The Bible — World English Bible

1 John 4

In brief

1 John 4 begins with a call for discernment: we must test the spirits, and the criterion is the confession of Jesus Christ come in the flesh. The one who is in believers is greater than the one who is in the world. John then turns to love: love is from God, God is love, and he showed it by sending his Son. Loving others answers the love we have received. Perfect love casts out fear, and whoever loves God must also love their brother.

The chapter in 5 parts

  1. v. 1-6Testing the spirits: the spirit of truth and the spirit of error
  2. v. 7-12God is love: love revealed in Jesus Christ
  3. v. 13-16Abiding in God and God in us
  4. v. 17-19Perfect love casts out fear
  5. v. 20-21Loving God and loving your brother go together

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 one and only 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.

Key verses

Verse 4
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

A word of encouragement in a passage about false prophets: the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. The victory is credited to God's presence, not to the believer's strength.

Verse 8
He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.

John gives his definition of God from what he does: whoever does not love has not known God, because God is love. Love is not just one attribute among others, it is at the heart of who God is.

Verse 10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Love does not begin with us: it consists in the fact that God loved us first and sent his Son for our sins. The cross is presented as the proof of this love.

Verse 18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.

Perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The text invites us to live as someone who knows they are loved rather than threatened.

Verse 19-20
We love him, because he first loved us. If 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?

We love because he first loved us. John draws a very concrete consequence: we cannot claim to love God while hating our brother.

Bible verses to meditate on

Pray about this

What the sermons say

Christmas: The Manifest Love of God the FatherPastor Malu Bialuta reads 1 John 4:7-9 at Christmas and sees in it the visible love of God the Father: to be born of God is to be inhabited by love and to show it.Read the summary →Living Without Fear: Four Keys for When Fear Knocks at Your DoorGaetana Le Veo (SOS Lyon) gives four keys to no longer being guided by fear. The first rests on 1 John 4:18: knowing you are loved, because perfect love casts out fear.Read the summary →John 14: Loving Jesus Means Obeying HimJean-Blaise Amougou quotes 1 John 4:20 to tie the love of God to the love of neighbor. He insists that saying you love Jesus without caring about your brother does not hold up.Read the summary →Walking in Love: The GPS of the Christian LifeThis message draws on 1 John 4:7-8 to remind us that whoever knows God knows love, and wants to share it and reflect it around them.Read the summary →"As I Have Loved You"Judit (Agape Church in Fukuoka), starting from John 13, quotes 1 John 4:20-21: loving God and loving your brothers are two sides of the same coin, because God loves them.Read the summary →

Frequently asked questions about 1 John 4

What does “God is love” mean in 1 John 4?

John affirms that love belongs to the very nature of God, and he shows it through an act: God sent his Son so that we might live through him. Love is not first a feeling we produce, it is what we have received. It then moves us to love others.

What does 1 John 4:18 mean, that perfect love casts out fear?

The verse says that fear has to do with punishment, whereas God's perfect love drives it away. It does not say that a believer will never feel fear. It invites us to know we are loved by God, which changes our relationship to fear, especially the fear of being condemned.

How do we test the spirits according to 1 John 4:1?

John asks us not to believe every spirit but to check whether it is from God. The criterion given in verses 2 and 3 is the confession of Jesus Christ come in the flesh. Believers are therefore called to compare what they hear with what the Scriptures say about Jesus.

Why does John say that whoever does not love their brother cannot love God?

In verse 20, John reasons simply: whoever does not love their brother whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The love of God is verified in concrete love for others. Verse 21 presents this as a commandment received from him.

Articles quoting 1 John 4

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World English Bible translation — public domain.