Love and Faith

1 John 4-5

Chapter 5

1 John 4:1–21 (NLT)

1 Jn 4:1  Dear 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. 

1 Jn 4:2  This 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. 

1 Jn 4:3  But 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. 

1 Jn 4:4  But 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. 

1 Jn 4:5  Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 

1 Jn 4:6  But 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. 

1 Jn 4:7  Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 

1 Jn 4:8  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

1 Jn 4:9  God 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. 

1 Jn 4:10  This 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. 

1 Jn 4:11  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 

1 Jn 4:12  No 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. 

1 Jn 4:13  And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 

1 Jn 4:14  Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 

1 Jn 4:15  All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 

1 Jn 4:16  We 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. 

1 Jn 4:17  And 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. 

1 Jn 4:18  Such 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. 

1 Jn 4:19  We love each other because he loved us first. 

1 Jn 4:20  If 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? 

1 Jn 4:21  And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

Chapter 5

1 John 5:1–21 (NKJV)

1 Jn 5:1  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 

1 Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 

1 Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 

1 Jn 5:4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 

1 Jn 5:5  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 

1 Jn 5:6  This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 

1 Jn 5:7  For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 

1 Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. 

1 Jn 5:9  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 

1 Jn 5:10  He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 

1 Jn 5:11  And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 

1 Jn 5:12  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 

1 Jn 5:13  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 

1 Jn 5:14  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 

1 Jn 5:15  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 

1 Jn 5:16  If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 

1 Jn 5:17  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death. 

1 Jn 5:18  We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. 

1 Jn 5:19  We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 

1 Jn 5:20  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 

1 Jn 5:21  Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.