1 John 4

 

 

1 Beloved, do not believe every teaching but test each doctrine whether it comes from the Spirit of God: for there are many false prophets in the world who claim to speak on behalf of God, speaking lies and deceiving many.

 

2 This is how you can know the Spirit of God: Every teaching that confesses that Jesus is the Christ; the Word of eternal life and has come in dying flesh and came out of the grave in immortal flesh is of God:

 

3 And every teaching that denies that Jesus Christ has come in dying flesh and came out of the grave in immortal flesh is not of God: this doctrine, which stands completely opposed to the doctrine of Christ (is antichrist), which opposition, and deception you heard would come and even now is already in the world.

 

4 You are born of the Spirit of God, little children, and thereby overcome the death and corruption in the world: because the Spirit of God that is in you is greater than the spirit in the world, having already made the same death and corruption in the world bow down in the body of Jesus Christ.

 

5 Those who are born from the wisdom in the world: will speak of all the corruptible things that are in the world through lust, and the world hears them.

 

6 We are born of God, born from above, and he who knows God, hears us; he who is not of God but of the world does not hear us. By this, we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit in the world that is filled with lies and deceit, departing from the Word that God has spoken in Christ and was proven in Him, standing up from the grave, immortal.

 

7 Beloved, let us abide in Him who is love so that we might love one another: for love is found in abiding with God and love is of God, and anyone who loves is born of God, and knows and is known by God.

 

8 He that does not love, does not abide in God, nor does he know God; for God is love.

 

9 This is how the love of God is revealed to us, in that God sent His Son, His only begotten Son, born from above of the Spirit, in a woman, who laid down His life for us and has become the firstborn from the dead, immortal, so that in and through Him we might have that same incorruptible life.

 

10 Herein is love, not that you love God, but that God loves you. And because of His great love for you, desiring to be good to you for all the ages to come, He did not want you to perish in death, but He has shown Himself favorable towards you in the Son, conquering the death that all your lifetime had you subject to fear and torment.

 

11 Beloved, if God, who is the source of love, has so loved us, serving us with who He is, abiding in His love allows us to love one another just as He has loved us.

 

12 No man has seen God at any time. When we love one another, we experience intimacy with the love of God that abides in us toward others, and His love is perfected in us to know and be known by Him.

 

13 This is how we know that we are in Him and He is in us because His Spirit lives in us, testifying to us that we are the sons of God.

 

14 And we have seen with our own eyes and testify now to you that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and He has become the author of eternal salvation to all those who believe.

 

15 Whosoever is persuaded and believes that Jesus is the Son of God, has not received this by flesh and blood but by the Spirit of the living God which dwells and remains in him, and he in God.

 

16 And in Him have we known and believed the love that God has towards us. For God is love, the very source of love, and he that abides in Him, abides in love, and God abides in him.

 

17 Herein is the love of God made perfect in our hearts, so that we may be able to stand in boldness before Him in the day of judgment; being persuaded that He could never be pleased that we were dead and perishing, but could only be satisfied in sharing His life with us, where He could be good to us for all the ages to come, so that we would be confident of the reward He has in His hands for us, that just as Jesus Christ is the Son of God clothed with glory and honor from the Father, so are you in this world. 

 

18 There is no fear of death in the love of God that He has spoken to us in Christ, the Word of life that came out of the grave in immortal flesh, but abiding in His perfect love, casts out the source of all fear from our hearts: because the fear of death is the thing that has brought torment and kept us in bondage all our days, for he who fears is not abiding in the perfect love of God that has conquered his death.

 

19 We love Him because He first showed Himself loving toward us in Christ, the Word of eternal life, in sending away our death.

 

20 If a man says he loves God and hates his brother, he is not walking in the truth of the Word of eternal life but in the lie that is born from death: for if he does not see how God has so loved both him and his brother in conquering their death in the body of Jesus Christ, in his brother whom he can see, how can he say he loves God who’s love can only be seen in Christ?

 

21 And this commandment we have from Him, whereby we abide in His eternal life, is the only life free from death, where we love God and love our brother also.