

John Warns Against False Teachers

4 My dear friends, many false prophets are in the world now. So don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. 2 This is how you can recognize God’s Spirit. One spirit says, “I believe that Jesus is the Messiah who came to earth and became a man.” That Spirit is from God. 3 Another spirit refuses to say this about Jesus. That spirit is not from God. This is the spirit of the enemy of Christ. You have heard that the enemy of Christ is coming, and now he is already in the world.

4 My dear children, you belong to God, so you have already defeated these false prophets. That’s because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 And they belong to the world, so what they say is from the world too. And the world listens to what they say. 6 But we are from God. So the people who know God listen to us. But the people who are not from God don’t listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.

Love Comes From God

7 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child. And so everyone who loves knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him. 10 True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. He sent his Son as the way to take away our sins.

11 That is how much God loved us, dear friends! So we also must love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us. If we love each other, God’s love has reached its goal—it is made perfect in us.

13 We know that we live in God and God lives in us. We know this because he gave us his Spirit. 14 We have seen that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world, and this is what we tell people now. 15 Anyone who says, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” is a person who lives in God, and God lives in that person. 16 So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.

God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them. 17 If God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus. [ a ] 18 Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him. 21 God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 4:17 Jesus Literally, “that one.”

4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

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

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19 We love him, because he first loved us.

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Testing the Spirits

4 ( A ) Beloved, do not believe every ( B ) spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ( C ) many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: ( D ) every spirit that ( E ) confesses that ( F ) Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that ( G ) does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the ( H ) antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and ( I ) now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, ( J ) little children, and ( K ) have overcome them; because ( L ) greater is He who is in you than ( M ) he who is in the world. 5 ( N ) They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 ( O ) We are from God. ( P ) The one who knows God listens to us; ( Q ) the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ( R ) the spirit of truth and ( S ) the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 ( T ) Beloved, let’s ( U ) love one another; for love is from God, and ( V ) everyone who loves has been ( W ) born of God and ( X ) knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because ( Y ) God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed [ a ] ( Z ) in us, that ( AA ) God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 In this is love, ( AB ) not that we loved God, but that ( AC ) He loved us and sent His Son to be ( AD ) the [ b ] propitiation for our sins. 11 ( AE ) Beloved, if God so loved us, ( AF ) we also ought to love one another. 12 ( AG ) No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His ( AH ) love is perfected in us. 13 ( AI ) By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and ( AJ ) testify that the Father has ( AK ) sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 ( AL ) Whoever confesses that ( AM ) Jesus is the Son of God, God ( AN ) remains in him, and he in God. 16 ( AO ) We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [ c ] ( AP ) for us. ( AQ ) God is love, and the one who ( AR ) remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 By this, ( AS ) love is perfected with us, so that we may have ( AT ) confidence in ( AU ) the day of judgment; because ( AV ) as He is, we also are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but ( AW ) perfect love drives out fear, because fear [ d ] involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ( AX ) perfected in love. 19 ( AY ) We love, because He first loved us. 20 ( AZ ) If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he ( BA ) hates his brother or sister , he is a ( BB ) liar; for ( BC ) the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, ( BD ) cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And ( BE ) this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ( BF ) must also love his brother and sister .

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 4:9 Or among us ; or in our case
  2. 1 John 4:10 I.e., means of reconciliation with God by atoning for sins; or sin-offering
  3. 1 John 4:16 Lit in
  4. 1 John 4:18 Lit has

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends, ( A ) do not believe every spirit, ( B ) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ( C ) 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh ( D ) is from God, ( E ) 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, ( F ) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ( G )

4 You, dear children, ( H ) are from God and have overcome them, ( I ) because the one who is in you ( J ) is greater than the one who is in the world. ( K ) 5 They are from the world ( L ) and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. ( M ) This is how we recognize the Spirit [ a ] of truth ( N ) and the spirit of falsehood. ( O )

God’s Love and Ours

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, ( P ) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God ( Q ) and knows God. ( R ) 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ( S ) 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son ( T ) into the world that we might live through him. ( U ) 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us ( V ) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ( W ) 11 Dear friends, ( X ) since God so loved us, ( Y ) we also ought to love one another. ( Z ) 12 No one has ever seen God; ( AA ) but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. ( AB )

13 This is how we know ( AC ) that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ( AD ) 14 And we have seen and testify ( AE ) that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ( AF ) 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, ( AG ) God lives in them and they in God. ( AH ) 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. ( AI ) Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ( AJ ) 17 This is how love is made complete ( AK ) among us so that we will have confidence ( AL ) on the day of judgment: ( AM ) In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, ( AN ) because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. ( AO ) 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister ( AP ) is a liar. ( AQ ) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, ( AR ) cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ( AS ) 21 And he has given us this command: ( AT ) Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. ( AU )

Footnotes

  1. 1 John 4:6 Or spirit
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