The New Testament

The New Testament › 1 John

1 John 4

1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and which is already in the world now. 4You are from God, little children, and you have overcome them, because the one in you is greater than the one in the world. 5They are from the world; that is why they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 8The one who does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. 9By this the love of God was revealed among us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love: not that we have 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 too ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been brought to completion in us.

13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us: he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in that person, and that person in God. 16And we have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in that person. 17By this love has been brought to completion with us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because just as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but complete love throws fear out, because fear has to do with punishment; the one who fears has not been brought to completion in love. 19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And we have this commandment from him: the one who loves God must also love his brother.

Translation notes 5

4:1–6 — Testing spirits. The spirits are assessed through the confession and teaching of prophets; the passage does not simply identify every personal feeling as a spirit. “As having come in the flesh” affirms Jesus Christ's embodied coming. Verse 3 follows the shorter Greek reading, “does not confess Jesus”; some witnesses repeat the fuller confession from verse 2. The word “spirit” is supplied in “the spirit of the antichrist,” where the Greek leaves it understood.

4:7–10 — Love, birth, and the only Son. “Fathered by God” continues the family imagery. “Only Son” expresses the Son's unique relationship to the Father; the adjective does not by itself describe a process of begetting. “Atoning sacrifice” repeats 2:2, with its alternatives “means of atonement,” “expiation,” and “propitiation.” The initiative here is God's love in sending the Son.

4:9, 12–16 — In us and among us. The Greek expression can describe what happens within people or among the community. The draft uses “among us” for the revealed love in verse 9, “in us” for God's remaining, and “for us” for God's love in verse 16. “Of his Spirit” in verse 13 describes participation in the Spirit without specifying a divisible portion.

4:17–18 — Complete love and fear. The repeated language of completion describes love reaching its intended expression. The fear in view is connected with punishment and the day of judgment; the passage is not a blanket description of every kind of fear or anxiety. “Just as he is” most naturally refers to Jesus; the precise aspect of likeness is not spelled out.

4:19–21 — We love. The Greek base gives no object after “we love”; other witnesses add “him.” The broader wording connects God's prior love with love both for God and for one's brother. Here “brother” includes fellow believers of either sex.