1 John 4 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
FBV Free Bible Version
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
PT1904 Patriarchal Text 1904 (accented, eBible edition)
1 Dear friends, don't trust every spirit, but put the spirits to the test to find out whether they're from God, for there are many false prophets out there in the world.
1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 Ἀγαπητοί, μὴ παντὶ πνεύματι πιστεύετε, ἀλλὰ δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα εἰ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν, ὅτι πολλοὶ ψευδοπροφῆται ἐξεληλύθασιν εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
2 How can you recognize God's Spirit? Every spirit that accepts Jesus Christ came with a human body is from God;
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
2 ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκετε τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ· πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι·
3 while every spirit that doesn't accept Jesus, that spirit isn't from God. In fact it is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming, and which is already in the world.
3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
3 καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστι· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη.
4 But you belong to God, my friends, and you have defeated them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
4 Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστε, τεκνία, καὶ νενικήκατε αὐτούς, ὅτι μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ.
5 They belong to the world, so they speak like people of the world, and the world listens to them.
5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
5 αὐτοὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου εἰσί· διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου λαλοῦσι καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν ἀκούει.
6 We belong to God and whoever knows God listens to us, while whoever doesn't belong to God doesn't listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of deception.
6 We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
6 ἡμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐσμεν· ὁ γινώσκων τὸν Θεὸν ἀκούει ἡμῶν. ὃς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἀκούει ἡμῶν. ἐκ τούτου γινώσκομεν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης.
7 Dear friends, let's go on loving one another, for love comes from God. All those who love are born of God and know God.
7 Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
7 Ἀγαπητοί, ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται καὶ γινώσκει τὸν Θεόν.
8 Those who don't love don't know God, for God is love.
8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
8 ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν Θεόν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν.
9 How was God's love shown to us? God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could live through him.
9 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him.
9 ἐν τούτῳ ἐφανερώθη ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἀπέσταλκεν ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα ζήσωμεν δι᾽ αὐτοῦ.
10 This is love! It's not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and he sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
10 ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠγαπήσαμεν τὸν Θεόν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀπέστειλε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.
11 Friends, if this is the way God loves us, we ought to love one another like this too.
11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
11 Ἀγαπητοί, εἰ οὕτως ὁ Θεὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν.
12 No one has ever seen God. However, if we love one another then God lives in us, and his love is fulfilled in us.
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
12 Θεὸν οὐδεὶς πώποτε τεθέαται· ἐὰν ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν μένει καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη αὐτοῦ τετελειωμένη ἐστὶν ἐν ἡμῖν.
13 How can we know that we live in him, and that he lives in us? He's given us the ability to love by his Spirit.
13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
13 ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ μένομεν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος αὐτοῦ δέδωκεν ἡμῖν.
14 For we are witnesses to what we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
14 Καὶ ἡμεῖς τεθεάμεθα καὶ μαρτυροῦμεν ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ ἀπέσταλκε τὸν υἱὸν σωτῆρα τοῦ κόσμου.
15 God lives in everyone who declares that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
15 ὃς ἂν ὁμολογήσῃ ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν αὐτῷ μένει καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Θεῷ.
16 We have experienced and trusted in the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them.
16 We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
16 καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐγνώκαμεν καὶ πεπιστεύκαμεν τὴν ἀγάπην ἣν ἔχει ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν. Ὁ Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστί, καὶ ὁ μένων ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ μένει καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐν αὐτῷ.
17 This is how love is made complete in us so that we can be confident on judgment day: by the fact that we live just like him in this world.
17 In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world.
17 Ἐν τούτῳ τετελείωται ἡ ἀγάπη μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἵνα παρρησίαν ἔχωμεν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, ὅτι καθὼς ἐκεῖνός ἐστι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ.
18 Where there is love there can be no fear. God loves us completely, and this love drives all our fears away. If we do fear, it's because we fear being punished, and this shows that we have not been fully remade by the completeness of God's love.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
18 φόβος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ τελεία ἀγάπη ἔξω βάλλει τὸν φόβον, ὅτι ὁ φόβος κόλασιν ἔχει, ὁ δὲ φοβούμενος οὐ τετελείωται ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ.
19 We love because he loved us first.
19 We love him, because he first loved us.
19 Ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν αὐτόν, ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς.
20 Anyone who says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, is a liar. Anyone who doesn't love a brother whom they can see, can't love God whom they can't see.
20 If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
20 ἐάν τις εἴπῃ ὅτι ἀγαπῶ τὸν Θεόν, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῇ, ψεύστης ἐστίν· ὁ γὰρ μὴ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὃν ἑώρακε, τὸν Θεὸν ὃν οὐχ ἑώρακε πῶς δύναται ἀγαπᾶν;
21 This is the command he gave to us: those who love God love their brothers and sisters too.
21 This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
21 καὶ ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔχομεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ.
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Timothy 4:1; Proverbs 14:15; 2 John 7
- 2 John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 4:3
- 3 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:3–8
- 4 Romans 8:31; 1 John 5:4; Romans 8:37; 1 John 4:16; 1 Corinthians 2:12
- 5 John 8:23; 2 Peter 2:2–3; John 17:14; John 3:31; John 17:16
- 6 John 14:17; John 10:27; 1 Corinthians 2:12–14; John 15:26; 1 John 4:1
- 7 1 John 4:20–5:1; 1 John 4:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 2:10; Galatians 5:22
- 8 1 John 4:16; 1 John 4:7; Psalm 86:15; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Psalm 86:5
- 9 John 3:16; 1 John 5:11; Romans 8:32; 1 John 4:10; John 6:57
- 10 Ephesians 2:4–5; Romans 5:8–10; 1 John 4:19; 1 John 2:2; John 15:16
- 11 John 15:12–13; Colossians 3:13; John 13:34; 1 John 3:23; Luke 10:37
- 12 John 1:18; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:17–18; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:20
- 13 1 John 3:24; Ephesians 2:20–22; 1 Corinthians 3:16–17; Galatians 5:22–25; 1 Corinthians 2:12
- 14 1 John 4:10; John 3:16–17; John 4:42; John 1:14; John 1:29
- 15 Romans 10:9; Matthew 10:32; 1 John 5:5; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:2
- 16 1 John 3:24; Psalm 36:7–9; 1 John 3:1; Psalm 18:1–3; 1 John 4:8–10
- 17 1 John 4:12; 1 John 2:28; Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:3; 1 John 2:5
- 18 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:12; Luke 1:74–75; Hebrews 12:28
- 19 1 John 4:10; John 3:16; John 15:16; 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; Titus 3:3–5
- 20 1 John 3:17; 1 John 2:9; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:11
- 21 Matthew 22:37–39; Leviticus 19:18; 1 John 3:11; Galatians 5:14; 1 Peter 3:8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
So is this world to all the faithful seeking their own country, as was the desert to the people Israel. They wandered indeed as yet, and were seeking their own country: but with God for their guide they could not wander astray. Their way was God's bidding.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.
For that fear of which the Apostle John says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love," --that fear is not of the same kind as the Apostle Paul felt lest the Corinthians should be seduced by the subtlety of the serpent; for …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… to the soldiers, fear not, but to you; as for them, let them be afraid, that, taught by experience, they may bear witness and say, Truly this was the Son of God; but you ought not to be afraid, for perfect love casteth out fear.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
They fear God, indeed, but it is with that servile fear "which is not in love; for perfect love casteth out fear." Therefore to them that hope in Him He perfecteth His sweetness, inspiring them with His own love, so that with a holy fear, which love does not cast out, but which endureth for ever, they may, when they …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)