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1 John 4

The chapter joins discernment about Jesus with love for fellow believers, grounding both in God’s presence and his gift of the Son.

False prophets have gone out into the world, and the letter’s writer tells believers to test their claims by what they confess about Jesus Christ. He assures his readers that God’s presence in them is greater than the power behind these teachers. The focus then turns to love: the Father sent his Son to bring life and atone for sins, and those who know God are commanded to love one another.

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1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God; and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
9By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him.
10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
17In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world.
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love him, because he first loved us.
20If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
1 John 4:9God’s sending of his Son makes his love known and establishes the source of life for believers.
1 John 4:19God’s love comes first, making the believer’s love a response to what God has already done.
1 John 4:4Amid warnings about false prophets, this assurance locates believers’ victory in God’s greater power within them.
Where this chapter reaches

John shares this chapter’s witness that the Father sent the Son into the world to bring life, alongside the command to love one another. Romans shares its account of God’s love shown through Christ’s death and the assurance associated with the gift of the Spirit.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does this chapter teach you to look for when weighing a claim about God?

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How does God’s first love shape your understanding of the command to love a fellow believer?

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Questions people ask about 1 John 4

What does it mean to test the spirits in 1 John 4?

The command concerns discerning the spiritual source of teaching, since false prophets are active. The stated test is whether a spirit confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Verse 6 adds whether teachers listen to the witness represented by the writer and those who testify with him.

What does “perfect love casts out fear” mean?

Verses 17–18 connect fear with punishment and the day of judgment. Love brought to maturity gives believers confidence before God. The passage addresses fear of condemnation; it does not say that every experience of alarm, anxiety, or distress proves someone lacks faith. Its focus is assurance within God’s love.

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What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about fear →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).