1 John 4

Testing the Spirits

1 1Beloved, do not believe every 2spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because 3many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: 4every spirit that 5confesses that 6Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
3 and every spirit that 7does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the 8antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and 9now it is already in the world.
4 You are from God, 10little children, and 11have overcome them; because 12greater is He who is in you than 13he who is in the world.
5 14They are from the world; therefore * they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
6 15We are from God; 16he who knows God listens to us; 17he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know 18the spirit of truth and 19the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 20Beloved, let us 21love one another, for love is from God; and 22everyone who loves is 23born of God and 24knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for 25God is love.
9 By this the love of God was manifested 26in us, that 27God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, 28not that we loved God, but that 29He loved us and sent His Son to be 30the propitiation for our sins.
11 31Beloved, if God so loved us, 32we also ought to love one another.
12 33No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His 34love is perfected in us.
13 35By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and 36testify that the Father has 37sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 38Whoever * confesses that 39Jesus is the Son of God, God 40abides in him, and he in God.
16 41We have come to know and have believed the love which God has 42for us. 43God is love, and the one who 44abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, 45love is perfected with us, so that we may have 46confidence in 47the day of judgment; because 48as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but 49perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not 50perfected in love.
19 51We love, because He first loved us.
20 52If someone says, "I love God," and 53hates his brother, he is a 54liar; for 55the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, 56cannot * love God whom he has not seen.
21 And 57this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God 58should love his brother also.

Images for 1 John 4

Cross References 58

  • 1. 3 John 11
  • 2. Jeremiah 29:8; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:2
  • 3. Jeremiah 14:14; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:18
  • 4. 1 Corinthians 12:3
  • 5. 1 John 2:23
  • 6. John 1:14; 1 John 1:2
  • 7. 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7
  • 8. 1 John 2:18, 22
  • 9. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7; 1 John 2:18
  • 10. 1 John 2:1
  • 11. 1 John 2:13
  • 12. Romans 8:31; 1 John 3:20
  • 13. John 12:31
  • 14. John 15:19; John 17:14, 16
  • 15. John 8:23; 1 John 4:4
  • 16. John 8:47; John 10:3f; John 18:37
  • 17. 1 Corinthians 14:37
  • 18. John 14:17
  • 19. 1 Timothy 4:1
  • 20. 1 John 2:7
  • 21. 1 John 3:11
  • 22. 1 John 5:1
  • 23. 1 John 2:29
  • 24. 1 Corinthians 8:3; 1 John 2:3
  • 25. 1 John 4:7, 16
  • 26. John 9:3; 1 John 4:16
  • 27. John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 John 5:11
  • 28. Romans 5:8, 10; 1 John 4:19
  • 29. John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; 1 John 5:11
  • 30. 1 John 2:2
  • 31. 1 John 2:7
  • 32. 1 John 4:7
  • 33. John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:20
  • 34. 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:17
  • 35. Romans 8:9; 1 John 3:24
  • 36. John 15:27; 1 John 1:2
  • 37. John 3:17; John 4:42; 1 John 2:2
  • 38. 1 John 2:23
  • 39. Romans 10:9; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 4:2; 1 John 5:1, 5
  • 40. 1 John 2:24; 1 John 3:24
  • 41. John 6:69
  • 42. John 9:3; 1 John 4:9
  • 43. 1 John 4:7, 8
  • 44. 1 John 4:12
  • 45. 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:12
  • 46. 1 John 2:28
  • 47. Matthew 10:15
  • 48. John 17:22; 1 John 2:6; 1 John 3:1, 7, 16
  • 49. Romans 8:15
  • 50. 1 John 4:12
  • 51. 1 John 4:10
  • 52. 1 John 1:6, 8, 10; 1 John 2:4
  • 53. 1 John 2:9, 11
  • 54. 1 John 1:6
  • 55. 1 John 3:17
  • 56. 1 Peter 1:8; 1 John 4:12
  • 57. Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43; Matthew 22:37f; John 13:34
  • 58. 1 John 3:11

Footnotes 5

1 John 4 Commentaries

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