1 John 4:1-10

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, if they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God;

3 and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ come in flesh is not of God: and this is that [power] of the antichrist, [of] which ye have heard that it comes, and now it is already in the world.

4 *Ye* are of God, children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that [is] in you than he that [is] in the world.

5 *They* are of the world; for this reason they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them.

6 *We* are of God; he that knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another; because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

8 He that loves not has not known God; for God is love.

9 Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ginosko: and so throughout chapter: see 1Cor. 8.1.
• [b]. 'In our case,' in respect of us. The idea of the love of God remains absolute: only it has been shown 'as respects us in this,' &c.