| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Beloved, 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. | 1Dear 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. |
| 2By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, | 2This 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. |
| 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time. | 3But 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. |
| 4You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. | 4But 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. |
| 5They are of the world. That is why they speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. | 5Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. |
| 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. | 6But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception. Loving One Another |
| 7Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. | 7Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. |
| 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. | 8But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. |
| 9This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. | 9God 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. |
| 10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. | 10This 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. |
| 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. | 11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. |
| 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. | 12No 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. |
| 13By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit. | 13And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. |
| 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. | 14Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. |
| 15If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. | 15All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. |
| 16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. | 16We 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. |
| 17In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. | 17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. |
| 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. | 18Such 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. |
| 19We love because He first loved us. | 19We love each other because he loved us first. |
| 20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. | 20If 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? |
| 21And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well. | 21And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. |
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