| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 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, 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 know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who 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. |
| 3but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world. | 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 are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one 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 from the world; therefore 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; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit. | 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 |
| 7Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by 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. |
| 8The person who 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. |
| 9By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may 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. |
| 10In this 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. | 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. |
| 11Dear friends, if God so loved us, then 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 seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides 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 reside in God and he in us: in that 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 the 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 resides 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 to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides 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. |
| 17By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. | 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 has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment 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 loved us first. | 19We love each other because he loved us first. |
| 20If anyone says "I love God" and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian 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 the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too. | 21And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. |
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