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1 John · Unlocked Literal Bible

1 John 4 Unlocked Literal Bible

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About ULB
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text (not verified)
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2017
  • CC BY-SA 4.0

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you will know the Spirit of God—every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world. 4 You are from God, dear children, and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 Because of this the love of God was revealed among us, that God has sent his only Son into the world so that we would live because of him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and that he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also should love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. 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, because he has given us some of his Spirit. 14 Also, we have seen and have borne witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. 16 Also, we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in this love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 Because of this, this love has been made perfect among us, so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, just so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love throws out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. But the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If 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. 21 Also, this is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his own brother.

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 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Timothy 4:1; Proverbs 14:15; 2 John 7
  2. 2 John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 4:3
  3. 3 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:3–8
  4. 4 Romans 8:31; 1 John 5:4; Romans 8:37; 1 John 4:16; 1 Corinthians 2:12
  5. 5 John 8:23; 2 Peter 2:2–3; John 17:14; John 3:31; John 17:16
  6. 6 John 14:17; John 10:27; 1 Corinthians 2:12–14; John 15:26; 1 John 4:1
  7. 7 1 John 4:20–5:1; 1 John 4:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 2:10; Galatians 5:22
  8. 8 1 John 4:16; 1 John 4:7; Psalm 86:15; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Psalm 86:5
  9. 9 John 3:16; 1 John 5:11; Romans 8:32; 1 John 4:10; John 6:57
  10. 10 Ephesians 2:4–5; Romans 5:8–10; 1 John 4:19; 1 John 2:2; John 15:16
  11. 11 John 15:12–13; Colossians 3:13; John 13:34; 1 John 3:23; Luke 10:37
  12. 12 John 1:18; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:17–18; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:20
  13. 13 1 John 3:24; Ephesians 2:20–22; 1 Corinthians 3:16–17; Galatians 5:22–25; 1 Corinthians 2:12
  14. 14 1 John 4:10; John 3:16–17; John 4:42; John 1:14; John 1:29
  15. 15 Romans 10:9; Matthew 10:32; 1 John 5:5; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:2
  16. 16 1 John 3:24; Psalm 36:7–9; 1 John 3:1; Psalm 18:1–3; 1 John 4:8–10
  17. 17 1 John 4:12; 1 John 2:28; Romans 8:29; 1 John 3:3; 1 John 2:5
  18. 18 2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:12; Luke 1:74–75; Hebrews 12:28
  19. 19 1 John 4:10; John 3:16; John 15:16; 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; Titus 3:3–5
  20. 20 1 John 3:17; 1 John 2:9; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:11
  21. 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

Articles and answers on this site that cite 1 John 4.

18 more on this site cite this chapter — Search the library

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).

  1. Commentary 4:4 Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Homily VII)

    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)

  2. Quotes verse 4:3 Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians (The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians)

    "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.

    Read in context · Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885)

  3. Quotes verse 4:18 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XIV, Chapter 9)

    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)

  4. Quotes verse 4:18 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XIV)

    … 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)

  5. Quotes verse 4:18 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XXI, Chapters 22–24)

    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)