1 John 4

Test the Spirits

1Beloved, 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. 2By this you 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 is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

4Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, 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. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9By this the love of God was revealed among us: God sent the only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent the Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.

God Remains in Us

13By this we know that we remain in God and God in us: because God has given us from the Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God. 16And we have come to know and trust the love that God has for us.
God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in them.

Love and Confidence

17By this love has been perfected with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear carries punishment, and the one who fears has not been perfected in love.

Loving God and One Another

19We love because God first loved us. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates a brother or sister, that person is a liar; for the one who does not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21And this commandment we have from God: whoever loves God must also love a brother or sister.