1.Johannes 4,10 | New International Reader’s Version

Jesus came as a human being

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit. Test the spirits to see if they belong to God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 Here is how you can recognise the Spirit of God. Every spirit agreeing that Jesus Christ came in a human body belongs to God.

3 But every spirit that doesn’t agree with this does not belong to God. You have heard that the spirit of the great enemy of Christ is coming. Even now it is already in the world.

4 Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That’s because the one who is in you is powerful. He is more powerful than the one who is in the world.

5 False prophets belong to the world. So they speak from the world’s point of view. And the world listens to them.

6 We belong to God. And those who know God listen to us. But those who don’t belong to God don’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of lies.

We love because God loved us

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become a child of God and knows God.

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 Here is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him.

10 Here is what love is. It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we should also love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.

13 Here’s how we know that we are joined to him and he to us. He has given us his Holy Spirit.

14 The Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. We have seen it and are witnesses to it.

15 God lives in anyone who agrees that Jesus is the Son of God. This kind of person remains joined to God.

16 So we know that God loves us. We depend on it. God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love is joined to God. And God is joined to them.

17 Suppose love is fulfilled among us. Then we can be without fear on the day God judges the world. Love is fulfilled among us when in this world we are like Jesus.

18 There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives away fear. That’s because fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love.

19 We love because he loved us first.

20 Suppose someone claims to love God but hates a brother or sister. Then they are a liar. They don’t love their brother or sister, whom they have seen. So they can’t love God, whom they haven’t seen.

21 Here is the command God has given us. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

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English Standard Version

Test the Spirits

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 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 Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, 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. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because 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 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot* love God whom he has not seen.

21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

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