| 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. | Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. |
| By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 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. | This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. |
| 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. | But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. |
| Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. | Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. |
| He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. | But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. |
| 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. | God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. |
| 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. | This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. |
| Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. | Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. |
| 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. | No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. |
| By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. | And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. |
| Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. | All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. |
| 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. | We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. |
| 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. | Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. |
| We love him, because he first loved us. | We love each other because he loved us first. |
| 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? | If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? |
| This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. | And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. |
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