Chapter 4
The Spirit of the Antichrist in the World
1 Beloved,
do not trust every spirit,
but test the spirits
to see whether they are from God.
For many false prophets
have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
is not from God.
This is the spirit of the Antichrist,
about whose coming you have been told,
and that it is already in the world.
4 Dear children,
you are from God
and you have conquered them,
for the one who is in you is greater
than the one who is in the world.
5 They are from the world;
therefore, what they say is from the world,
and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God.
Anyone who knows God listens to us,
while anyone who is not from God
refuses to listen to us.
This is how we can distinguish
the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.
Remain in Love
What Love Is
7 Beloved,
let us love one another,
because love is from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love
does not know God,
because God is love.
9 God’s love was revealed to us in this way:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
10 This is what love is:
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
11 Beloved,
since God loved us so much,
we should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God,
but if we love one another,
God abides in us,
and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we can be certain
that we abide in him
and that he abides in us:
he has given us a share in his Spirit.
14 Moreover, we have seen for ourselves
and can testify
that the Father has sent the Son
as the Savior of the world.
15 God abides in anyone who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
and that person abides in God.
16 We have come to know
and to believe in
the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and whoever abides in love
abides in God,
and God in him.
17 This is how love is made perfect in us,
enabling us to have confidence
on the Day of Judgment,
because even in this world
we have become like him.
18 In love there is no fear;
indeed, perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears
has not yet achieved perfection in love.
19 Therefore, we love because he first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,”
but at the same time hates his brother,
he is a liar.
For whoever does not love the brother
whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 This is the commandment
we have received from him:
whoever loves God
must also love his brother.
Footnotes
- 1 John 4:1
- 1 John 4:2
- 1 John 4:4
- 1 John 4:6
- 1 John 4:7
- 1 John 4:7
- 1 John 4:10
- 1 John 4:13
