1 John 4

1 John 4:1-6

¹Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already. ⁴You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. ⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Test the spirits; every spirit confessing Jesus Christ come in the flesh is of God, while the antichrist spirit denies this; believers have overcome false prophets because the One in them is greater than the one in the world, and hearing apostolic witness marks being of God.

1 John 4:7-12

⁷Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. ⁹By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.

Love one another because love is of God and knowing God means loving; the unloving do not know God who is love; God’s love was revealed by sending His only Son as propitiation so we might live; since God loved us, we ought to love one another, and as we love, God abides and His love is perfected.

1 John 4:13-17

¹³By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. ¹⁶We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. ¹⁷In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world.

We know we abide in God and He in us because He has given His Spirit; we testify the Father sent the Son as Savior of the world; confessing Jesus as Son of God means God abides in us; knowing and believing God’s love gives confidence for the day of judgment as we are in this world like Jesus.

1 John 4:18-19

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹We love him, because he first loved us.

There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear of punishment; the one fearing is not perfected in love; we love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:20-21

²⁰If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.

Claiming to love God while hating a brother is a lie; the unseen God is loved only as we love the brother we see; the commandment from Him is that the God-lover must also love his brother.

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