¹^aBeloved, do not believe every ^bspirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^cmany false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: ^aevery spirit that ^bconfesses that ^cJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³and every spirit that ^adoes not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the ^bantichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and ^cnow it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, ^alittle children, and ^bhave overcome them; because ^cgreater is He who is in you than ^dhe who is in the world.

⁵^aThey are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world hears them.

⁶^aWe are from God. ^bThe one who knows God hears us; ^cthe one who is not from God does not hear us. From this we know ^dthe spirit of truth and ^ethe spirit of error.

God Is Love

⁷^aBeloved, let us ^blove one another, for love is from God; and ^ceveryone who loves has been ¹^dborn of God and ^eknows God.

⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because ^aGod is love.

⁹By this the love of God was manifested ¹^ain us, that ^bGod has sent His ²only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, ^anot that we have loved God, but that ^bHe loved us and sent His Son to be ^cthe propitiation for our sins.

¹¹^aBeloved, if God so loved us, ^bwe also ought to love one another.

¹²^aNo one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His ^blove is perfected in us.

¹³^aBy this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

¹⁴We have beheld and ^abear witness that the Father has ^bsent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵^aWhoever confesses that ^bJesus is the Son of God, God ^cabides in him, and he in God.

¹⁶^aAnd we have come to know and have believed the love which God has ^bin us. ^cGod is love, and the one who ^dabides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

¹⁷By this, ^alove has been perfected with us, so that we may have ^bconfidence in ^cthe day of judgment, because ^das He is, so also are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but ^aperfect love casts out fear, because fear ¹involves punishment, and the one who fears is not ^bperfected in love.

¹⁹^aWe love, because He first loved us.

²⁰^aIf someone says, “I love God,” and ^bhates his brother, he is a ^cliar; for ^dthe one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^ecannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And ^athis commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God ^bshould love his brother also.

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Footnotes

1Or begotten
1Or in our case
2Or unique, only one of His kind
1Lit has

Cross references

a3 John 11
b Jer 29:8; 1 Cor 12:10; 1 Thess 5:20f; 2 Thess 2:2
c Jer 14:14; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 2:18
a 1 Cor 12:3
b 1 John 2:23
c John 1:14; 1 John 1:2
a 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7
b 1 John 2:18, 22
c 2 Thess 2:3–7; 1 John 2:18
a 1 John 2:1
b 1 John 2:13
c Rom 8:31; 1 John 3:20
d John 12:31
a John 15:19; 17:14, 16
a John 8:23; 1 John 4:4
b John 8:47; 10:3ff; 18:37
c 1 Cor 14:37
d John 14:17
e 1 Tim 4:1
a 1 John 2:7
b 1 John 3:11
c 1 John 5:1
d 1 John 2:29
e 1 Cor 8:3; 1 John 2:3
a 1 John 4:7, 16
a John 9:3; 1 John 4:16
b John 3:16f; 1 John 4:10; 5:11
a Rom 5:8, 10; 1 John 4:19
b John 3:16f; 1 John 4:9; 5:11
c 1 John 2:2
a 1 John 2:7
b 1 John 4:7
a John 1:18; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 John 4:20
b 1 John 2:5; 4:17f
a Rom 8:9; 1 John 3:24
a John 15:27; 1 John 1:2
b John 3:17; 4:42; 1 John 2:2
a 1 John 2:23
b Rom 10:9; 1 John 3:23; 4:2; 5:1, 5
c 1 John 2:24; 3:24
a John 6:69
b John 9:3; 1 John 4:9
c 1 John 4:7, 8
d 1 John 4:12f
a 1 John 2:5; 4:12
b 1 John 2:28
c Matt 10:15
d John 17:22; 1 John 2:6; 3:1, 7, 16
a Rom 8:15
b 1 John 4:12
a 1 John 4:10
a 1 John 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4
b 1 John 2:9, 11
c 1 John 1:6
d 1 John 3:17
e 1 Pet 1:8; 1 John 4:12
a Lev 19:18; Matt 5:43f; 22:37ff; John 13:34
b 1 John 3:11