New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
1 John 4
1
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit. Put the spirits to the test to see if they belong to God. Many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Reference
Faith
1 Timothy 4:1
Proverbs 14:15
Parallel theme
1 Thessalonians 5:21
2 John 1:7
1 John 2:18
Luke 12:57
2 Timothy 3:13
Acts 20:29
Prophecy
2 Peter 2:1
1 Corinthians 14:29
2
How can you recognize the Spirit of God? Every spirit that agrees that Jesus Christ came in a human body belongs to God.
Reference
Parallel theme
John 1:14
1 John 2:23
References Jesus
1 John 5:1
Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:3
1 Timothy 3:16
1 John 4:3
3
But every spirit that doesn't agree with this does not belong to God. It is the spirit of the great enemy of Christ. You have heard that the enemy is coming. Even now he is already in the world.
Reference
4
Dear children, you belong to God. You have not accepted the teachings of the false prophets. That's because the One who is in you is more powerful than the one who is in the world.
Reference
Parallel theme
Romans 8:37
1 John 4:13
Ephesians 6:10
Ephesians 3:17
Revelation 12:11
References God
Romans 8:31
1 John 5:4
1 John 4:16
1 Corinthians 2:12
1 John 5:19
5
False prophets belong to the world. So they speak from the world's point of view. The world listens to them.
Reference
6
We belong to God. And those who know God listen to us. But those who don't belong to God don't listen to us. That's how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of lies.
Reference
Parallel theme
John 10:27
Isaiah 8:20
References God
1 John 4:4
Spirit
John 14:17
John 15:26
1 John 4:1
1 Corinthians 14:37
Micah 3:8
Isaiah 29:10
Truth
John 18:37
7
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born again because of what God has done. That person knows God.
Reference
Love
1 John 4:8
1 Peter 1:22
1 John 2:10
Galatians 5:22
2 Timothy 1:7
1 John 4:12
Deuteronomy 30:6
Parallel theme
1 John 2:29
References God
John 17:3
2 Corinthians 4:6
8
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Reference
Love
1 John 4:16
1 John 4:7
2 Corinthians 13:11
Ephesians 2:4
Parallel theme
Psalm 86:5
1 John 3:6
1 John 2:9
References God
Psalm 86:15
1 John 1:5
9
How did God show his love for us? He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him.
Reference
Love
John 3:16
1 John 4:10
1 John 3:16
Parallel theme
Romans 8:32
John 6:57
John 6:51
John 10:10
Hebrews 1:5
References God
1 John 5:11
John 3:18
10
What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.
Reference
Love
1 John 4:19
John 3:16
1 John 3:1
Parallel theme
John 15:16
Sin
1 John 2:2
1 Peter 3:18
1 Peter 2:24
Daniel 9:24
12
No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.
Reference
Love
1 John 2:5
1 John 4:20
Parallel theme
1 Timothy 6:16
1 John 3:24
Exodus 33:20
Numbers 12:8
References God
John 1:18
1 John 4:6
1 Timothy 1:17
Genesis 32:30
14
The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We have seen it. We give witness to it.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 John 4:10
John 1:29
John 1:14
Acts 18:5
John 3:34
Salvation
John 4:42
John 12:47
Witness
1 Peter 5:12
1 John 5:9
John 5:39
15
God lives in anyone who agrees that Jesus is the Son of God. That kind of person remains joined to God.
Reference
Parallel theme
Matthew 10:32
1 John 3:24
References God
1 John 4:12
Luke 12:8
References Jesus
1 John 5:5
Romans 10:9
1 John 4:2
Philippians 2:11
1 John 5:1
2 John 1:7
16
So we know that God loves us. We depend on it. God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love shows that he is joined to God. And God is joined to him.
Reference
Faith
Psalm 31:19
John 6:69
Love
1 John 3:1
1 John 3:16
1 Corinthians 2:9
Parallel theme
1 John 3:24
References God
Isaiah 64:4
17
So love is made complete among us. We will be bold on the day God judges us. That's because in this world we love as Jesus did.
Reference
Creation
James 2:22
Judgment
2 Peter 3:7
Love
1 John 4:12
1 John 2:5
1 John 3:1
Parallel theme
1 John 2:28
Romans 8:29
1 John 3:3
John 15:20
Matthew 10:25
18
There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives fear away. Fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears does not have perfect love.
Reference
Love
2 Timothy 1:7
1 John 4:12
Parallel theme
Romans 8:15
Hebrews 12:28
James 2:19
Psalm 119:120
Job 15:21
Psalm 73:19
20
Anyone who says he loves God but in fact hates his brother or sister is a liar. He doesn't love his brother or sister, whom he has seen. So he can't love God, whom he has not seen.
Reference
Love
1 John 3:17
1 John 4:12
1 Peter 1:8
Parallel theme
1 John 2:9
1 John 2:4
1 John 2:11
1 John 1:6
Summary of 1 John 4
1 John 4 teaches that believers must carefully test spiritual teachings rather than accepting every religious claim, recognizing that the true message acknowledges Jesus Christ as having genuinely come in the flesh, while genuine knowledge of God is demonstrated through love because God Himself is love, revealed His love by sending His Son to save humanity, gives His Spirit to believers, and calls Christians to replace fear with confidence while loving one another as evidence that they truly remain in Him.
John begins with an important warning about spiritual discernment.
Believers should not automatically accept every person who claims to speak for God because false prophets and misleading spiritual teachers were already present.
Instead, Christians should test the spirits to determine whether a teaching genuinely comes from God.
The central test John provides concerns Jesus Christ.
A message that acknowledges Jesus Christ as having truly come in the flesh belongs to the truth, while a message that rejects Him does not come from God.
