1 John 4

²¹but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

¹Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

¹⁵The simple man believes every word, but the prudent man watches his steps.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

⁴Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.

⁵For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

³Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁶By common confession, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, was taken up in glory.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

¹³However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.

¹⁴He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.

²²Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

³Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.

⁴He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

⁴because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

¹²We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

¹¹And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

²³Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

²Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.

³In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

¹⁴I have given them Your word and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

³¹The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

³For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.

¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

²⁷My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.

¹²We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

¹³And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

²⁶When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

⁴⁵But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!

⁴⁶Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

²²Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.

¹⁰Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

⁹Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

¹⁰And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more

¹⁶And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

¹⁵But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

⁵For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹¹And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

²⁶And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

⁴But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!

⁸But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

¹⁹We love because He first loved us.

²He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

¹²This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

¹³Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

³⁴A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

²³And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us.

³⁷“The one who showed him mercy,” replied the expert in the law. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

¹⁶By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

⁵But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.

¹⁶He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

²⁴Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

²⁴Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

²¹In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

¹⁶Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

¹²We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

⁹You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

⁴²They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

²He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

⁹that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

³²Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.

⁵Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

²⁴Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

²By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

²⁴Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

⁷How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!

⁸They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.

¹Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

¹For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the Lord, who sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

²⁸And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.

²⁹For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

⁵But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

¹⁹And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence:

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

⁷⁴deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.

²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

¹⁹You believe that God is one. Good for you! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

¹⁰And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

¹⁴For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.

¹⁵And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.

³For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

⁴But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

⁹If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.

¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

⁴If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

⁸Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

³⁷Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment.

¹⁸Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

¹¹This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

¹⁴The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁸Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.

⁹Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.