1 Beloved, 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. 2 By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh 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. 4 You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. 6 We 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. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This 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. 10 And 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And 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. 17 In 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. 18 There 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. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If 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, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? 21 And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
1 John · Majority Standard Bible
1 John 4 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)