John connects this rejection with the spirit of antichrist, describing opposition to Christ as an active spiritual reality already present in the world.
Believers, however, should not live in fear of such opposition because they belong to God and have overcome false teachers through the greater power of the Spirit who lives within them.
John then contrasts those who belong to God with those who belong to the world.
False teachers speak from worldly perspectives, and people who follow worldly values naturally find their message attractive.
Those who genuinely know God, however, listen to the apostolic teaching, providing another important test for distinguishing truth from error.
The chapter then moves into its central theme: love.
John repeatedly emphasizes that love comes from God.
Anyone who genuinely loves demonstrates evidence of having been born from God and knowing Him, while someone who refuses to love demonstrates that they do not truly know God.
This is because God is love.
John does not define love simply as a feeling or emotion.
Instead, he points to God's actions as the clearest definition of love.
God demonstrated His love by sending His unique Son into the world so that people could receive life through Him.
God's love therefore begins with God's initiative, rather than with humanity's attempt to reach God.
Jesus' sacrificial death provides the supreme demonstration of this divine love because God sent His Son to deal with human sin.
Since God has loved believers so greatly, Christians should respond by loving one another.
John explains that although people cannot physically see God, His presence becomes visible through the love believers show one another.
When Christians genuinely love each other, God's love is being expressed and brought to maturity within their community.
The Holy Spirit provides additional assurance that believers remain in God and that God remains in them.
John then returns to the apostolic testimony that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Anyone who openly acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God remains in fellowship with God, making belief in Christ central to Christian identity.
John explains that believers have come to know and trust God's love, and those who remain in love remain in God.
This mature love also changes how Christians approach future judgment.
Instead of being controlled by fear, believers can have confidence because God's love is transforming their lives.
Perfect or mature love casts out fear because fear is associated with punishment, while genuine confidence comes from understanding God's gracious relationship with His people.
The chapter concludes with a powerful principle: we love because God first loved us.
Christian love is therefore a response to God's initiative.
John makes the practical application especially clear by stating that someone cannot honestly claim to love God while hating another believer.
Love for the invisible God must be demonstrated through love for visible people.
The chapter therefore brings together truth, discernment, Christology, the Holy Spirit, God's love, Christian confidence, and practical love for others.
The central message of 1 John 4 is that Christians must carefully test spiritual teachings by their confession of Jesus Christ and their agreement with apostolic truth, while recognizing that genuine knowledge of God is demonstrated through sacrificial love because God Himself is love, He revealed that love by sending His Son to save humanity, He gives His Spirit to those who belong to Him, and believers who truly understand His love can replace fear with confidence and demonstrate their relationship with God by sincerely loving one another.
John begins with an important warning about spiritual discernment.
Believers should not automatically accept every person who claims to speak for God because false prophets and misleading spiritual teachers were already present.
Instead, Christians should test the spirits to determine whether a teaching genuinely comes from God.
The central test John provides concerns Jesus Christ.
A message that acknowledges Jesus Christ as having truly come in the flesh belongs to the truth, while a message that rejects Him does not come from God.
John connects this rejection with the spirit of antichrist, describing opposition to Christ as an active spiritual reality already present in the world.
Believers, however, should not live in fear of such opposition because they belong to God and have overcome false teachers through the greater power of the Spirit who lives within them.
John then contrasts those who belong to God with those who belong to the world.
False teachers speak from worldly perspectives, and people who follow worldly values naturally find their message attractive.
Those who genuinely know God, however, listen to the apostolic teaching, providing another important test for distinguishing truth from error.
The chapter then moves into its central theme: love.
John repeatedly emphasizes that love comes from God.
Anyone who genuinely loves demonstrates evidence of having been born from God and knowing Him, while someone who refuses to love demonstrates that they do not truly know God.
This is because God is love.
John does not define love simply as a feeling or emotion.
Instead, he points to God's actions as the clearest definition of love.
God demonstrated His love by sending His unique Son into the world so that people could receive life through Him.
God's love therefore begins with God's initiative, rather than with humanity's attempt to reach God.
Jesus' sacrificial death provides the supreme demonstration of this divine love because God sent His Son to deal with human sin.
Since God has loved believers so greatly, Christians should respond by loving one another.
John explains that although people cannot physically see God, His presence becomes visible through the love believers show one another.
When Christians genuinely love each other, God's love is being expressed and brought to maturity within their community.
The Holy Spirit provides additional assurance that believers remain in God and that God remains in them.
John then returns to the apostolic testimony that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Anyone who openly acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God remains in fellowship with God, making belief in Christ central to Christian identity.
John explains that believers have come to know and trust God's love, and those who remain in love remain in God.
This mature love also changes how Christians approach future judgment.
Instead of being controlled by fear, believers can have confidence because God's love is transforming their lives.
Perfect or mature love casts out fear because fear is associated with punishment, while genuine confidence comes from understanding God's gracious relationship with His people.
The chapter concludes with a powerful principle: we love because God first loved us.
Christian love is therefore a response to God's initiative.
John makes the practical application especially clear by stating that someone cannot honestly claim to love God while hating another believer.
Love for the invisible God must be demonstrated through love for visible people.
The chapter therefore brings together truth, discernment, Christology, the Holy Spirit, God's love, Christian confidence, and practical love for others.
The central message of 1 John 4 is that Christians must carefully test spiritual teachings by their confession of Jesus Christ and their agreement with apostolic truth, while recognizing that genuine knowledge of God is demonstrated through sacrificial love because God Himself is love, He revealed that love by sending His Son to save humanity, He gives His Spirit to those who belong to Him, and believers who truly understand His love can replace fear with confidence and demonstrate their relationship with God by sincerely loving one another.