1 John 4
What Happens in This Chapter
John tells his readers to test messages that claim to come from God, and gives a test: does the message say that Jesus Christ came as a real human being? He then writes at length about love, saying that love comes from God, that God is love, and that God showed this love by sending his Son. He says that people who love each other live in God, that perfect love pushes out fear, and that anyone who says he loves God must also love his brother.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Dear friends, do not believe everyone who says God is speaking through them. Test them instead. Find out if the message really comes from God. Many liars have gone out into the world, saying they speak for God.
2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
2Here is how you can know when God's Spirit is speaking. Anyone who says that Jesus Christ came as a real human being is from God.
3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
3Anyone who will not say that is not from God. That is the spirit of the antichrist, the one who is against Christ. You heard that it was coming. It is already here in the world now.
"Antichrist" simply means "against Christ." "Come in the flesh" in verse 2 means Jesus came with a real human body, not as a ghost or an idea.
4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
4You belong to God, dear children. You have already won against those liars. The One who is in you is stronger than the one who is in the world.
5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
5Those liars belong to the world. So they talk the way the world talks. And the world likes to listen to them.
6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
6We belong to God. Anyone who knows God listens to us. Anyone who does not belong to God will not listen to us. That is how we can tell true words from false ones.
7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
7Dear friends, let us love one another. Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born into God's family and knows God.
8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
8Anyone who does not love does not know God. God is love.
9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
9This is how God showed his love for us. He sent his only Son into the world. He did it so we could have life through him.
10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
10Here is what real love is. It is not that we loved God first. He loved us. He sent his Son to be the offering that takes away our sins.
The old word here is "propitiation." It means a gift or offering given so that wrong things are forgiven and set right.
11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
11Dear friends, God loved us that much. So we should love one another too.
12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
12No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. And his love is made complete in us.
13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
13Here is how we know that we live in him and he lives in us. He has given us his Spirit.
14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
14We saw it ourselves, and we tell others about it. The Father sent his Son to be the Savior, the one who rescues the world.
15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
15Anyone who says out loud that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in him. And that person lives in God.
16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
16We know the love God has for us, and we trust it. God is love. Whoever keeps on loving lives in God, and God lives in him.
17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
17This is how love is made complete in us. Then we can be unafraid on the day God judges everyone. We are like Jesus while we live in this world.
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
18There is no fear in love. Love that is complete pushes fear away. Fear has to do with punishment. So anyone who is afraid has not yet been made complete in love.
19We love him, because he first loved us.
19We love because God loved us first.
20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
20Someone may say, "I love God," and still hate his brother. That person is lying. He does not love his brother, whom he can see. So he cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
"Brother" here does not mean only a boy in your own family. It means another person who belongs to God's family.
21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
21God gave us this rule. Whoever loves God must love his brother too.
← → to turn the page · P for plain English · click a verse to sit with it