| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. | 1Dear friends, stop believing every spirit. Instead, test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. |
| 2This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. | 2This is how you can recognize God's Spirit: Every spirit who acknowledges that Jesus the Messiah has become human—and remains so—is from God. |
| 3But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now. | 3But every spirit who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard that he is coming, and now he is already in the world. |
| 4You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. | 4Little children, you belong to God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. |
| 5They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. | 5These people belong to the world. That is why they speak from the world's perspective, and the world listens to them. |
| 6We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception. | 6We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. |
| 7Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. | 7Dear friends, let us continuously love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. |
| 8The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. | 8The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. |
| 9God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. | 9This is how God's love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him. |
| 10Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. | 10This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. |
| 11Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. | 11Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another. |
| 12No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us. | 12No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. |
| 13This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. | 13This is how we know that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit. |
| 14And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world's Savior. | 14We have seen for ourselves and can testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. |
| 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God--God remains in him and he in God. | 15God abides in the one who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, and he abides in God. |
| 16And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. | 16We have come to know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. |
| 17In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. | 17This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, during our time in this world, we are just like him. |
| 18There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. | 18There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love. |
| 19We love because He first loved us. | 19We love because God first loved us. |
| 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. | 20Whoever says, "I love God," but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love the God whom he has not seen. |
| 21And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother. | 21And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother. |
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