1 John 4:2-12

2 By this you know the Spirit of God: ¹every spirit that confesses that ²Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

3 and every spirit ³that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and ⁴now is in the world already.

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for ⁵he who is in you is greater than ⁶he who is in the world.

5 ⁷They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and ⁸the world listens to them.

6 We are from God. ⁹Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ¹⁰the Spirit of truth and ¹¹the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 Beloved, ¹²let us love one another, for love is from God, and ¹³whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 ¹⁴Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ¹⁵God is love.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ¹⁶God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, ¹⁷not that we have loved God ¹⁸but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ¹⁹the propitiation for our sins.

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

12 ²⁰No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ²¹his love is perfected in us.

Cross References

• 1. 4:2 [1 Cor. 12:3]
• 2. 4:2 2 John 7
• 3. 4:3 ch. 2:22; 2 John 7
• 4. 4:3 ch. 2:18; [2 Thess. 2:3-7]
• 5. 4:4 See Rom. 8:31
• 6. 4:4 [1 Cor. 2:12]; See John 12:31
• 7. 4:5 John 3:31; 8:23
• 8. 4:5 John 15:19
• 9. 4:6 [John 8:47; 10:16; 18:37; 1 Cor. 14:37]
• 10. 4:6 John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13
• 11. 4:6 [1 Cor. 2:12; 1 Tim. 4:1]
• 12. 4:7 ch. 3:11
• 13. 4:7 ch. 2:29
• 14. 4:8 ch. 3:10
• 15. 4:8 ver. 16; 2 Cor. 13:11; [ch. 1:5; John 4:24]
• 16. 4:9 See John 3:16
• 17. 4:10 Rom. 5:8, 10
• 18. 4:10 [See ver. 9 above]
• 19. 4:10 See ch. 2:2
• 20. 4:12 ver. 20; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16
• 21. 4:12 ch. 2:5