4Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits ^mto determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has ⁿcome in the flesh ^ois from God. ^p³But every spirit who does not confess Jesus ^qis not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; ^ryou have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

⁴You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you ^sis greater than the one who is in the world. ^t⁵They are from the world. ^uTherefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; ^vanyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. ^w

Knowing God through Love

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God ^xand knows God. ⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: ^yGod sent ^zHis One and Only Son ^ainto the world so that we might live ^bthrough Him. ¹⁰Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us ^cand sent His Son to be the ^dpropitiation ^efor our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. ^f¹²No one has ever seen God. ^g^hIf we love one another, God remains in ⁱus and His love is perfected in us.

¹³This is how we know that we remain in Him ^jand He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. ^k¹⁴And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son ^las the world’s Savior. ¹⁵Whoever confesses ^mⁿthat Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, ^ofor we are as He is in this world. ^p¹⁸There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, ^qbecause fear involves punishment. ^rSo the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. ^s¹⁹We love ^tbecause He first loved us. ^u

Keeping God’s Commands

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, ^vhe is a liar. ^wFor the person who does not love his brother ^xhe has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. ^y²¹And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.

5Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, ^zand everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him. ²This is how we know that we love God’s children when we love God and obey ^aHis commands. ³For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. Now His commands are not a burden, ^b⁴because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. ⁵And who is the one who conquers the world ^cbut the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ^d

The Certainty of God’s Testimony

⁶Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water ^eand by blood. ^fAnd the Spirit is the One who testifies, ^gbecause the Spirit is the truth. ⁷For there are three that testify: ^hⁱ⁸the Spirit, ^jthe water, and the blood ^k—and these three are in agreement. ⁹If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony ^lis greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. ¹⁰(The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, ^mbecause he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) ¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹²The one who has the Son has life. ⁿThe one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name ^oof the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Effective Prayer

¹⁴Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask ^panything according to His will, He hears us. ^q¹⁵And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, ^rwe know that we have what we have asked Him for. ^s

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not bring death, he should ask, and God ^twill give life to him—to those who commit sin that doesn’t bring death. There is sin ^uthat brings death. I am not saying he should pray about that. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin that does not bring death.

Conclusion

¹⁸We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the One ^vwho is born of God keeps him, ^w^x^yand the evil one does not touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come ^zand has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. ^aWe are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. ^bHe is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

n4:2 Or confesses Jesus to be the Christ
q4:3 Other read confess that Jesus has come in the flesh
y4:9 Or revealed in us
d4:10 Or a
g4:12 Since God is an infinite being, no one can see Him in His absolute essential nature; Ex 33:18–23.
i4:12 Or remains among
m4:15 Or acknowledges
r4:18 Or fear has its own punishment or torment
t4:19 Other add Him
y4:20 Other read has seen, how is he able to love … seen? (as a question)
a5:2 Other read keep
h5:7–8 Other ( and a few late Gk ) read testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One. 8 And there are three who bear witness on earth:
t5:16 He
u5:16 Or is a sin
v5:18 Jesus Christ
w5:18 Other read himself
x5:18 Or the one who is born of God keeps himself
a5:20 Other read the true God

Cross references

m4:1 1Th 5:21
o4:2 Jn 1:14; Php 2:7; 3:3
p4:2 1Co 12:3
r4:3 1Jn 2:18, 22; 2Jn 7
s4:4 Rm 8:31; Col 1:27; 1Jn 3:20
t4:4 Jn 12:31
u4:5 Jn 17:6; 2Pt 2:20
v4:6 Jn 8:47
w4:6 Mk 13:5–6; 1Co 2:12; 1Tm 4:1
x4:7 1Jn 2:29
z4:9 Mk 9:37
a4:9 Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18
b4:9 Jn 10:28
c4:10 Jn 3:16
e4:10 2Co 5:21; 1Jn 2:2
f4:11 Jn 13:14; 15:12; Rm 13:8; 1Th 4:9; 1Pt 1:22
h4:12 Ex 33:20
j4:13 Jn 15:4–7; 1Jn 2:6, 24, 27–28; 3:6, 24; 4:15–16
k4:13 Rv 3:22
l4:14 Rm 1:3
n4:15 Jn 9:22; Php 2:6
o4:17 Mt 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36; 2Pt 2:9; 3:7; Jd 6
p4:17 Jn 14:10–11; 15:9–10; 17:11, 15, 18
q4:18 Rm 8:15
s4:18 Eph 4:11–16
u4:19 2Th 2:13
v4:20 1Jn 2:9, 11; 3:15
w4:20 1Jn 1:10
x4:20 1Jn 2:10; 3:10, 14–17
z5:1 1Jn 2:29
b5:3 Dt 30:11; Mt 11:30; 23:4, 23
c5:5 1Co 15:57; 2Pt 2:20
d5:5 Jn 5:19; 14:1; Heb 1:2
e5:6 Mk 1:11; Jn 1:34
f5:6 Jn 17:1; 1Jn 1:7; 4:10
g5:6 Jn 15:26; Ac 26:5
i5:7 Dt 19:15; Mt 18:16; Jn 8:17–18
j5:8 Jn 1:32; 19:30; 20:22
k5:8 Jn 19:34
l5:9 Jn 5:36–37; 8:18
m5:10 Gn 3:4
n5:12 Jn 3:15, 36; 5:24; 6:40, 47
o5:13 1Jn 3:23
p5:14 Mt 7:7; Jn 14:13; 1Jn 3:22
q5:14 Mt 7:8; Jn 9:31; 11:22
r5:15 Jms 1:5
s5:15 Jn 11:22; 16:24
y5:18 Jn 17:12; 1Pt 1:5; Jd 24; Rv 3:10
z5:20 Jn 1:14; 8:42; 1Jn 1:2; 3:5, 8
b5:20 Jn 10:38; 15:9; 17:21; 1Th 1:1; 1Jn 2:23–24