1 John 4-5

I John 4

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.

²By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has 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 have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

⁴You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

⁵They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

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

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.

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.

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

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.

¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

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.

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.

¹⁹We love because He first loved us.

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.

²¹And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.

I John 5

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.

²By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.

³For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

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

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

⁶This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.

⁹Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son.

¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.

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

¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask God, who will give life to those who commit this kind of sin. There is a sin that leads to death; I am not saying he should ask regarding that sin.

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin, yet there is sin that does not lead to death.

¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.