1 John 4

Testing the Spiritsⓘ

Test the spirits¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus^a is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

⁴You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. That is why they speak from the worldʼs perspective, and the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit^b of truth and the spirit of deception.

Love Comes from Godⓘ

God is love⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹This is how Godʼs love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only^c Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice^d for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. Remaining in God and in love¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Perfect love drives out fear¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹We love^e because He first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.