1 John 4:1-11

Testing the Spirits

1 ¹Beloved, do not believe every ²spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ³many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: ⁴every spirit that ⁵confesses that ⁶Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

3 and every spirit that ⁷does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the ⁸antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and ⁹now it is already in the world.

4 You are from God, ¹⁰little children, and ¹¹have overcome them; because ¹²greater is He who is in you than ¹³he who is in the world.

5 ¹⁴They are from the world; therefore * they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.

6 ¹⁵We are from God; ¹⁶he who knows God listens to us; ¹⁷he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ¹⁸the spirit of truth and ¹⁹the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 ²⁰Beloved, let us ²¹love one another, for love is from God; and ²²everyone who loves is ²³born of God and ²⁴knows God.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for ²⁵God is love.

9 By this the love of God was manifested ²⁶in us, that ²⁷God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love, ²⁸not that we loved God, but that ²⁹He loved us and sent His Son to be ³⁰the propitiation for our sins.

11 ³¹Beloved, if God so loved us, ³²we also ought to love one another.

Cross References

• 1. 3 John 11
• 2. Jeremiah 29:8; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:20; 2 Thessalonians 2:2
• 3. Jeremiah 14:14; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:18
• 4. 1 Corinthians 12:3
• 5. 1 John 2:23
• 6. John 1:14; 1 John 1:2
• 7. 1 John 2:22; 2 John 7
• 8. 1 John 2:18, 22
• 9. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7; 1 John 2:18
• 10. 1 John 2:1
• 11. 1 John 2:13
• 12. Romans 8:31; 1 John 3:20
• 13. John 12:31
• 14. John 15:19; John 17:14, 16
• 15. John 8:23; 1 John 4:4
• 16. John 8:47; John 10:3f; John 18:37
• 17. 1 Corinthians 14:37
• 18. John 14:17
• 19. 1 Timothy 4:1
• 20. 1 John 2:7
• 21. 1 John 3:11
• 22. 1 John 5:1
• 23. 1 John 2:29
• 24. 1 Corinthians 8:3; 1 John 2:3
• 25. 1 John 4:7, 16
• 26. John 9:3; 1 John 4:16
• 27. John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 John 5:11
• 28. Romans 5:8, 10; 1 John 4:19
• 29. John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; 1 John 5:11
• 30. 1 John 2:2
• 31. 1 John 2:7
• 32. 1 John 4:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "begotten"
• [b]. Or "in our case"
• [c]. Or "unique," only one of His kind